Search for: All records

Abstract Exposure to anthropogenic atmospheric aerosol is a major health issue, causing several million deaths per year worldwide. The oxidation of aromatic hydrocarbons from traffic and wood combustion is an important anthropogenic source of low-volatility species in secondary organic aerosol, especially in heavily polluted environments. It is not yet established whether the formation of anthropogenic secondary organic aerosol involves mainly rapid autoxidation, slower sequential oxidation steps or a combination of the two. Here we reproduced a typical urban haze in the ‘Cosmics Leaving Outdoor Droplets’ chamber at the European Organization for Nuclear Research and observed the dynamics of aromatic oxidation products during secondary organic aerosol growth on a molecular level to determine mechanisms underlying their production and removal. We demonstrate that sequential oxidation is required for substantial secondary organic aerosol formation. Second-generation oxidation decreases the products’ saturation vapour pressure by several orders of magnitude and increases the aromatic secondary organic aerosol yields from a few percent to a few tens of percent at typical atmospheric concentrations. Through regional modelling, we show that more than 70% of the exposure to anthropogenic organic aerosol in Europe arises from second-generation oxidation. 

Abstract The interaction between nitrogen monoxide (NO) and organic peroxy radicals (RO 2 ) greatly impacts the formation of highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOM), the key precursors of secondary organic aerosols. It has been thought that HOM production can be significantly suppressed by NO even at low concentrations. Here, we perform dedicated experiments focusing on HOM formation from monoterpenes at low NO concentrations (0 – 82 pptv). We demonstrate that such low NO can enhance HOM production by modulating the RO 2 loss and favoring the formation of alkoxy radicals that can continue to autoxidize through isomerization. These insights suggest that HOM yields from typical boreal forest emissions can vary between 2.5%-6.5%, and HOM formation will not be completely inhibited even at high NO concentrations. Our findings challenge the notion that NO monotonically reduces HOM yields by extending the knowledge of RO 2 -NO interactions to the low-NO regime. This represents a major advance towards an accurate assessment of HOM budgets, especially in low-NO environments, which prevails in the pre-industrial atmosphere, pristine areas, and the upper boundary layer. 

Abstract. Oxygenated organic molecules (OOMs) are the crucial intermediates linkingvolatile organic compounds (VOCs) to secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) in theatmosphere, but comprehensive understanding of the characteristics of OOMsand their formation from VOCs is still missing. Ambient observations ofOOMs using recently developed mass spectrometry techniques are stilllimited, especially in polluted urban atmospheres where VOCs and oxidants areextremely variable and complex. Here, we investigate OOMs, measured by anitrate-ion-based chemical ionization mass spectrometer at Nanjing ineastern China, through performing positive matrix factorization on binnedmass spectra (binPMF). The binPMF analysis reveals three factors aboutanthropogenic VOC (AVOC) daytime chemistry, three isoprene-relatedfactors, three factors about biogenic VOC (BVOC) nighttime chemistry, andthree factors about nitrated phenols. All factors are influenced by NOxin different ways and to different extents. Over 1000 non-nitro moleculeshave been identified and then reconstructed from the selected solution ofbinPMF, and about 72 % of the total signals are contributed bynitrogen-containing OOMs, mostly regarded as organic nitrates formed throughperoxy radicals terminated by nitric oxide or nitrate-radical-initiatedoxidations. Moreover, multi-nitrates account for about 24 % of the totalsignals, indicating the significant presence of multiple generations,especially for isoprene (e.g., C5H10O8N2 andC5H9O10N3). Additionally, the distribution of OOMconcentration on the carbon number confirms their precursors are driven by AVOCsmixed with enhanced BVOCs during summer. Our results highlight the decisiverole of NOx in OOM formation in densely populated areas, and we encouragemore studies on the dramatic interactions between anthropogenic and biogenicemissions. 

Abstract. During the COVID-19 lockdown, the dramatic reduction of anthropogenicemissions provided a unique opportunity to investigate the effects ofreduced anthropogenic activity and primary emissions on atmospheric chemicalprocesses and the consequent formation of secondary pollutants. Here, weutilize comprehensive observations to examine the response of atmosphericnew particle formation (NPF) to the changes in the atmospheric chemicalcocktail. We find that the main clustering process was unaffected by thedrastically reduced traffic emissions, and the formation rate of 1.5 nmparticles remained unaltered. However, particle survival probability wasenhanced due to an increased particle growth rate (GR) during the lockdownperiod, explaining the enhanced NPF activity in earlier studies. For GR at1.5–3 nm, sulfuric acid (SA) was the main contributor at high temperatures,whilst there were unaccounted contributing vapors at low temperatures. ForGR at 3–7 and 7–15 nm, oxygenated organic molecules (OOMs) played amajor role. Surprisingly, OOM composition and volatility were insensitive tothe large change of atmospheric NOx concentration; instead theassociated high particle growth rates and high OOM concentration during thelockdown period were mostly caused by the enhanced atmospheric oxidativecapacity. Overall, our findings suggest a limited role of traffic emissionsin NPF.