| 23 Jun 2025
A Cross-Correlation Based Method for Determining Size-Resolved Particle Growth Rates
Abstract. The particle growth rate (GR) is a key parameter in aerosol dynamics and plays a crucial role in understanding atmospheric new particle formation and its effects. A fast, robust and reproducible calculation of GRs from aerosol number-size distribution data remains a challenge. In this study, we introduce a new method that we call the maximum correlation method for calculating particle and ion GRs from number-size distributions. We employed this novel method to calculate GRs from Hyytiälä, Finland using 14 years of ion and total particle size distribution data and compared our results against previous studies that used conventional methods for calculating the GRs. We found that our method compares well against the published data and reproduces the seasonal variability and size-dependent trends in the GRs. The maximum correlation method enables fast and repeatable GR calculations from large aerosol datasets, which facilitates the systematic incorporation of GR analysis into new particle formation studies.
Competing interests: Markku Kulmala is a member of the editorial board of Aerosol Research.
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