Hosted by: Robert McGraw

Field measurements in the recent past have shown that secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles are often amorphous glasses or highly viscous liquids under dry and/or cold conditions. Chemical and physical processes occurring in the interior of the aerosol particle and at the gas/particle interface are influenced by the viscous state in which condensed-phase diffusion is slows down considerably. I will discuss measurements of water diffusion in single, levitated aerosol particles for a number of model systems of SOA. In particular, I will show how Mie-resonance spectroscopy allows to "image" diffusion fronts within these particles and discuss atmospheric implications of kinetic limitations of water uptake.