ABSTRACT
Aerosol particles are ubiquitous in the Earth’s atmosphere. They arise from natural sources, such as windborne dust, sea spray, and volcanic action; from anthropogenic activities, such as fossil fuel and biomass combustion; and from reactions between gaseous emissions [1]. Atmospheric aerosols have been implicated in numerous regional problems, including adverse human health effects, poor air quality, visibility degradation, and acid deposition [1-5]. On the global scale, they not only have a direct effect on modifying the radiative balance of the atmosphere by scattering and/or absorbing solar radiation, but also act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), which modify the physics and chemistry and precipitation rates of clouds, consequently inŸuencing the global climate [6,7]. A good understanding of the composition and properties of atmospheric aerosols as well as their related atmospheric processes is therefore particularly important for air quality and global climate predictions.
