Effect of coagulation on extinction in an aerosol plume propagating in the atmosphere

Model studies based on the K-theory diffusion assumption have been carried out on aerosol plumes issuing from a crosswind line source in which advection, vertical diffusion, coagulation, sedimentation, and dry deposition are occurring. Procedures are described and a few typical results are presented. It is shown that in appropriate conditions coagulation can play an important role in altering extinction in the plume. An important coupling effect between coagulation and sedimentation/deposition has been demonstrated. In a coagulating plume it is found that total particle mass concentration cannot be inferred from measurements of extinction without a detailed consideration of the effects of coagulation. In realistic atmospheric simulations isopleths of extinction in the plume cross section show complex forms resulting from the wind gradient and its interactions with vertical diffusion and the coagulation and sedimentation/deposition processes.