Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 5585–5598, 2015 www.atmos-chem-phys.net/15/5585/2015/ doi:10.5194/acp-15-5585-2015 © Author(s) 2015. CC Attribution 3.0 License. Compilation and evaluation of gas phase diffusion coefficients of reactive trace gases in the atmosphere: Volume 2. Diffusivities of organic compounds, pressure-normalised mean free paths, and average Knudsen numbers for gas uptake calculations M. J. Tang1, M. Shiraiwa2, U. Pöschl2, R. A. Cox1, and M. Kalberer1 1Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge CB2 1EW, UK 2Multiphase Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128, Mainz, Germany Correspondence to: M. J. Tang (
[email protected]) and M. Kalberer (
[email protected]) Received: 26 January 2015 – Published in Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss.: 25 February 2015 Revised: 24 April 2015 – Accepted: 3 May 2015 – Published: 21 May 2015 Abstract. Diffusion of organic vapours to the surface of 1 Introduction aerosol or cloud particles is an important step for the for- mation and transformation of atmospheric particles. So far, Organic aerosols are ubiquitous in the atmosphere and can however, a database of gas phase diffusion coefficients for or- account for a dominant fraction of submicron aerosol par- ganic compounds of atmospheric interest has not been avail- ticles (Jimenez et al., 2009). Organic aerosols affect climate able. In this work we have compiled and evaluated gas phase by scattering and adsorbing solar and terrestrial radiation and diffusivities (pressure-independent diffusion coefficients) of serving as cloud condensation nuclei and ice nuclei (Kanaki- organic compounds reported by previous experimental stud- dou et al., 2005; Hallquist et al., 2009).