An improved parameterization for sulfuric acid–water nucleation rates for tropospheric and stratospheric conditions

In this paper we present parameterized equations for calculation of sulfuric acid–water critical nucleus compositions, critical cluster radii and homogeneous nucleation rates for tropospheric and stratospheric conditions. The parameterizations are based on a classical nucleation model. We used an improved model for the hydrate formation relying on ab initio calculations of small sulfuric acid clusters and on experimental data for vapor pressures and equilibrium constants for hydrate formation. The most rigorous nucleation kinetics and the thermodynamically consistent version of the classical binary homogeneous nucleation theory were used. The parameterized nucleation rates are compared with experimental ones,…