Articles | Volume 11, issue 9
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5087-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5087-2018
© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
07 Sep 2018
Research article |
| 07 Sep 2018
| 07 Sep 2018
Real-time measurements of gas-phase organic acids using SF6− chemical ionization mass spectrometry
Theodora Nah
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
now at: School of Energy and Environment, City University of Hong Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China
Yi Ji
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
David J. Tanner
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Hongyu Guo
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Amy P. Sullivan
Department of Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA
Nga Lee Ng
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
Rodney J. Weber
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
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Yuting Lyu, Yin Hau Lam, Yitao Li, Nadine Borduas-Dedekind, and Theodora Nah
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Lixu Jin, Wade Permar, Vanessa Selimovic, Damien Ketcherside, Robert J. Yokelson, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Eric C. Apel, I-Ting Ku, Jeffrey L. Collett Jr., Amy P. Sullivan, Daniel A. Jaffe, Jeffrey R. Pierce, Alan Fried, Matthew M. Coggon, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Carsten Warneke, Emily V. Fischer, and Lu Hu
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Air quality in the USA has been improving since 1970 due to anthropogenic emission reduction. Those gains have been partly offset by increased wildfire pollution in the western USA in the past 20 years. Still, we do not understand wildfire emissions well due to limited measurements. Here, we used a global transport model to evaluate and constrain current knowledge of wildfire emissions with recent observational constraints, showing the underestimation of wildfire emissions in the western USA.
Laura Tomsche, Felix Piel, Tomas Mikoviny, Claus J. Nielsen, Hongyu Guo, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Melinda K. Schueneman, Jose L. Jimenez, Hannah Halliday, Glenn Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, John B. Nowak, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Emily Gargulinski, Amber J. Soja, and Armin Wisthaler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2331–2343, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2331-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2331-2023, 2023
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Ammonia (NH3) is an important trace gas in the atmosphere and fires are among the poorly investigated sources. During the 2019 Fire Influence on Regional to Global Environments and Air Quality (FIREX-AQ) aircraft campaign, we measured gaseous NH3 and particulate ammonium (NH4+) in smoke plumes emitted from 6 wildfires in the Western US and 66 small agricultural fires in the Southeastern US. We herein present a comprehensive set of emission factors of NH3 and NHx, where NHx = NH3 + NH4+.
Yushuo Liu, Chee Kent Lim, Zhiyong Shen, Patrick K. H. Lee, and Theodora Nah
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1731–1747, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1731-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1731-2023, 2023
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We investigated how cloud water pH and solar radiation impact the survival and energetic metabolism of two neutrophilic bacteria species and their biodegradation of organic acids. Experiments were performed using artificial cloud water that mimicked the pH and composition of cloud water in South China. We found that there is a minimum cloud water pH threshold at which neutrophilic bacteria will survive and biodegrade organic compounds in cloud water during the daytime and/or nighttime.
Junwei Yang, Lan Ma, Xiao He, Wing Chi Au, Yanhao Miao, Wen-Xiong Wang, and Theodora Nah
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1403–1419, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1403-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1403-2023, 2023
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Water-soluble metals play key roles in human health and atmospheric processes. We report the seasonal abundance and fractional solubilities of different metals in aerosols collected in urban Hong Kong as well as the key factors that modulated solubilities of the various metals in fine aerosols. Our results highlight the dual roles (i.e., acidifying the aerosol particle and providing a liquid reaction medium) that sulfate plays in the acid dissolution of metals in fine aerosols in Hong Kong.
Cynthia H. Whaley, Kathy S. Law, Jens Liengaard Hjorth, Henrik Skov, Stephen R. Arnold, Joakim Langner, Jakob Boyd Pernov, Garance Bergeron, Ilann Bourgeois, Jesper H. Christensen, Rong-You Chien, Makoto Deushi, Xinyi Dong, Peter Effertz, Gregory Faluvegi, Mark Flanner, Joshua S. Fu, Michael Gauss, Greg Huey, Ulas Im, Rigel Kivi, Louis Marelle, Tatsuo Onishi, Naga Oshima, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Jeff Peischl, David A. Plummer, Luca Pozzoli, Jean-Christophe Raut, Tom Ryerson, Ragnhild Skeie, Sverre Solberg, Manu A. Thomas, Chelsea Thompson, Kostas Tsigaridis, Svetlana Tsyro, Steven T. Turnock, Knut von Salzen, and David W. Tarasick
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 637–661, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-637-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-637-2023, 2023
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This study summarizes recent research on ozone in the Arctic, a sensitive and rapidly warming region. We find that the seasonal cycles of near-surface atmospheric ozone are variable depending on whether they are near the coast, inland, or at high altitude. Several global model simulations were evaluated, and we found that because models lack some of the ozone chemistry that is important for the coastal Arctic locations, they do not accurately simulate ozone there.
Tingting Feng, Yingkun Wang, Weiwei Hu, Ming Zhu, Wei Song, Wei Chen, Yanyan Sang, Zheng Fang, Wei Deng, Hua Fang, Xu Yu, Cheng Wu, Bin Yuan, Shan Huang, Min Shao, Xiaofeng Huang, Lingyan He, Young Ro Lee, Lewis Gregory Huey, Francesco Canonaco, Andre S. H. Prevot, and Xinming Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 611–636, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-611-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-611-2023, 2023
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To investigate the impact of aging processes on organic aerosols (OA), we conducted a comprehensive field study at a continental remote site using an on-line mass spectrometer. The results show that OA in the Chinese outflows were strongly influenced by upwind anthropogenic emissions. The aging processes can significantly decrease the OA volatility and result in a varied viscosity of OA under different circumstances, signifying the complex physiochemical properties of OA in aged plumes.
Pamela S. Rickly, Hongyu Guo, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, Glenn M. Wolfe, Ryan Bennett, Ilann Bourgeois, John D. Crounse, Jack E. Dibb, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Maximilian Dollner, Emily M. Gargulinski, Samuel R. Hall, Hannah S. Halliday, Thomas F. Hanisco, Reem A. Hannun, Jin Liao, Richard Moore, Benjamin A. Nault, John B. Nowak, Jeff Peischl, Claire E. Robinson, Thomas Ryerson, Kevin J. Sanchez, Manuel Schöberl, Amber J. Soja, Jason M. St. Clair, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Kirk Ullmann, Paul O. Wennberg, Bernadett Weinzierl, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Edward L. Winstead, and Andrew W. Rollins
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15603–15620, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15603-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15603-2022, 2022
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Biomass burning sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission factors range from 0.27–1.1 g kg-1 C. Biomass burning SO2 can quickly form sulfate and organosulfur, but these pathways are dependent on liquid water content and pH. Hydroxymethanesulfonate (HMS) appears to be directly emitted from some fire sources but is not the sole contributor to the organosulfur signal. It is shown that HMS and organosulfur chemistry may be an important S(IV) reservoir with the fate dependent on the surrounding conditions.
Youhua Tang, Patrick C. Campbell, Pius Lee, Rick Saylor, Fanglin Yang, Barry Baker, Daniel Tong, Ariel Stein, Jianping Huang, Ho-Chun Huang, Li Pan, Jeff McQueen, Ivanka Stajner, Jose Tirado-Delgado, Youngsun Jung, Melissa Yang, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Tom Ryerson, Donald Blake, Joshua Schwarz, Jose-Luis Jimenez, James Crawford, Glenn Diskin, Richard Moore, Johnathan Hair, Greg Huey, Andrew Rollins, Jack Dibb, and Xiaoyang Zhang
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 7977–7999, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7977-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-7977-2022, 2022
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This paper compares two meteorological datasets for driving a regional air quality model: a regional meteorological model using WRF (WRF-CMAQ) and direct interpolation from an operational global model (GFS-CMAQ). In the comparison with surface measurements and aircraft data in summer 2019, these two methods show mixed performance depending on the corresponding meteorological settings. Direct interpolation is found to be a viable method to drive air quality models.
Amy P. Sullivan, Rudra P. Pokhrel, Yingjie Shen, Shane M. Murphy, Darin W. Toohey, Teresa Campos, Jakob Lindaas, Emily V. Fischer, and Jeffrey L. Collett Jr.
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13389–13406, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13389-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13389-2022, 2022
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During the WE-CAN (Western Wildfire Experiment for Cloud Chemistry, Aerosol Absorption and Nitrogen) study, brown carbon (BrC) absorption was measured on the NSF/NCAR C-130 aircraft using a particle-into-liquid sampler and photoacoustic aerosol absorption spectrometer. Approximately 45 % of the BrC absorption in wildfires was observed to be due to water-soluble species. The ratio of BrC absorption to WSOC or ΔCO showed no clear dependence on fire dynamics or the time since emission over 9 h.
Nicole A. June, Anna L. Hodshire, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Edward L. Winstead, Claire E. Robinson, K. Lee Thornhill, Kevin J. Sanchez, Richard H. Moore, Demetrios Pagonis, Hongyu Guo, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, Matthew M. Coggon, Jonathan M. Dean-Day, T. Paul Bui, Jeff Peischl, Robert J. Yokelson, Matthew J. Alvarado, Sonia M. Kreidenweis, Shantanu H. Jathar, and Jeffrey R. Pierce
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12803–12825, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12803-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12803-2022, 2022
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The evolution of organic aerosol composition and size is uncertain due to variability within and between smoke plumes. We examine the impact of plume concentration on smoke evolution from smoke plumes sampled by the NASA DC-8 during FIREX-AQ. We find that observed organic aerosol and size distribution changes are correlated to plume aerosol mass concentrations. Additionally, coagulation explains the majority of the observed growth.
Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, J. Andrew Neuman, Steven S. Brown, Hannah M. Allen, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Matthew M. Coggon, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Jessica B. Gilman, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Hongyu Guo, Hannah A. Halliday, Thomas F. Hanisco, Christopher D. Holmes, L. Gregory Huey, Jose L. Jimenez, Aaron D. Lamplugh, Young Ro Lee, Jakob Lindaas, Richard H. Moore, Benjamin A. Nault, John B. Nowak, Demetrios Pagonis, Pamela S. Rickly, Michael A. Robinson, Andrew W. Rollins, Vanessa Selimovic, Jason M. St. Clair, David Tanner, Krystal T. Vasquez, Patrick R. Veres, Carsten Warneke, Paul O. Wennberg, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Caroline C. Womack, Lu Xu, Kyle J. Zarzana, and Thomas B. Ryerson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4901–4930, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4901-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4901-2022, 2022
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Understanding fire emission impacts on the atmosphere is key to effective air quality management and requires accurate measurements. We present a comparison of airborne measurements of key atmospheric species in ambient air and in fire smoke. We show that most instruments performed within instrument uncertainties. In some cases, further work is needed to fully characterize instrument performance. Comparing independent measurements using different techniques is important to assess their accuracy.
Aditya Kumar, R. Bradley Pierce, Ravan Ahmadov, Gabriel Pereira, Saulo Freitas, Georg Grell, Chris Schmidt, Allen Lenzen, Joshua P. Schwarz, Anne E. Perring, Joseph M. Katich, John Hair, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, and Hongyu Guo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10195–10219, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10195-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10195-2022, 2022
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We use the WRF-Chem model with new implementations of GOES-16 wildfire emissions and plume rise based on fire radiative power (FRP) to interpret aerosol observations during the 2019 NASA–NOAA FIREX-AQ field campaign and perform model evaluations. The model shows significant improvements in simulating the variety of aerosol loading environments sampled during FIREX-AQ. Our results also highlight the importance of accurate wildfire diurnal cycle and aerosol chemical mechanisms in models.
Michael A. Robinson, J. Andrew Neuman, L. Gregory Huey, James M. Roberts, Steven S. Brown, and Patrick R. Veres
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4295–4305, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4295-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4295-2022, 2022
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Iodide chemical ionization mass spectrometry (CIMS) is commonly used in atmospheric chemistry laboratory studies and field campaigns. Deployment of the NOAA iodide CIMS instrument in the summer of 2021 indicated a significant and overlooked temperature dependence of the instrument sensitivity. This work explores which analytes are influenced by this phenomena. Additionally, we recommend controls to reduce this effect for future field deployments.
Linghan Zeng, Jack Dibb, Eric Scheuer, Joseph M. Katich, Joshua P. Schwarz, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Tom Ryerson, Carsten Warneke, Anne E. Perring, Glenn S. Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, John B. Nowak, Richard H. Moore, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Demetrios Pagonis, Hongyu Guo, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, Lu Xu, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8009–8036, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8009-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8009-2022, 2022
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Wildfires emit aerosol particles containing brown carbon material that affects visibility and global climate and is toxic. Brown carbon is poorly characterized due to measurement limitations, and its evolution in the atmosphere is not well known. We report on aircraft measurements of brown carbon from large wildfires in the western United States. We compare two methods for measuring brown carbon and study the evolution of brown carbon in the smoke as it moved away from the burning regions.
Vivienne H. Payne, Susan S. Kulawik, Emily V. Fischer, Jared F. Brewer, L. Gregory Huey, Kazuyuki Miyazaki, John R. Worden, Kevin W. Bowman, Eric J. Hintsa, Fred Moore, James W. Elkins, and Julieta Juncosa Calahorrano
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3497–3511, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3497-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3497-2022, 2022
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We compare new satellite measurements of peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) with reference aircraft measurements from two different instruments flown on the same platform. While there is a systematic difference between the two aircraft datasets, both show the same large-scale distribution of PAN and the discrepancy between aircraft datasets is small compared to the satellite uncertainties. The satellite measurements show skill in capturing large-scale variations in PAN.
Glenn M. Wolfe, Thomas F. Hanisco, Heather L. Arkinson, Donald R. Blake, Armin Wisthaler, Tomas Mikoviny, Thomas B. Ryerson, Ilana Pollack, Jeff Peischl, Paul O. Wennberg, John D. Crounse, Jason M. St. Clair, Alex Teng, L. Gregory Huey, Xiaoxi Liu, Alan Fried, Petter Weibring, Dirk Richter, James Walega, Samuel R. Hall, Kirk Ullmann, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, T. Paul Bui, Glenn Diskin, James R. Podolske, Glen Sachse, and Ronald C. Cohen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4253–4275, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4253-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4253-2022, 2022
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Smoke plumes are chemically complex. This work combines airborne observations of smoke plume composition with a photochemical model to probe the production of ozone and the fate of reactive gases in the outflow of a large wildfire. Model–measurement comparisons illustrate how uncertain emissions and chemical processes propagate into simulated chemical evolution. Results provide insight into how this system responds to perturbations, which can help guide future observation and modeling efforts.
Douglas A. Day, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Brett B. Palm, Weiwei Hu, Hongyu Guo, Paul J. Wooldridge, Ronald C. Cohen, Kenneth S. Docherty, J. Alex Huffman, Suzane S. de Sá, Scot T. Martin, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 459–483, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-459-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-459-2022, 2022
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Particle-phase nitrates are an important component of atmospheric aerosols and chemistry. In this paper, we systematically explore the application of aerosol mass spectrometry (AMS) to quantify the organic and inorganic nitrate fractions of aerosols in the atmosphere. While AMS has been used for a decade to quantify nitrates, methods are not standardized. We make recommendations for a more universal approach based on this analysis of a large range of field and laboratory observations.
Dongwook Kim, Changmin Cho, Seokhan Jeong, Soojin Lee, Benjamin A. Nault, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Douglas A. Day, Jason C. Schroder, Jose L. Jimenez, Rainer Volkamer, Donald R. Blake, Armin Wisthaler, Alan Fried, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Sally E. Pusede, Samuel R. Hall, Kirk Ullmann, L. Gregory Huey, David J. Tanner, Jack Dibb, Christoph J. Knote, and Kyung-Eun Min
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 805–821, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-805-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-805-2022, 2022
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CHOCHO was simulated using a 0-D box model constrained by measurements during the KORUS-AQ mission. CHOCHO concentration was high in large cities, aromatics being the most important precursors. Loss path to aerosol was the highest sink, contributing to ~ 20 % of secondary organic aerosol formation. Our work highlights that simple CHOCHO surface uptake approach is valid only for low aerosol conditions and more work is required to understand CHOCHO solubility in high-aerosol conditions.
Brix Raphael Go, Yan Lyu, Yan Ji, Yong Jie Li, Dan Dan Huang, Xue Li, Theodora Nah, Chun Ho Lam, and Chak K. Chan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 273–293, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-273-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-273-2022, 2022
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Biomass burning (BB) is a global phenomenon that releases large quantities of pollutants such as phenols and aromatic carbonyls into the atmosphere. These compounds can form secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) which play an important role in the Earth’s energy budget. In this work, we demonstrated that the direct irradiation of vanillin (VL) could generate aqueous SOA (aqSOA) such as oligomers. In the presence of nitrate, VL photo-oxidation can also form nitrated compounds.
Zachary C. J. Decker, Michael A. Robinson, Kelley C. Barsanti, Ilann Bourgeois, Matthew M. Coggon, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Frank M. Flocke, Alessandro Franchin, Carley D. Fredrickson, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Samuel R. Hall, Hannah Halliday, Christopher D. Holmes, L. Gregory Huey, Young Ro Lee, Jakob Lindaas, Ann M. Middlebrook, Denise D. Montzka, Richard Moore, J. Andrew Neuman, John B. Nowak, Brett B. Palm, Jeff Peischl, Felix Piel, Pamela S. Rickly, Andrew W. Rollins, Thomas B. Ryerson, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Kanako Sekimoto, Lee Thornhill, Joel A. Thornton, Geoffrey S. Tyndall, Kirk Ullmann, Paul Van Rooy, Patrick R. Veres, Carsten Warneke, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Elizabeth Wiggins, Edward Winstead, Armin Wisthaler, Caroline Womack, and Steven S. Brown
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16293–16317, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16293-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16293-2021, 2021
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To understand air quality impacts from wildfires, we need an accurate picture of how wildfire smoke changes chemically both day and night as sunlight changes the chemistry of smoke. We present a chemical analysis of wildfire smoke as it changes from midday through the night. We use aircraft observations from the FIREX-AQ field campaign with a chemical box model. We find that even under sunlight typical
nighttimechemistry thrives and controls the fate of key smoke plume chemical processes.
Charles A. Brock, Karl D. Froyd, Maximilian Dollner, Christina J. Williamson, Gregory Schill, Daniel M. Murphy, Nicholas J. Wagner, Agnieszka Kupc, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Jason C. Schroder, Douglas A. Day, Derek J. Price, Bernadett Weinzierl, Joshua P. Schwarz, Joseph M. Katich, Siyuan Wang, Linghan Zeng, Rodney Weber, Jack Dibb, Eric Scheuer, Glenn S. Diskin, Joshua P. DiGangi, ThaoPaul Bui, Jonathan M. Dean-Day, Chelsea R. Thompson, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Ilann Bourgeois, Bruce C. Daube, Róisín Commane, and Steven C. Wofsy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15023–15063, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15023-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15023-2021, 2021
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The Atmospheric Tomography Mission was an airborne study that mapped the chemical composition of the remote atmosphere. From this, we developed a comprehensive description of aerosol properties that provides a unique, global-scale dataset against which models can be compared. The data show the polluted nature of the remote atmosphere in the Northern Hemisphere and quantify the contributions of sea salt, dust, soot, biomass burning particles, and pollution particles to the haziness of the sky.
Linghan Zeng, Amy P. Sullivan, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Jack Dibb, Eric Scheuer, Teresa L. Campos, Joseph M. Katich, Ezra Levin, Michael A. Robinson, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6357–6378, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6357-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6357-2021, 2021
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Three online systems for measuring water-soluble brown carbon are compared. A mist chamber and two different particle-into-liquid samplers were deployed on separate research aircraft targeting wildfires and followed a similar detection method using a long-path liquid waveguide with a spectrometer to measure the light absorption from 300 to 700 nm. Detection limits, signal hysteresis and other sampling issues are compared, and further improvements of these liquid-based systems are provided.
Xuan Wang, Daniel J. Jacob, William Downs, Shuting Zhai, Lei Zhu, Viral Shah, Christopher D. Holmes, Tomás Sherwen, Becky Alexander, Mathew J. Evans, Sebastian D. Eastham, J. Andrew Neuman, Patrick R. Veres, Theodore K. Koenig, Rainer Volkamer, L. Gregory Huey, Thomas J. Bannan, Carl J. Percival, Ben H. Lee, and Joel A. Thornton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13973–13996, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13973-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13973-2021, 2021
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Halogen radicals have a broad range of implications for tropospheric chemistry, air quality, and climate. We present a new mechanistic description and comprehensive simulation of tropospheric halogens in a global 3-D model and compare the model results with surface and aircraft measurements. We find that halogen chemistry decreases the global tropospheric burden of ozone by 11 %, NOx by 6 %, and OH by 4 %.
Benjamin A. Nault, Duseong S. Jo, Brian C. McDonald, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Douglas A. Day, Weiwei Hu, Jason C. Schroder, James Allan, Donald R. Blake, Manjula R. Canagaratna, Hugh Coe, Matthew M. Coggon, Peter F. DeCarlo, Glenn S. Diskin, Rachel Dunmore, Frank Flocke, Alan Fried, Jessica B. Gilman, Georgios Gkatzelis, Jacqui F. Hamilton, Thomas F. Hanisco, Patrick L. Hayes, Daven K. Henze, Alma Hodzic, James Hopkins, Min Hu, L. Greggory Huey, B. Thomas Jobson, William C. Kuster, Alastair Lewis, Meng Li, Jin Liao, M. Omar Nawaz, Ilana B. Pollack, Jeffrey Peischl, Bernhard Rappenglück, Claire E. Reeves, Dirk Richter, James M. Roberts, Thomas B. Ryerson, Min Shao, Jacob M. Sommers, James Walega, Carsten Warneke, Petter Weibring, Glenn M. Wolfe, Dominique E. Young, Bin Yuan, Qiang Zhang, Joost A. de Gouw, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11201–11224, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11201-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11201-2021, 2021
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Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is an important aspect of poor air quality for urban regions around the world, where a large fraction of the population lives. However, there is still large uncertainty in predicting SOA in urban regions. Here, we used data from 11 urban campaigns and show that the variability in SOA production in these regions is predictable and is explained by key emissions. These results are used to estimate the premature mortality associated with SOA in urban regions.
Yang Wang, Guangjie Zheng, Michael P. Jensen, Daniel A. Knopf, Alexander Laskin, Alyssa A. Matthews, David Mechem, Fan Mei, Ryan Moffet, Arthur J. Sedlacek, John E. Shilling, Stephen Springston, Amy Sullivan, Jason Tomlinson, Daniel Veghte, Rodney Weber, Robert Wood, Maria A. Zawadowicz, and Jian Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11079–11098, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11079-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11079-2021, 2021
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This paper reports the vertical profiles of trace gas and aerosol properties over the eastern North Atlantic, a region of persistent but diverse subtropical marine boundary layer (MBL) clouds. We examined the key processes that drive the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) population and how it varies with season and synoptic conditions. This study helps improve the model representation of the aerosol processes in the remote MBL, reducing the simulated aerosol indirect effects.
Yuhan Yang, Dong Gao, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4707–4719, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4707-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4707-2021, 2021
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Iron and copper are commonly found in ambient aerosols and have been linked to adverse health effects. We describe a relatively simple benchtop instrument that can be used to quantify these metals in aqueous solutions and verify the method by comparison with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The approach is based on forming light-absorbing metal–ligand complexes that can be measured with high sensitivity utilizing a long-path liquid waveguide capillary cell.
Richard H. Moore, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, Adam T. Ahern, Stephen Zimmerman, Lauren Montgomery, Pedro Campuzano Jost, Claire E. Robinson, Luke D. Ziemba, Edward L. Winstead, Bruce E. Anderson, Charles A. Brock, Matthew D. Brown, Gao Chen, Ewan C. Crosbie, Hongyu Guo, Jose L. Jimenez, Carolyn E. Jordan, Ming Lyu, Benjamin A. Nault, Nicholas E. Rothfuss, Kevin J. Sanchez, Melinda Schueneman, Taylor J. Shingler, Michael A. Shook, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Nicholas L. Wagner, and Jian Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4517–4542, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4517-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4517-2021, 2021
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Atmospheric particles are everywhere and exist in a range of sizes, from a few nanometers to hundreds of microns. Because particle size determines the behavior of chemical and physical processes, accurately measuring particle sizes is an important and integral part of atmospheric field measurements! Here, we discuss the performance of two commonly used particle sizers and how changes in particle composition and optical properties may result in sizing uncertainties, which we quantify.
Alexandra J. Boris, Satoshi Takahama, Andrew T. Weakley, Bruno M. Debus, Stephanie L. Shaw, Eric S. Edgerton, Taekyu Joo, Nga L. Ng, and Ann M. Dillner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4355–4374, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4355-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4355-2021, 2021
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Infrared spectrometry can be applied in routine monitoring of atmospheric particles to give comprehensive characterization of the organic material by bond rather than species. Using this technique, the concentrations of particle organic material were found to decrease 2011–2016 in the southeastern US, driven by a decline in highly aged material, concurrent with declining anthropogenic emissions. However, an increase was observed in the fraction of more moderately aged organic matter.
Bingqing Zhang, Huizhong Shen, Pengfei Liu, Hongyu Guo, Yongtao Hu, Yilin Chen, Shaodong Xie, Ziyan Xi, T. Nash Skipper, and Armistead G. Russell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8341–8356, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8341-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8341-2021, 2021
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Extended ground-level measurements are coupled with model simulations to comprehensively compare the aerosol acidity in China and the United States. Aerosols in China are significantly less acidic than those in the United States, with pH values 1–2 units higher. Higher aerosol mass concentrations and the abundance of ammonia and ammonium in China, compared to the United States, are leading causes of the pH difference between these two countries.
Weiqi Xu, Masayuki Takeuchi, Chun Chen, Yanmei Qiu, Conghui Xie, Wanyun Xu, Nan Ma, Douglas R. Worsnop, Nga Lee Ng, and Yele Sun
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3693–3705, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3693-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3693-2021, 2021
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Here we developed a method for estimation of particulate organic nitrates (pON) from the measurements of a high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer coupled with a thermodenuder based on the volatility differences between inorganic nitrate and pON. The results generally had improvements in reducing negative values due to the influences of a high concentration of inorganic nitrate and a constant ratio of NO+ to NO2+ of organic nitrates (RON).
Hongyu Guo, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Benjamin A. Nault, Douglas A. Day, Jason C. Schroder, Dongwook Kim, Jack E. Dibb, Maximilian Dollner, Bernadett Weinzierl, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3631–3655, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3631-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3631-2021, 2021
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We utilize a set of high-quality datasets collected during the NASA Atmospheric Tomography Mission to investigate the impact of differences in observable particle sizes across aerosol instruments in aerosol measurement comparisons. Very good agreement was found between chemically and physically derived submicron aerosol volume. Results support a lack of significant unknown biases in the response of an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) when sampling remote aerosols across the globe.
Athanasios Nenes, Spyros N. Pandis, Maria Kanakidou, Armistead G. Russell, Shaojie Song, Petros Vasilakos, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 6023–6033, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6023-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-6023-2021, 2021
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Ecosystems and air quality are affected by the dry deposition of inorganic reactive nitrogen (Nr, the sum of ammonium and nitrate). Its large variability is driven by the large difference in deposition velocity of N when in the gas or particle phase. Here we show that aerosol liquid water and acidity, by affecting gas–particle partitioning, modulate the dry deposition velocity of NH3, HNO3, and Nr worldwide. These effects explain the rapid accumulation of nitrate aerosol during haze events.
Weiqi Xu, Chun Chen, Yanmei Qiu, Ying Li, Zhiqiang Zhang, Eleni Karnezi, Spyros N. Pandis, Conghui Xie, Zhijie Li, Jiaxing Sun, Nan Ma, Wanyun Xu, Pingqing Fu, Zifa Wang, Jiang Zhu, Douglas R. Worsnop, Nga Lee Ng, and Yele Sun
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5463–5476, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5463-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5463-2021, 2021
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Here aerosol volatility and viscosity at a rural site (Gucheng) and an urban site (Beijing) in the North China Plain (NCP) were investigated in summer and winter. Our results showed that organic aerosol (OA) in winter in the NCP is more volatile than that in summer due to enhanced primary emissions from coal combustion and biomass burning. We also found that OA existed mainly as a solid in winter in Beijing but as semisolids in Beijing in summer and Gucheng in winter.
Demetrios Pagonis, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Hongyu Guo, Douglas A. Day, Melinda K. Schueneman, Wyatt L. Brown, Benjamin A. Nault, Harald Stark, Kyla Siemens, Alex Laskin, Felix Piel, Laura Tomsche, Armin Wisthaler, Matthew M. Coggon, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Hannah S. Halliday, Jordan E. Krechmer, Richard H. Moore, David S. Thomson, Carsten Warneke, Elizabeth B. Wiggins, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1545–1559, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1545-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1545-2021, 2021
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We describe the airborne deployment of an extractive electrospray time-of-flight mass spectrometer (EESI-MS). The instrument provides a quantitative 1 Hz measurement of the chemical composition of organic aerosol up to altitudes of
7 km, with single-compound detection limits as low as 50 ng per standard cubic meter.
Thomas Berkemeier, Masayuki Takeuchi, Gamze Eris, and Nga L. Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15513–15535, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15513-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15513-2020, 2020
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This paper presents how environmental chamber data of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation can be interpreted using kinetic modeling techniques. Utilizing pure and mixed precursor experiments, we show that SOA formation and evaporation can be understood by explicitly treating gas-phase chemistry, gas–particle partitioning, and, notably, particle-phase oligomerization, but some of the non-linear, non-equilibrium effects must be accredited to diffusion limitations in the particle phase.
Benjamin A. Nault, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Douglas A. Day, Hongyu Guo, Duseong S. Jo, Anne V. Handschy, Demetrios Pagonis, Jason C. Schroder, Melinda K. Schueneman, Michael J. Cubison, Jack E. Dibb, Alma Hodzic, Weiwei Hu, Brett B. Palm, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6193–6213, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6193-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6193-2020, 2020
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Collecting particulate matter, or aerosols, onto filters to be analyzed offline is a widely used method to investigate the mass concentration and chemical composition of the aerosol, especially the inorganic portion. Here, we show that acidic aerosol (sulfuric acid) collected onto filters and then exposed to high ammonia mixing ratios (from human emissions) will lead to biases in the ammonium collected onto filters, and the uptake of ammonia is rapid (< 10 s), which impacts the filter data.
Yiqi Zheng, Joel A. Thornton, Nga Lee Ng, Hansen Cao, Daven K. Henze, Erin E. McDuffie, Weiwei Hu, Jose L. Jimenez, Eloise A. Marais, Eric Edgerton, and Jingqiu Mao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 13091–13107, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13091-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-13091-2020, 2020
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This study aims to address a challenge in biosphere–atmosphere interactions: to what extent can biogenic organic aerosol (OA) be modified through human activities? From three surface network observations, we show OA is weakly dependent on sulfate and aerosol acidity in the summer southeast US, on both long-term trends and monthly variability. The results are in strong contrast to a global model, GEOS-Chem, suggesting the need to revisit the representation of aqueous-phase secondary OA formation.
Ifayoyinsola Ibikunle, Andreas Beyersdorf, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Chelsea Corr, John D. Crounse, Jack Dibb, Glenn Diskin, Greg Huey, Jose-Luis Jimenez, Michelle J. Kim, Benjamin A. Nault, Eric Scheuer, Alex Teng, Paul O. Wennberg, Bruce Anderson, James Crawford, Rodney Weber, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-501, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2020-501, 2020
Publication in ACP not foreseen
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Analysis of observations over South Korea during the NASA/NIER
KORUS-AQ field campaign show that aerosol is fairly acidic (mean pH 2.43 ± 0.68). Aerosol formation is always sensitive to HNO3 levels, especially in highly polluted regions, while it is only exclusively sensitive to NH3 in some rural/remote regions. Nitrate levels accumulate because dry deposition velocity is low. HNO3 reductions achieved by NOx controls can be the most effective PM reduction strategy for all conditions observed.
Yunle Chen, Masayuki Takeuchi, Theodora Nah, Lu Xu, Manjula R. Canagaratna, Harald Stark, Karsten Baumann, Francesco Canonaco, André S. H. Prévôt, L. Gregory Huey, Rodney J. Weber, and Nga L. Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 8421–8440, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8421-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8421-2020, 2020
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Two online mass spectrometry instruments, an aerosol mass spectrometer and a chemical ionization mass spectrometer equipped with a filter inlet for gases and aerosols, were deployed at Yorkville, GA, for a comprehensive characterization of organic aerosol. We observed notable secondary organic aerosol formation from isoprene and monoterpenes via different pathways during both day and night, and a series of highly oxidized acid-like compounds was found to be closely related to aged SOA.
Yi Ji, L. Gregory Huey, David J. Tanner, Young Ro Lee, Patrick R. Veres, J. Andrew Neuman, Yuhang Wang, and Xinming Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3683–3696, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3683-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3683-2020, 2020
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A common way of measuring trace gases in the atmosphere is chemical ionization mass spectrometry. One large drawback of these instruments is that they require radioactive ion sources. In this work we demonstrate a simple ion source that uses a small krypton lamp that can be used to replace a radioactive source.
Juan Manuel Rincón-Riveros, Maria Alejandra Rincón-Caro, Amy P. Sullivan, Juan Felipe Mendez-Espinosa, Luis Carlos Belalcazar, Miguel Quirama Aguilar, and Ricardo Morales Betancourt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 7459–7472, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7459-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7459-2020, 2020
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Air pollution affects health for millions of people worldwide. This is particularly worrisome for citizens in emerging economies where air quality is often heavily deteriorated. We show how, every year, agricultural burns and forest fires in the grasslands of northern South America increase the concentration of harmful particles in the environment, further worsening air quality for nearly 60 million in this region, even when the fires occur hundreds of kilometers away from urban areas.
Jian Xu, Jia Chen, Na Zhao, Guochen Wang, Guangyuan Yu, Hao Li, Juntao Huo, Yanfen Lin, Qingyan Fu, Hongyu Guo, Congrui Deng, Shan-Hu Lee, Jianmin Chen, and Kan Huang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 7259–7269, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7259-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7259-2020, 2020
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This study provided evidence that gas-particle partitioning of ammonia, as opposed to ammonia concentration, plays a critical role in the haze formation. A reduction in ammonia emissions alone may not reduce air pollution effectively, at least at rural agricultural sites in China.
Young Ro Lee, Yi Ji, David J. Tanner, and L. Gregory Huey
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2473–2480, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2473-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2473-2020, 2020
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In this work we show how to construct a radioactive ion source for a chemical ionization mass spectrometer (CIMS) from commercially available components. The source is low activity and can be shipped with a minimum of complications. This facilitates the deployment of CIMS to measure atmospheric pollutants at remote ground sites.
Dong Gao, Krystal J. Godri Pollitt, James A. Mulholland, Armistead G. Russell, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 5197–5210, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5197-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-5197-2020, 2020
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This study provides a direct intercomparison between two assays for quantifying oxidative potential (OP) of ambient particles: the synthetic respiratory-tract-lining fluid (RTLF) assay and the dithiothreitol (DTT) assay. The results suggest that the DTT assay and the ascorbic acid depletion in RTLF are associated with organic species, transition metal ions, and antagonistic interactions between species. The glutathione depletion in RTLF is strongly dependent on water-soluble copper.
Havala O. T. Pye, Athanasios Nenes, Becky Alexander, Andrew P. Ault, Mary C. Barth, Simon L. Clegg, Jeffrey L. Collett Jr., Kathleen M. Fahey, Christopher J. Hennigan, Hartmut Herrmann, Maria Kanakidou, James T. Kelly, I-Ting Ku, V. Faye McNeill, Nicole Riemer, Thomas Schaefer, Guoliang Shi, Andreas Tilgner, John T. Walker, Tao Wang, Rodney Weber, Jia Xing, Rahul A. Zaveri, and Andreas Zuend
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4809–4888, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4809-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4809-2020, 2020
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Acid rain is recognized for its impacts on human health and ecosystems, and programs to mitigate these effects have had implications for atmospheric acidity. Historical measurements indicate that cloud and fog droplet acidity has changed in recent decades in response to controls on emissions from human activity, while the limited trend data for suspended particles indicate acidity may be relatively constant. This review synthesizes knowledge on the acidity of atmospheric particles and clouds.
Athanasios Nenes, Spyros N. Pandis, Rodney J. Weber, and Armistead Russell
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 3249–3258, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3249-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3249-2020, 2020
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We show that aerosol acidity (pH) and liquid water content naturally emerge as previously ignored parameters that drive particulate matter formation in the atmosphere, and its sensitivity to emissions of ammonia and nitric acid. The simple framework presented is easily applied to ambient measurements or model output, and it provides the
chemical regimeof PM sensitivity to ammonia and nitric acid availability.
Aoxing Zhang, Yuhang Wang, Yuzhong Zhang, Rodney J. Weber, Yongjia Song, Ziming Ke, and Yufei Zou
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1901–1920, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1901-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1901-2020, 2020
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Black carbon (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) are light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosols. We developed a module to simulate the emissions, atmospheric processing and direct radiative effect of BrC in the Community Earth System Model (CESM). We found that globally BrC is a significant absorber and is more centered in the tropical free troposphere compared to BC. The contribution of BrC heating to the Hadley circulation and latitudinal expansion of the tropics is comparable to BC heating.
Michael A. Battaglia Jr., Rodney J. Weber, Athanasios Nenes, and Christopher J. Hennigan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 14607–14620, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14607-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14607-2019, 2019
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The effects of water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) on aerosol pH were characterized for aqueous-phase particles containing a mixture of inorganics and organics. The ISORROPIA-II and E-AIM models were used in conjunction with AIOMFAC to quantify the effect of organics on aerosol pH through (1) changes to the aerosol liquid water content and (2) changes to the hydrogen ion activity coefficient. The study included both organic acids and nonacids, at RH levels ranging from 70 to 90 %.
Daun Jeong, Roger Seco, Dasa Gu, Youngro Lee, Benjamin A. Nault, Christoph J. Knote, Tom Mcgee, John T. Sullivan, Jose L. Jimenez, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Donald R. Blake, Dianne Sanchez, Alex B. Guenther, David Tanner, L. Gregory Huey, Russell Long, Bruce E. Anderson, Samuel R. Hall, Kirk Ullmann, Hye-jung Shin, Scott C. Herndon, Youngjae Lee, Danbi Kim, Joonyoung Ahn, and Saewung Kim
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 12779–12795, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12779-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12779-2019, 2019
Masayuki Takeuchi and Nga L. Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 12749–12766, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12749-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-12749-2019, 2019
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Organic nitrate is ubiquitous in the atmosphere and impacts the formation of aerosol and ozone, two leading air pollutants of concern worldwide. We conducted a comprehensive laboratory study to investigate the hydrolysis process of organic nitrate aerosol formed from monoterpenes, which are important reactive chemicals emitted by plants. Our results provide experimentally constrained parameters required to assess the role of organic nitrate in the formation of the air pollutants of our concern.
Jenny P. S. Wong, Maria Tsagkaraki, Irini Tsiodra, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Kalliopi Violaki, Maria Kanakidou, Jean Sciare, Athanasios Nenes, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 7319–7334, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7319-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7319-2019, 2019
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Biomass burning is a major source of light-absorbing organic species in atmospheric aerosols, and it can play an important role in climate and atmospheric chemistry. Through a combination of laboratory experiments and field observations, this work demonstrated that the light absorption properties of aged biomass burning organic aerosols are dominated by high-molecular-weight compounds. In addition, we found that total hydrated sugars may be a robust tracer for aged biomass burning aerosols.
Lei Zhu, Daniel J. Jacob, Sebastian D. Eastham, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Xuan Wang, Tomás Sherwen, Mat J. Evans, Qianjie Chen, Becky Alexander, Theodore K. Koenig, Rainer Volkamer, L. Gregory Huey, Michael Le Breton, Thomas J. Bannan, and Carl J. Percival
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 6497–6507, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6497-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6497-2019, 2019
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We quantify the effect of sea salt aerosol on tropospheric bromine chemistry with a new mechanistic description of the halogen chemistry in a global atmospheric chemistry model. For the first time, we are able to reproduce the observed levels of bromide activation from the sea salt aerosol in a manner consistent with bromine oxide radical measured from various platforms. Sea salt aerosol plays a far more complex role in global tropospheric chemistry than previously recognized.
Xuan Wang, Daniel J. Jacob, Sebastian D. Eastham, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lei Zhu, Qianjie Chen, Becky Alexander, Tomás Sherwen, Mathew J. Evans, Ben H. Lee, Jessica D. Haskins, Felipe D. Lopez-Hilfiker, Joel A. Thornton, Gregory L. Huey, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 3981–4003, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3981-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3981-2019, 2019
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Chlorine radicals have a broad range of implications for tropospheric chemistry, air quality, and climate. We present a comprehensive simulation of tropospheric chlorine in a global 3-D model, which includes explicit accounting of chloride mobilization from sea salt aerosol. We find the chlorine chemistry contributes 1.0 % of the global oxidation of methane and decreases global burdens of tropospheric ozone by 7 % and OH by 3 % through the associated bromine radical chemistry.
Katherine B. Benedict, Yong Zhou, Barkley C. Sive, Anthony J. Prenni, Kristi A. Gebhart, Emily V. Fischer, Ashley Evanoski-Cole, Amy P. Sullivan, Sara Callahan, Bret A. Schichtel, Huiting Mao, Ying Zhou, and Jeffrey L. Collett Jr.
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 499–521, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-499-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-499-2019, 2019
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Rocky Mountain National Park experiences high ozone concentrations that can exceed the National Ambient Air Quality Standard. As part of the FRAPPÉ field campaign, a suite of volatile organic compounds were measured to characterize the sources of ozone precursors that contribute to high ozone in the park. These measurements indicate emissions from the Front Range in Colorado tied to oil and gas operations, urban areas, and the stratosphere contribute to episodes of elevated ozone.
Benjamin A. Nault, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Douglas A. Day, Jason C. Schroder, Bruce Anderson, Andreas J. Beyersdorf, Donald R. Blake, William H. Brune, Yonghoon Choi, Chelsea A. Corr, Joost A. de Gouw, Jack Dibb, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Alan Fried, L. Gregory Huey, Michelle J. Kim, Christoph J. Knote, Kara D. Lamb, Taehyoung Lee, Taehyun Park, Sally E. Pusede, Eric Scheuer, Kenneth L. Thornhill, Jung-Hun Woo, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17769–17800, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17769-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17769-2018, 2018
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Aerosol impacts visibility and human health in large cities. Sources of aerosols are still highly uncertain, especially for cities surrounded by numerous other cities. We use observations collected during the Korea–United States Air Quality study to determine sources of organic aerosol (OA). We find that secondary OA (SOA) is rapidly produced over Seoul, South Korea, and that the sources of the SOA originate from short-lived hydrocarbons, which originate from local emissions.
Hongyu Guo, Athanasios Nenes, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17307–17323, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17307-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17307-2018, 2018
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Overprediction of fine-particle ammonium-sulfate molar ratios (R) by thermodynamic models is suggested as evidence for organic aerosol limiting the condensation of ammonia onto particles, with significant impacts on aerosol chemistry. We find that the effects of small amounts of salt and dust, combined with measurement artifacts, explain the discrepancy in R. These results are highly insensitive to mixing state. This means that aerosol predictions are much more robust than thought before.
William H. Brune, Xinrong Ren, Li Zhang, Jingqiu Mao, David O. Miller, Bruce E. Anderson, Donald R. Blake, Ronald C. Cohen, Glenn S. Diskin, Samuel R. Hall, Thomas F. Hanisco, L. Gregory Huey, Benjamin A. Nault, Jeff Peischl, Ilana Pollack, Thomas B. Ryerson, Taylor Shingler, Armin Sorooshian, Kirk Ullmann, Armin Wisthaler, and Paul J. Wooldridge
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14493–14510, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14493-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14493-2018, 2018
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Thunderstorms pull in polluted air from near the ground, transport it up through clouds containing lightning, and deposit it at altitudes where airplanes fly. The resulting chemical mixture in this air reacts to form ozone and particles, which affect climate. In this study, aircraft observations of the reactive gases responsible for this chemistry generally agree with modeled values, even in ice clouds. Thus, atmospheric oxidation chemistry appears to be mostly understood for this environment.
Petros Vasilakos, Armistead Russell, Rodney Weber, and Athanasios Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 12765–12775, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12765-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12765-2018, 2018
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In this work, we investigated the role of emission reductions on aerosol acidity and particulate nitrate. We found that models exhibit positive biases in pH predictions, attributed to very high levels of crustal elements (Mg, Ca, K) in model simulations, which in turn led to an increasing aerosol pH trend over the past decade and allowed nitrate to become an important component of aerosol, which is inconsistent with the measurements, highlighting the importance of accurate pH prediction.
Lu Xu, Havala O. T. Pye, Jia He, Yunle Chen, Benjamin N. Murphy, and Nga Lee Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 12613–12637, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12613-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12613-2018, 2018
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In this study, we integrate lab-in-the-field experiments, extensive ambient ground measurements, and state-of-the-art modeling to constrain the concentration of organic aerosol from biogenic monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes. Further, we show that the organic aerosol from the investigated sources accounts for roughly 20 % of the World Health Organization PM2.5 standard in the southeastern US.
Hongyu Guo, Rene Otjes, Patrick Schlag, Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, Athanasios Nenes, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 12241–12256, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12241-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-12241-2018, 2018
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Reduction in ammonia has been proposed as a way to lower fine particle mass and improve air quality, but gas-phase ammonia is linked to agricultural productivity. We assess the feasibility of ammonia control at a variety of locations through an aerosol thermodynamic analysis. We show that aerosol response to ammonia control is highly nonlinear and only becomes effective when ambient particle pH drops below approximately 3. Particle pH is a relevant aerosol air quality parameter.
Theodora Nah, Hongyu Guo, Amy P. Sullivan, Yunle Chen, David J. Tanner, Athanasios Nenes, Armistead Russell, Nga Lee Ng, L. Gregory Huey, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11471–11491, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11471-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11471-2018, 2018
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We present measurements from a field study conducted in an agriculturally intensive region in the southeastern US during the fall of 2016 to investigate how NH3 affects particle acidity and SOA formation via gas–particle partitioning of semi-volatile organic acids. For this study, higher NH3 concentrations relative to what has been measured in the region in previous studies had minor effects on PM1 organic acids and their influence on the overall organic aerosol and PM1 mass concentrations.
Roya Bahreini, Ravan Ahmadov, Stu A. McKeen, Kennedy T. Vu, Justin H. Dingle, Eric C. Apel, Donald R. Blake, Nicola Blake, Teresa L. Campos, Chris Cantrell, Frank Flocke, Alan Fried, Jessica B. Gilman, Alan J. Hills, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Greg Huey, Lisa Kaser, Brian M. Lerner, Roy L. Mauldin, Simone Meinardi, Denise D. Montzka, Dirk Richter, Jason R. Schroeder, Meghan Stell, David Tanner, James Walega, Peter Weibring, and Andrew Weinheimer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 8293–8312, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8293-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8293-2018, 2018
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We measured organic aerosol (OA) and relevant trace gases during FRAPPÉ in the Colorado Front Range, with the goal of characterizing summertime OA formation. Our results indicate a significant production of secondary OA (SOA) in this region. About 2 μg m−3 of OA was present at background CO levels, suggesting contribution of non-combustion sources to SOA. Contribution of oil- and gas-related activities to anthropogenic SOA was modeled to be ~38 %. Biogenic SOA contributed to >40 % of OA.
Evangelia Kostenidou, Eleni Karnezi, James R. Hite Jr., Aikaterini Bougiatioti, Kate Cerully, Lu Xu, Nga L. Ng, Athanasios Nenes, and Spyros N. Pandis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5799–5819, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5799-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5799-2018, 2018
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The volatility distribution of organic aerosol (OA) and its sources during the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS) was estimated. The volatility distribution of all components covered a wide range including both semi-volatile and low-volatility components. The oxygen content of the factors can be combined with their estimated volatility and hygroscopicity to provide a better view of their physical properties.
Haiyan Li, Qiang Zhang, Bo Zheng, Chunrong Chen, Nana Wu, Hongyu Guo, Yuxuan Zhang, Yixuan Zheng, Xin Li, and Kebin He
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5293–5306, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5293-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5293-2018, 2018
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This study revealed the driving role of nitrate in urban haze development in the North China Plain (NCP) during summertime. Several factors favoring the rapid nitrate formation were investigated in detail. The higher concentration and, in particular, the higher contribution of nitrate in PM1 suggest an urgent need to initiate ammonia emission control measures and further reduce NOx emissions over the NCP region.
Riinu Ots, Mathew R. Heal, Dominique E. Young, Leah R. Williams, James D. Allan, Eiko Nemitz, Chiara Di Marco, Anais Detournay, Lu Xu, Nga L. Ng, Hugh Coe, Scott C. Herndon, Ian A. Mackenzie, David C. Green, Jeroen J. P. Kuenen, Stefan Reis, and Massimo Vieno
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 4497–4518, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4497-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4497-2018, 2018
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The main hypothesis of this paper is that people who live in large cities in the UK disobey the
smoke control lawas it has not been actively enforced for decades now. However, the use of wood in residential heating has increased, partly due to renewable energy targets, but also for discretionary (i.e. pleasant fireplaces) reasons. Our study is based mainly in London, but similar struggles with urban air quality due to residential wood and coal burning are seen in other major European cities.
Jingqiu Mao, Annmarie Carlton, Ronald C. Cohen, William H. Brune, Steven S. Brown, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jose L. Jimenez, Havala O. T. Pye, Nga Lee Ng, Lu Xu, V. Faye McNeill, Kostas Tsigaridis, Brian C. McDonald, Carsten Warneke, Alex Guenther, Matthew J. Alvarado, Joost de Gouw, Loretta J. Mickley, Eric M. Leibensperger, Rohit Mathur, Christopher G. Nolte, Robert W. Portmann, Nadine Unger, Mika Tosca, and Larry W. Horowitz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2615–2651, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2615-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2615-2018, 2018
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This paper is aimed at discussing progress in evaluating, diagnosing, and improving air quality and climate modeling using comparisons to SAS observations as a guide to thinking about improvements to mechanisms and parameterizations in models.
Xuan Wang, Colette L. Heald, Jiumeng Liu, Rodney J. Weber, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, Joshua P. Schwarz, and Anne E. Perring
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 635–653, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-635-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-635-2018, 2018
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Brown carbon (BrC) contributes significantly to uncertainty in estimating the global direct radiative effect (DRE) of aerosols. We develop a global model simulation of BrC and test it against BrC absorption measurements from two aircraft campaigns in the continental United States. We suggest that BrC DRE has been overestimated previously due to the lack of observational constraints from direct measurements and omission of the effects of photochemical whitening.
Havala O. T. Pye, Andreas Zuend, Juliane L. Fry, Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz, Shannon L. Capps, K. Wyat Appel, Hosein Foroutan, Lu Xu, Nga L. Ng, and Allen H. Goldstein
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 357–370, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-357-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-357-2018, 2018
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Thermodynamic modeling revealed that some but not all measurements of ammonium-to-sulfate ratios are consistent with theory. The measurement diversity likely explains the previously reported range of results regarding the suitability of thermodynamic modeling. Despite particles being predominantly phase separated, organic–inorganic interactions resulted in increased aerosol pH and partitioning towards the particle phase for highly oxygenated organic compounds compared to traditional methods.
Theodore K. Koenig, Rainer Volkamer, Sunil Baidar, Barbara Dix, Siyuan Wang, Daniel C. Anderson, Ross J. Salawitch, Pamela A. Wales, Carlos A. Cuevas, Rafael P. Fernandez, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Mathew J. Evans, Tomás Sherwen, Daniel J. Jacob, Johan Schmidt, Douglas Kinnison, Jean-François Lamarque, Eric C. Apel, James C. Bresch, Teresa Campos, Frank M. Flocke, Samuel R. Hall, Shawn B. Honomichl, Rebecca Hornbrook, Jørgen B. Jensen, Richard Lueb, Denise D. Montzka, Laura L. Pan, J. Michael Reeves, Sue M. Schauffler, Kirk Ullmann, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Elliot L. Atlas, Valeria Donets, Maria A. Navarro, Daniel Riemer, Nicola J. Blake, Dexian Chen, L. Gregory Huey, David J. Tanner, Thomas F. Hanisco, and Glenn M. Wolfe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 15245–15270, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-15245-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-15245-2017, 2017
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Tropospheric inorganic bromine (BrO and Bry) shows a C-shaped profile over the tropical western Pacific Ocean, and supports previous speculation that marine convection is a source for inorganic bromine from sea salt to the upper troposphere. The Bry profile in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) is complex, suggesting that the total Bry budget in the TTL is not closed without considering aerosol bromide. The implications for atmospheric composition and bromine sources are discussed.
Ryan Thalman, Suzane S. de Sá, Brett B. Palm, Henrique M. J. Barbosa, Mira L. Pöhlker, M. Lizabeth Alexander, Joel Brito, Samara Carbone, Paulo Castillo, Douglas A. Day, Chongai Kuang, Antonio Manzi, Nga Lee Ng, Arthur J. Sedlacek III, Rodrigo Souza, Stephen Springston, Thomas Watson, Christopher Pöhlker, Ulrich Pöschl, Meinrat O. Andreae, Paulo Artaxo, Jose L. Jimenez, Scot T. Martin, and Jian Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 11779–11801, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-11779-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-11779-2017, 2017
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Particle hygroscopicity, mixing state, and the hygroscopicity of organic components were characterized in central Amazonia for 1 year; their seasonal and diel variations were driven by a combination of primary emissions, photochemical oxidation, and boundary layer development. The relationship between the hygroscopicity of organic components and their oxidation level was examined, and the results help to reconcile the differences among the relationships observed in previous studies.
Wing Y. Tuet, Yunle Chen, Shierly Fok, Julie A. Champion, and Nga L. Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 11423–11440, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-11423-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-11423-2017, 2017
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Exposure to secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) may have cardiopulmonary health implications. Alveolar macrophages were exposed to various SOA systems and reactive oxygen and nitrogen species production and cytokine secretion was measured post-exposure. Results from this study show that the chemical structure of SOA products may be important for determining cellular responses and demonstrate that the health effects of SOA are important to consider for the health implications of ambient aerosols.
Benjamin N. Murphy, Matthew C. Woody, Jose L. Jimenez, Ann Marie G. Carlton, Patrick L. Hayes, Shang Liu, Nga L. Ng, Lynn M. Russell, Ari Setyan, Lu Xu, Jeff Young, Rahul A. Zaveri, Qi Zhang, and Havala O. T. Pye
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 11107–11133, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-11107-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-11107-2017, 2017
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We incorporate recent findings about the behavior of organic pollutants in urban airsheds into the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to refine predictions of organic particulate pollution in the United States. The new techniques, which account for the volatility and ongoing chemistry of airborne organic compounds, substantially reduce biases, particularly in the winter time and near emission sources.
Dong Gao, Ting Fang, Vishal Verma, Linghan Zeng, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2821–2835, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2821-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2821-2017, 2017
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This work compares three methods to determine the optimal approach for quantifying the total oxidative potential (OP) of fine particles collected with filters using the dithiothreitol (DTT) assay. An automated system has been developed to facilitate the total OP measurements for use in generation of large data sets needed for epidemiology studies. The results from this study show that the water-insoluble components contribute to PM2.5 OP and the related DTT-active species are largely secondary.
Hongyu Guo, Jiumeng Liu, Karl D. Froyd, James M. Roberts, Patrick R. Veres, Patrick L. Hayes, Jose L. Jimenez, Athanasios Nenes, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5703–5719, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5703-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5703-2017, 2017
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Fine particle pH is linked to many environmental impacts by affecting particle concentration and composition. Predicted Pasadena, CA (CalNex campaign), PM1 pH is 1.9 and PM2.5 pH 2.7, the latter higher due to sea salts. The model predicted gas–particle partitionings of HNO3–NO3−, NH3–NH4+, and HCl–Cl− are in good agreement, verifying the model predictions. A summary of contrasting locations in the US and eastern Mediterranean shows fine particles are generally highly acidic, with pH below 3.
Chelsea R. Thompson, Paul B. Shepson, Jin Liao, L. Greg Huey, Chris Cantrell, Frank Flocke, and John Orlando
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 3401–3421, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-3401-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-3401-2017, 2017
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The generally accepted mechanism leading to ozone depletion events in the Arctic assumes efficient gas-phase recycling of bromine atoms, such that the rate of ozone depletion has often been estimated as the rate that Br atoms regenerate through gas-phase BrO + BrO and BrO + ClO reactions. Using a large suite of data from the OASIS2009 campaign, our modeling results show that the gas-phase regeneration of Br is less efficient than expected and that heterogeneous recycling on surfaces is critical.
Theodora Nah, Renee C. McVay, Jeffrey R. Pierce, John H. Seinfeld, and Nga L. Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2297–2310, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2297-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2297-2017, 2017
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We present a model framework that accounts for coagulation in chamber studies where high seed aerosol surface area concentrations are used. The uncertainties in the calculated SOA mass concentrations and yields between four different particle-wall loss correction methods over the series of α-pinene ozonolysis experiments are also assessed. We show that SOA mass yields calculated by the four methods can deviate significantly in studies where high seed aerosol surface area concentrations are used.
Nga Lee Ng, Steven S. Brown, Alexander T. Archibald, Elliot Atlas, Ronald C. Cohen, John N. Crowley, Douglas A. Day, Neil M. Donahue, Juliane L. Fry, Hendrik Fuchs, Robert J. Griffin, Marcelo I. Guzman, Hartmut Herrmann, Alma Hodzic, Yoshiteru Iinuma, José L. Jimenez, Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, Ben H. Lee, Deborah J. Luecken, Jingqiu Mao, Robert McLaren, Anke Mutzel, Hans D. Osthoff, Bin Ouyang, Benedicte Picquet-Varrault, Ulrich Platt, Havala O. T. Pye, Yinon Rudich, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Manabu Shiraiwa, Jochen Stutz, Joel A. Thornton, Andreas Tilgner, Brent J. Williams, and Rahul A. Zaveri
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 2103–2162, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2103-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-2103-2017, 2017
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Oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds by NO3 is an important interaction between anthropogenic
and natural emissions. This review results from a June 2015 workshop and includes the recent literature
on kinetics, mechanisms, organic aerosol yields, and heterogeneous chemistry; advances in analytical
instrumentation; the current state NO3-BVOC chemistry in atmospheric models; and critical needs for
future research in modeling, field observations, and laboratory studies.
Wing Y. Tuet, Yunle Chen, Lu Xu, Shierly Fok, Dong Gao, Rodney J. Weber, and Nga L. Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 839–853, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-839-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-839-2017, 2017
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Secondary organic aerosols (SOA) comprise a significant fraction of particulate matter (PM) and may have health implications. The water-soluble oxidative potentials of various SOA systems were determined using dithiothreitol consumption. Results from this study demonstrate that precursor identity was more influential than reaction condition in determining SOA oxidative potential and highlight a need to consider SOA contributions from anthropogenic hydrocarbons to PM-induced health effects.
Provat K. Saha, Andrey Khlystov, Khairunnisa Yahya, Yang Zhang, Lu Xu, Nga L. Ng, and Andrew P. Grieshop
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 501–520, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-501-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-501-2017, 2017
Havala O. T. Pye, Benjamin N. Murphy, Lu Xu, Nga L. Ng, Annmarie G. Carlton, Hongyu Guo, Rodney Weber, Petros Vasilakos, K. Wyat Appel, Sri Hapsari Budisulistiorini, Jason D. Surratt, Athanasios Nenes, Weiwei Hu, Jose L. Jimenez, Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz, Pawel K. Misztal, and Allen H. Goldstein
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 343–369, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-343-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-343-2017, 2017
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We use a chemical transport model to examine how organic compounds in the atmosphere interact with water present in particles. Organic compounds themselves lead to water uptake, and organic compounds interact with water associated with inorganic compounds in the rural southeast atmosphere. Including interactions of organic compounds with water requires a treatment of nonideality to more accurately represent aerosol observations during the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS) 2013.
Richard J. Pope, Nigel A. D. Richards, Martyn P. Chipperfield, David P. Moore, Sarah A. Monks, Stephen R. Arnold, Norbert Glatthor, Michael Kiefer, Tom J. Breider, Jeremy J. Harrison, John J. Remedios, Carsten Warneke, James M. Roberts, Glenn S. Diskin, Lewis G. Huey, Armin Wisthaler, Eric C. Apel, Peter F. Bernath, and Wuhu Feng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 13541–13559, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13541-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13541-2016, 2016
Amelia F. Longo, David J. Vine, Laura E. King, Michelle Oakes, Rodney J. Weber, Lewis Gregory Huey, Armistead G. Russell, and Ellery D. Ingall
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 13389–13398, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13389-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-13389-2016, 2016
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New synchrotron-based techniques were applied to characterize the oxidation state and composition of sulfur in ambient aerosol and emission sources. Individual particles were found to contain surprisingly high levels of elemental sulfur, a form of sulfur found in only one of the emission sources analyzed. We also show metal sulfates as a key component of urban aerosols. These metal sulfate phases are highly soluble and are indicative of acidic processes transforming metals in the environment.
Kennedy T. Vu, Justin H. Dingle, Roya Bahreini, Patrick J. Reddy, Eric C. Apel, Teresa L. Campos, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Alan Fried, Scott C. Herndon, Alan J. Hills, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Greg Huey, Lisa Kaser, Denise D. Montzka, John B. Nowak, Sally E. Pusede, Dirk Richter, Joseph R. Roscioli, Glen W. Sachse, Stephen Shertz, Meghan Stell, David Tanner, Geoffrey S. Tyndall, James Walega, Peter Weibring, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Gabriele Pfister, and Frank Flocke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 12039–12058, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12039-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12039-2016, 2016
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In this manuscript, we report on airborne measurements of non-refractory composition and optical extinction along with relevant trace gases during a unique surface mesoscale circulation event, namely the Denver Cyclone, in Colorado, USA, during in July–August 2014. The focus of this paper is to investigate how meteorological conditions associated with the Denver Cyclone impacted air quality of the Colorado Front Range.
Justin H. Dingle, Kennedy Vu, Roya Bahreini, Eric C. Apel, Teresa L. Campos, Frank Flocke, Alan Fried, Scott Herndon, Alan J. Hills, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Greg Huey, Lisa Kaser, Denise D. Montzka, John B. Nowak, Mike Reeves, Dirk Richter, Joseph R. Roscioli, Stephen Shertz, Meghan Stell, David Tanner, Geoff Tyndall, James Walega, Petter Weibring, and Andrew Weinheimer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 11207–11217, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11207-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-11207-2016, 2016
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The focus of this paper was to use gas-phase tracers and aerosol composition to characterize the influence of the different sources on optical extinction (RH = 22 %) and summertime visibility in the Colorado Front Range. Our analysis indicates that aerosol nitrate contributed significantly to optical extinction in agriculturally influenced air masses, while in other plumes, organics could explain most of the observed variability in optical extinction.
Javier Sanchez, David J. Tanner, Dexian Chen, L. Gregory Huey, and Nga L. Ng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 3851–3861, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3851-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-3851-2016, 2016
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HO2 radicals play an important role in tropospheric chemistry. Here we propose a new direct method for measuring HO2 radicals in the atmosphere using bromide anion chemical ionization mass spectrometry. Ambient measurements in Atlanta are presented. Instrument performance parameters: sensitivity, lower detection limit, and time resolution are discussed. We demonstrate that the technique provides excellent selectivity and is suitable for in situ ground-based HO2 measurements.
Theodora Nah, Renee C. McVay, Xuan Zhang, Christopher M. Boyd, John H. Seinfeld, and Nga L. Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 9361–9379, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9361-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-9361-2016, 2016
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The influence of seed aerosol surface area and oxidation rate on SOA formation in α-pinene ozonolysis is studied. SOA growth rate and mass yields are independent of seed surface area, consistent with the condensation of SOA-forming vapors being dominated by quasi-equilibrium growth. Faster α-pinene oxidation rates and higher SOA mass yields are observed at increasing O3 concentrations, indicating that a faster α-pinene oxidation rate leads to rapidly produced SOA-forming oxidation products.
Amy P. Sullivan, Natasha Hodas, Barbara J. Turpin, Kate Skog, Frank N. Keutsch, Stefania Gilardoni, Marco Paglione, Matteo Rinaldi, Stefano Decesari, Maria Cristina Facchini, Laurent Poulain, Hartmut Herrmann, Alfred Wiedensohler, Eiko Nemitz, Marsailidh M. Twigg, and Jeffrey L. Collett Jr.
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 8095–8108, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8095-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8095-2016, 2016
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This paper presents the results from our measurements and approach for the investigation of aqueous secondary organic aerosol (aqSOA) formation in the ambient atmosphere. When local aqSOA formation was observed, a correlation of water-soluble organic carbon with organic aerosol, aerosol liquid water, relative humidity, and aerosol nitrate was found. Key factors of local aqSOA production include air mass stagnation, formation of local nitrate overnight, and significant amounts of ammonia.
Riinu Ots, Dominique E. Young, Massimo Vieno, Lu Xu, Rachel E. Dunmore, James D. Allan, Hugh Coe, Leah R. Williams, Scott C. Herndon, Nga L. Ng, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Robert Bergström, Chiara Di Marco, Eiko Nemitz, Ian A. Mackenzie, Jeroen J. P. Kuenen, David C. Green, Stefan Reis, and Mathew R. Heal
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 6453–6473, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6453-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6453-2016, 2016
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This study investigates the contribution of diesel vehicle emissions to organic aerosol formation and particulate matter concentrations in London. Comparisons of simulated pollutant concentrations with observations show good agreement and give confidence in the skill of the model applied. The contribution of diesel vehicle emissions, which are currently not included in official emissions inventories, is demonstrated to be substantial, indicating that more research on this topic is required.
Charles A. Brock, Nicholas L. Wagner, Bruce E. Anderson, Alexis R. Attwood, Andreas Beyersdorf, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Annmarie G. Carlton, Douglas A. Day, Glenn S. Diskin, Timothy D. Gordon, Jose L. Jimenez, Daniel A. Lack, Jin Liao, Milos Z. Markovic, Ann M. Middlebrook, Nga L. Ng, Anne E. Perring, Matthews S. Richardson, Joshua P. Schwarz, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Andre Welti, Lu Xu, Luke D. Ziemba, and Daniel M. Murphy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4987–5007, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4987-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4987-2016, 2016
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Microscopic pollution particles make the atmosphere look hazy and also cool the earth by sending sunlight back to space. When the air is moist, these particles swell with water and scatter even more sunlight. We showed that particles formed from organic material – which dominates particulate pollution in the southeastern U.S. – does not take up water very effectively, toward the low end of most previous studies. We also found a better way to mathematically describe this swelling process.
Weruka Rattanavaraha, Kevin Chu, Sri Hapsari Budisulistiorini, Matthieu Riva, Ying-Hsuan Lin, Eric S. Edgerton, Karsten Baumann, Stephanie L. Shaw, Hongyu Guo, Laura King, Rodney J. Weber, Miranda E. Neff, Elizabeth A. Stone, John H. Offenberg, Zhenfa Zhang, Avram Gold, and Jason D. Surratt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4897–4914, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4897-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4897-2016, 2016
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The mechanisms by which specific anthropogenic pollutants enhance isoprene SOA in ambient PM2.5 remain unclear. As one aspect of an investigation to examine how anthropogenic pollutants influence isoprene-derived SOA formation, high-volume PM2.5 filter samples were collected from Birmingham, AL, during the 2013 Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS). Isoprene SOA tracers were measured from these samples and compared to gas and aerosol data collected from the SEARCH network.
Aikaterini Bougiatioti, Panayiota Nikolaou, Iasonas Stavroulas, Giorgos Kouvarakis, Rodney Weber, Athanasios Nenes, Maria Kanakidou, and Nikolaos Mihalopoulos
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4579–4591, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4579-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4579-2016, 2016
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Atmospheric aerosols and relevant parameters were measured in the eastern Mediterranean during summer and fall 2012. Submicron aerosol water can contribute up to 33 % of total mass, and 27.5 % of this can be associated with organics. Using these data, the pH of the submicron aerosols was calculated to be highly acidic, varying from 0.5 to 2.8 and independently of air masses origin. Such pH values could increase nutrient availability and thus sea water productivity of the Mediterranean Sea.
Ting Fang, Vishal Verma, Josephine T. Bates, Joseph Abrams, Mitchel Klein, Matthew J. Strickland, Stefanie E. Sarnat, Howard H. Chang, James A. Mulholland, Paige E. Tolbert, Armistead G. Russell, and Rodney J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 3865–3879, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3865-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-3865-2016, 2016
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Ascorbic acid (AA) and Dithiothreitol (DTT) assay measures of water-soluble PM2.5 oxidative potential (OP) are compared in terms of spatiotemporal trends, chemical selectivity, sources, and health impacts based on an epidemiological study with backcast estimated OP. Both assays point to metals from brake/tire wear, but only the DTT assay also identifies organics from combustion. DTT is associated with emergency department visits for asthma/wheeze and congestive heart failure, whereas AA is not.
A. J. Prenni, D. E. Day, A. R. Evanoski-Cole, B. C. Sive, A. Hecobian, Y. Zhou, K. A. Gebhart, J. L. Hand, A. P. Sullivan, Y. Li, M. I. Schurman, Y. Desyaterik, W. C. Malm, J. L. Collett Jr., and B. A. Schichtel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 1401–1416, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1401-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1401-2016, 2016
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The Bakken formation contains billions of barrels of oil and gas trapped in rock and shale. Horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing methods have allowed for extraction of these resources, leading to exponential growth of oil production in the region. Along with this development has come an increase in associated emissions to the atmosphere. This paper describes a field study (BAQS) aimed at better understanding the impacts of these emissions on air quality in nearby federal lands.
L. Xu, L. R. Williams, D. E. Young, J. D. Allan, H. Coe, P. Massoli, E. Fortner, P. Chhabra, S. Herndon, W. A. Brooks, J. T. Jayne, D. R. Worsnop, A. C. Aiken, S. Liu, K. Gorkowski, M. K. Dubey, Z. L. Fleming, S. Visser, A. S. H. Prévôt, and N. L. Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 1139–1160, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1139-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1139-2016, 2016
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We investigate the spatial distribution of submicron aerosol in the greater London area as part of the Clean Air for London (ClearfLo) project in winter 2012. Although the concentrations of organic aerosol (OA) are similar between a rural and an urban site, the OA sources are different. We also examine the volatility of submicron aerosol at the rural site and find that the non-volatile organics have similar sources or have undergone similar chemical processing as refractory black carbon.
T. Fang, H. Guo, V. Verma, R. E. Peltier, and R. J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11667–11682, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11667-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11667-2015, 2015
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This work presented a new method of quantifying water-soluble elements in PM2.5 aqueous extracts (N~500) with an X-ray fluorescence analyzer. The results indicate that water-soluble elements had marked spatial and temporal patterns. Four sources were resolved: brake/tire wear, biomass burning, secondary formation, and mineral dust. The findings have informed studies on aerosol oxidative potential and provided insights into the health effects of water-soluble metals, especially Cu, Fe, Mn and Zn.
S. Visser, J. G. Slowik, M. Furger, P. Zotter, N. Bukowiecki, F. Canonaco, U. Flechsig, K. Appel, D. C. Green, A. H. Tremper, D. E. Young, P. I. Williams, J. D. Allan, H. Coe, L. R. Williams, C. Mohr, L. Xu, N. L. Ng, E. Nemitz, J. F. Barlow, C. H. Halios, Z. L. Fleming, U. Baltensperger, and A. S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11291–11309, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11291-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11291-2015, 2015
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Trace element measurements in three particle size ranges (PM10-2.5, PM2.5-1.0 and PM1.0-0.3) were performed with 2h time resolution at kerbside, urban background and rural sites during the ClearfLo winter 2012 campaign in London. The environment-dependent variability of emissions was characterized using the Multilinear Engine implementation of the positive matrix factorization model. A total of nine different factors were resolved from local, regional and natural origin.
C. R. Thompson, P. B. Shepson, J. Liao, L. G. Huey, E. C. Apel, C. A. Cantrell, F. Flocke, J. Orlando, A. Fried, S. R. Hall, R. S. Hornbrook, D. J. Knapp, R. L. Mauldin III, D. D. Montzka, B. C. Sive, K. Ullmann, P. Weibring, and A. Weinheimer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 9651–9679, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9651-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9651-2015, 2015
K. M. Cerully, A. Bougiatioti, J. R. Hite Jr., H. Guo, L. Xu, N. L. Ng, R. Weber, and A. Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 8679–8694, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-8679-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-8679-2015, 2015
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The hygroscopicity of SE US aerosol is mostly water-soluble, with a hygroscopicity that is insensitive to partial volatilization in a thermodenuder.
The most and least oxidized components of the aerosol are the most hygroscopic of organic constituents.
No clear relationship was found between organic aerosol hygroscopicity and oxygen-to-carbon ratio.
The aerosol factors covary in a way that induces the observed diurnal invariance in total organic hygroscopicity.
J. Liu, E. Scheuer, J. Dibb, G. S. Diskin, L. D. Ziemba, K. L. Thornhill, B. E. Anderson, A. Wisthaler, T. Mikoviny, J. J. Devi, M. Bergin, A. E. Perring, M. Z. Markovic, J. P. Schwarz, P. Campuzano-Jost, D. A. Day, J. L. Jimenez, and R. J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7841–7858, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7841-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7841-2015, 2015
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Brown carbon (BrC) is found throughout the US continental troposphere during a summer of extensive biomass burning and its prevalence relative to black carbon (BC) increases with altitude. A radiative transfer model based on direct measurements of aerosol scattering and absorption by BC and BrC shows BrC reduces top-of-atmosphere forcing by 20%. A method to estimate BrC radiative forcing efficiencies from surface-based measurements is provided.
C. M. Boyd, J. Sanchez, L. Xu, A. J. Eugene, T. Nah, W. Y. Tuet, M. I. Guzman, and N. L. Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7497–7522, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7497-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7497-2015, 2015
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Laboratory chamber studies were conducted to investigate the formation of secondary organic aerosol from β-pinene oxidation by nitrate radicals. These experiments probed the effects of peroxy radical fate and relative humidity on the mass and chemical composition of secondary organic aerosol formed from nighttime chemistry. Results from this study were used to evaluate the contributions of NO3+monoterpene reaction to ambient organic aerosol recently measured in the southeastern United States.
L. Xu, S. Suresh, H. Guo, R. J. Weber, and N. L. Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7307–7336, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7307-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7307-2015, 2015
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Year-long comprehensive characterization of ambient aerosol was performed in both rural and urban sites in the southeastern US as part of Southeastern Center of Air Pollution and Epidemiology (SCAPE) study and Southeastern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS). Three independent methods were applied to estimate the concentration of particle-phase organic nitrates. The spatial distribution of organic aerosol is investigated by comparing simultaneous HR-ToF-AMS and ACSM measurements at different sites.
N. L. Wagner, C. A. Brock, W. M. Angevine, A. Beyersdorf, P. Campuzano-Jost, D. Day, J. A. de Gouw, G. S. Diskin, T. D. Gordon, M. G. Graus, J. S. Holloway, G. Huey, J. L. Jimenez, D. A. Lack, J. Liao, X. Liu, M. Z. Markovic, A. M. Middlebrook, T. Mikoviny, J. Peischl, A. E. Perring, M. S. Richardson, T. B. Ryerson, J. P. Schwarz, C. Warneke, A. Welti, A. Wisthaler, L. D. Ziemba, and D. M. Murphy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 7085–7102, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7085-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-7085-2015, 2015
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This paper investigates the summertime vertical profile of aerosol over the southeastern US using in situ measurements collected from aircraft. We use a vertical mixing model and measurements of CO to predict the vertical profile of aerosol that we would expect from vertical mixing alone and compare with the observed aerosol profile. We found a modest enhancement of aerosol in the cloudy transition layer during shallow cumulus convection and attribute the enhancement to local aerosol formation.
L. K. Emmons, S. R. Arnold, S. A. Monks, V. Huijnen, S. Tilmes, K. S. Law, J. L. Thomas, J.-C. Raut, I. Bouarar, S. Turquety, Y. Long, B. Duncan, S. Steenrod, S. Strode, J. Flemming, J. Mao, J. Langner, A. M. Thompson, D. Tarasick, E. C. Apel, D. R. Blake, R. C. Cohen, J. Dibb, G. S. Diskin, A. Fried, S. R. Hall, L. G. Huey, A. J. Weinheimer, A. Wisthaler, T. Mikoviny, J. Nowak, J. Peischl, J. M. Roberts, T. Ryerson, C. Warneke, and D. Helmig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 6721–6744, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6721-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6721-2015, 2015
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Eleven 3-D tropospheric chemistry models have been compared and evaluated with observations in the Arctic during the International Polar Year (IPY 2008). Large differences are seen among the models, particularly related to the model chemistry of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and reactive nitrogen (NOx, PAN, HNO3) partitioning. Consistency among the models in the underestimation of CO, ethane and propane indicates the emission inventory is too low for these compounds.
H. Guo, L. Xu, A. Bougiatioti, K. M. Cerully, S. L. Capps, J. R. Hite Jr., A. G. Carlton, S.-H. Lee, M. H. Bergin, N. L. Ng, A. Nenes, and R. J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 5211–5228, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5211-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5211-2015, 2015
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Particle pH can affect many aerosol processes, including gas-particle partitioning, SOA formation, and mobilization of toxic redox metals. pH is challenging to directly measure and often improperly characterized by proxies like ion balances or molar ratios of measured aerosol ionic species. We present a detailed analysis predicting pH with a thermodynamic model, verify the prediction, and test pH sensitivity to model inputs based on data from the SOAS field campaign.
J. W. Taylor, J. D. Allan, D. Liu, M. Flynn, R. Weber, X. Zhang, B. L. Lefer, N. Grossberg, J. Flynn, and H. Coe
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1701–1718, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1701-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1701-2015, 2015
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When using the SP2 to report black carbon core/shell coating thickness, the core density and refractive index must be estimated from literature values. We systematically vary the assumed parameters and the instrument calibration, and quantify the effects in the derived coatings. The technique is highly sensitive to the core refractive index but has only a minor sensitivity to the core density and coating refractive index. We identify the most appropriate values to use in future analysis.
C. J. Hennigan, J. Izumi, A. P. Sullivan, R. J. Weber, and A. Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 2775–2790, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2775-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2775-2015, 2015
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We show that the ion balance and molar ratio methods are unsuitable for use as aerosol pH proxies. Our recommendation is that 1) thermodynamic equilibrium models constrained by both gas and aerosol inputs run in the forward (open) mode, and 2) the phase partitioning of ammonia provides the best predictions of aerosol pH. Given the significance of acidity for numerous chemical processes in the atmosphere, the implications of this study are important and far reaching.
S. Visser, J. G. Slowik, M. Furger, P. Zotter, N. Bukowiecki, R. Dressler, U. Flechsig, K. Appel, D. C. Green, A. H. Tremper, D. E. Young, P. I. Williams, J. D. Allan, S. C. Herndon, L. R. Williams, C. Mohr, L. Xu, N. L. Ng, A. Detournay, J. F. Barlow, C. H. Halios, Z. L. Fleming, U. Baltensperger, and A. S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 2367–2386, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2367-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2367-2015, 2015
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Ambient concentrations of trace elements with 2h time resolution were measured in three size ranges (PM10–2.5, PM2.5–1.0, PM1.0–0.3) at kerbside, urban background and rural sites in London during the ClearfLo (Clean Air for London) field campaign. Quantification of kerb and urban increments, and assessment of diurnal and weekly variability provided insight into sources governing urban air quality and the effects of urban micro-environments on human exposure.
B. Yuan, P. R. Veres, C. Warneke, J. M. Roberts, J. B. Gilman, A. Koss, P. M. Edwards, M. Graus, W. C. Kuster, S.-M. Li, R. J. Wild, S. S. Brown, W. P. Dubé, B. M. Lerner, E. J. Williams, J. E. Johnson, P. K. Quinn, T. S. Bates, B. Lefer, P. L. Hayes, J. L. Jimenez, R. J. Weber, R. Zamora, B. Ervens, D. B. Millet, B. Rappenglück, and J. A. de Gouw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 1975–1993, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1975-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1975-2015, 2015
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In this work, secondary formation of formic acid at an urban site and a site in an oil and gas production region is studied. We investigated various gas phase formation pathways of formic acid, including those recently proposed, using a box model. The contributions from aerosol-related processes, fog events and air-snow exchange to formic acid are also quantified.
T. Fang, V. Verma, H. Guo, L. E. King, E. S. Edgerton, and R. J. Weber
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 471–482, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-471-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-471-2015, 2015
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This work summarizes a newly developed semi-automated system for quantifying the oxidative potential of aerosol aqueous extracts using the dithiothreitol (DTT) assay. 500 sample analyses indicate that DTT activity in the southeast US is likely not dominated by a unique local source, and sources change with season. The unique large data set generated with the technique described in this paper allows new studies on DTT sources and investigating linkages between reactive oxygen species and health.
V. Verma, T. Fang, H. Guo, L. King, J. T. Bates, R. E. Peltier, E. Edgerton, A. G. Russell, and R. J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 12915–12930, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12915-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12915-2014, 2014
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The major emission sources of the reactive oxygen species (ROS) associated with ambient particulate matter in the southeastern United States were identified. The study shows biomass burning and secondary aerosol formation as the major sources contributing to the ROS-generating capability of ambient particles. The ubiquitous nature of these two sources suggests widespread population exposures to the toxic aerosol components.
Y. You, V. P. Kanawade, J. A. de Gouw, A. B. Guenther, S. Madronich, M. R. Sierra-Hernández, M. Lawler, J. N. Smith, S. Takahama, G. Ruggeri, A. Koss, K. Olson, K. Baumann, R. J. Weber, A. Nenes, H. Guo, E. S. Edgerton, L. Porcelli, W. H. Brune, A. H. Goldstein, and S.-H. Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 12181–12194, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12181-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12181-2014, 2014
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Amiens play important roles in atmospheric secondary aerosol formation and human health, but the fast response measurements of amines are lacking. Here we show measurements in a southeastern US forest and a moderately polluted midwestern site. Our results show that gas to particle conversion is an important process that controls ambient amine concentrations and that biomass burning is an important source of amines.
T. K. V. Nguyen, M. D. Petters, S. R. Suda, H. Guo, R. J. Weber, and A. G. Carlton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 10911–10930, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-10911-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-10911-2014, 2014
A. P. Sullivan, A. A. May, T. Lee, G. R. McMeeking, S. M. Kreidenweis, S. K. Akagi, R. J. Yokelson, S. P. Urbanski, and J. L. Collett Jr.
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 10535–10545, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-10535-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-10535-2014, 2014
S. H. Budisulistiorini, M. R. Canagaratna, P. L. Croteau, K. Baumann, E. S. Edgerton, M. S. Kollman, N. L. Ng, V. Verma, S. L. Shaw, E. M. Knipping, D. R. Worsnop, J. T. Jayne, R.J. Weber, and J. D. Surratt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 1929–1941, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1929-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1929-2014, 2014
C. J. Gaston, J. A. Thornton, and N. L. Ng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 5693–5707, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5693-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-5693-2014, 2014
P. Tiitta, V. Vakkari, P. Croteau, J. P. Beukes, P. G. van Zyl, M. Josipovic, A. D. Venter, K. Jaars, J. J. Pienaar, N. L. Ng, M. R. Canagaratna, J. T. Jayne, V.-M. Kerminen, H. Kokkola, M. Kulmala, A. Laaksonen, D. R. Worsnop, and L. Laakso
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1909–1927, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1909-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1909-2014, 2014
C. L. Loza, J. S. Craven, L. D. Yee, M. M. Coggon, R. H. Schwantes, M. Shiraiwa, X. Zhang, K. A. Schilling, N. L. Ng, M. R. Canagaratna, P. J. Ziemann, R. C. Flagan, and J. H. Seinfeld
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1423–1439, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1423-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1423-2014, 2014
J. Liu, M. Bergin, H. Guo, L. King, N. Kotra, E. Edgerton, and R. J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12389–12404, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12389-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12389-2013, 2013
L. D. Yee, J. S. Craven, C. L. Loza, K. A. Schilling, N. L. Ng, M. R. Canagaratna, P. J. Ziemann, R. C. Flagan, and J. H. Seinfeld
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 11121–11140, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11121-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-11121-2013, 2013
M. Dall'Osto, X. Querol, A. Alastuey, M. C. Minguillon, M. Alier, F. Amato, M. Brines, M. Cusack, J. O. Grimalt, A. Karanasiou, T. Moreno, M. Pandolfi, J. Pey, C. Reche, A. Ripoll, R. Tauler, B. L. Van Drooge, M. Viana, R. M. Harrison, J. Gietl, D. Beddows, W. Bloss, C. O'Dowd, D. Ceburnis, G. Martucci, N. L. Ng, D. Worsnop, J. Wenger, E. Mc Gillicuddy, J. Sodeau, R. Healy, F. Lucarelli, S. Nava, J. L. Jimenez, F. Gomez Moreno, B. Artinano, A. S. H. Prévôt, L. Pfaffenberger, S. Frey, F. Wilsenack, D. Casabona, P. Jiménez-Guerrero, D. Gross, and N. Cots
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 8991–9019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8991-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8991-2013, 2013
Y. J. Li, B. Y. L. Lee, J. Z. Yu, N. L. Ng, and C. K. Chan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 8739–8753, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8739-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8739-2013, 2013
Y. Cheng, G. Engling, K.-B. He, F.-K. Duan, Y.-L. Ma, Z.-Y. Du, J.-M. Liu, M. Zheng, and R. J. Weber
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 7765–7781, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7765-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-7765-2013, 2013
L. E. King and R. J. Weber
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 6, 1647–1658, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1647-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-6-1647-2013, 2013
T. L. Lathem, A. J. Beyersdorf, K. L. Thornhill, E. L. Winstead, M. J. Cubison, A. Hecobian, J. L. Jimenez, R. J. Weber, B. E. Anderson, and A. Nenes
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2735–2756, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2735-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2735-2013, 2013
M. Huang, G. R. Carmichael, T. Chai, R. B. Pierce, S. J. Oltmans, D. A. Jaffe, K. W. Bowman, A. Kaduwela, C. Cai, S. N. Spak, A. J. Weinheimer, L. G. Huey, and G. S. Diskin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 359–391, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-359-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-359-2013, 2013
J. S. Craven, L. D. Yee, N. L. Ng, M. R. Canagaratna, C. L. Loza, K. A. Schilling, R. L. N. Yatavelli, J. A. Thornton, P. J. Ziemann, R. C. Flagan, and J. H. Seinfeld
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 11795–11817, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-11795-2012, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-11795-2012, 2012
Related subject area
Subject: Gases | Technique: In Situ Measurement | Topic: Instruments and Platforms
Development of a forced advection sampling technique (FAST) for quantification of methane emissions from orphaned wells
Simple water vapor sampling for stable isotope analysis using affordable valves and bags
On path length, beam divergence, and retroreflector array size in open-path FTIR spectroscopy
A modular approach to volatile organic compound samplers for tethered balloon and drone platforms
Performance validation and calibration conditions for novel dynamic baseline tracking air sensors in long-term field monitoring
Observation of greenhouse gas vertical profiles in the boundary layer of the Mount Qomolangma region using a multirotor UAV
Description and Validation of a Carbon Monoxide and Nitrous Oxide Instrument for High-Altitude Airborne Science (COMA)
A 30-month Field Evaluation of Low‐Cost CO2 Sensors Using a Reference Instrument
Development of a portable laser-flash photolysis Faraday rotation spectrometer for measuring atmospheric total OH reactivity
Surface distributions and vertical profiles of trace gases (CO, O3, NO, NO2) in the Arctic wintertime boundary layer using low-cost sensors during ALPACA-2022
Advances in an OH reactivity instrument for airborne field measurements
The ASK-16 motorized glider: an airborne eddy covariance platform to measure turbulence, energy, and matter fluxes
Development of a Peltier-based chilled-mirror hygrometer, SKYDEW, for tropospheric and lower-stratospheric water vapor measurements
Vertical distribution of halogenated trace gases in the summer Arctic stratosphere determined by two independent in situ methods
Deployment and evaluation of an NH4+∕ H3O+ reagent ion switching chemical ionization mass spectrometer for the detection of reduced and oxygenated gas-phase organic compounds
An economical tunable diode laser spectrometer for fast-response measurements of water vapor in the atmospheric boundary layer
Eddy covariance with slow-response greenhouse gas analysers on tall towers: bridging atmospheric and ecosystem greenhouse gas networks
An overview of outdoor low-cost gas-phase air quality sensor deployments: current efforts, trends, and limitations
Multiphysical description of atmospheric pressure interface chemical ionisation in MION2 and Eisele type inlets
Improving raw readings from ozone low cost sensors using artificial intelligence for air quality monitoring
A portable nitrogen dioxide instrument using cavity-enhanced absorption spectroscopy
Development and deployment of a mid-cost CO2 sensor monitoring network to support atmospheric inverse modeling for quantifying urban CO2 emissions in Paris
UAV-based in situ measurements of CO2 and CH4 fluxes over complex natural ecosystems
A new aerial approach for quantifying and attributing methane emissions: implementation and validation
Drone CO2 measurements during the Tajogaite volcanic eruption
Multi-decadal atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements in Hungary, central Europe
Reliable water vapour isotopic composition measurements at low humidity using frequency-stabilised cavity ring-down spectroscopy
A measurement system for CO2 and CH4 emissions quantification of industrial sites using a new in situ concentration sensor operated on board uncrewed aircraft vehicles
Using metal oxide gas sensors to estimate the emission rates and locations of methane leaks in an industrial site: assessment with controlled methane releases
Toward on-demand measurements of greenhouse gas emissions using an uncrewed aircraft AirCore system
Long-term evaluation of commercial air quality sensors: an overview from the QUANT (Quantification of Utility of Atmospheric Network Technologies) study
In-flight characterization of a compact airborne quantum cascade laser absorption spectrometer
Full characterization and calibration of a transfer standard monitor for atmospheric radon measurements
Observing low-altitude features in ozone concentrations in a shoreline environment via uncrewed aerial systems
An integrated uncrewed aerial vehicle platform with sensing and sampling systems for the measurement of air pollutant concentrations
Design and evaluation of a low-cost sensor node for near-background methane measurement
Development of a Multichannel Organics In situ enviRonmental Analyzer (MOIRA) for mobile measurements of volatile organic compounds
Evaluation of Aeris mid-infrared absorption (MIRA), Picarro CRDS (cavity ring-down spectroscopy) G2307, and dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH)-based sampling for long-term formaldehyde monitoring efforts
Performance characterization of a laminar gas inlet
Validation and field application of a low-cost device to measure CO2 and evapotranspiration (ET) fluxes
Identifying and correcting interferences to PTR-ToF-MS measurements of isoprene and other urban volatile organic compounds
Development of a continuous UAV-mounted air sampler and application to the quantification of CO2 and CH4 emissions from a major coking plant
Uptake behavior of polycyclic aromatic compounds during field calibrations of the XAD-based passive air sampler across seasons and locations
Effect of land–sea air mass transport on spatiotemporal distributions of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 mixing ratios over the southern Yellow Sea
HYPHOP: a tool for high-altitude, long-range monitoring of hydrogen peroxide and higher organic peroxides in the atmosphere
Portable, low-cost samplers for distributed sampling of atmospheric gases
SI-traceable validation of a laser spectrometer for balloon-borne measurements of water vapor in the upper atmosphere
Field evaluation of low-cost electrochemical air quality gas sensors under extreme temperature and relative humidity conditions
A novel, cost-effective analytical method for measuring high-resolution vertical profiles of stratospheric trace gases using a gas chromatograph coupled with an electron capture detector
Ethylene oxide monitor with part-per-trillion precision for in situ measurements
Mohit L. Dubey, Andre Santos, Andrew B. Moyes, Ken Reichl, James E. Lee, Manvendra K. Dubey, Corentin LeYhuelic, Evan Variano, Emily Follansbee, Fotini K. Chow, and Sébastien C. Biraud
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2987–3007, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2987-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2987-2025, 2025
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Orphaned wells, meaning wells lacking responsible owners, pose a significant and poorly understood environmental challenge. We propose, develop and test a novel method for estimating emissions from orphaned wells using a forced advection sampling technique (FAST) that can overcome many of the limitations in current methods (cost, accuracy, safety). Our results suggest that the FAST method can provide a low-cost alternative to existing methods over a range of leak rates.
Adrian Dahlmann, John D. Marshall, David Dubbert, Mathias Hoffmann, and Maren Dubbert
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2607–2618, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2607-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2607-2025, 2025
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Water-stable isotopes are commonly used in hydrological and ecological research. Until now, measurements have been obtained either destructively or directly in the field. Here, we present a novel, affordable, and easy-to-use approach to measure the stable isotope signatures of soil water. Our gas bag approach demonstrates a high accuracy and extends usability by allowing water vapor samples to be collected and stored in the field without the need for an instrument or a permanent power supply.
Cameron E. N. Power and Aldona Wiacek
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2537–2552, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2537-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2537-2025, 2025
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The choice of path length and retroreflector array size in open-path Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy must be made with care. Longer paths increase target gas absorption (lowering detection limits), and larger retroreflector arrays increase the return signal (improving retrieved concentration precision), but there are limitations to both. An optimum array size and path combination exists in each specific observational environment and application, as explored in this work.
Meghan Guagenti, Darielle Dexheimer, Alexandra Ulinksi, Paul Walter, James H. Flynn III, and Sascha Usenko
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2125–2136, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2125-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2125-2025, 2025
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A robust, automatic volatile organic compound (VOC) collection system was developed for vertical VOC sampling associated with the 2022 DOE ARM-program-led TRACER in Houston, Texas. This modular sampler has been developed to measure vertical profiles of VOCs to improve near-surface characterization. This article helps fill the current lack of commercially available options for aerial VOC sampling and serves to support and encourage researchers to build and develop custom samplers.
Han Mei, Peng Wei, Meisam Ahmadi Ghadikolaei, Nirmal Kumar Gali, Ya Wang, and Zhi Ning
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1771–1785, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1771-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1771-2025, 2025
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Long-term field testing across diverse climatic environments is conducted to identify the optimized calibration conditions for NO2, NO, CO and O3 electrochemical sensors. The results uncovered three factors that influence calibration performance: calibration period, concentration range and time averaging. We developed a comprehensive framework for the best sensor calibration practices, which serves as a valuable reference for calibrating various sensor types used in air quality monitoring.
Ying Zhou, Congcong Qiao, Minqiang Zhou, Yilong Wang, Xiangjun Tian, Yinghong Wang, and Minzheng Duan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1609–1619, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1609-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1609-2025, 2025
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We developed an automated, flexible atmospheric sampling device for various platforms. During a 5 d field campaign in the Mount Qomolangma region, we performed 15 flights using the device mounted on a hexacopter unoccupied aerial vehicle (UAV). A total of 139 samples were analyzed using an Agilent 7890A gas chromatograph. Vertical profiles of four greenhouse gases (carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)) were analyzed and discussed.
Emma L. Yates, Levi M. Golston, James R. Podolske, Laura T. Iraci, Kristen E. Okorn, Caroline Dang, Roy R. Johnson, James Eilers, Richard Kolyer, Ian Astley, and J. Brian Leen
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1081, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1081, 2025
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In this work, we describe the development of the Carbon monOxide Measurement from Ames (COMA) instrument for measurement of carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrous oxide (N2O) aboard NASA's WB-57 high altitude research aircraft. We detail the modifications and testing conducted as well as details of COMA's performance during research flights for NASA’s Asian summer monsoon Chemical & CLImate Project (ACCLIP) 2022 campaign.
Qixiang Cai, Ning Zeng, Xiaoyu Yang, Chi Xu, Zhaojun Wang, and Pengfei Han
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1240, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1240, 2025
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Mid- and low-cost CO2 sensors are attractive in carbon monitoring and atmospheric inversions. They are useful in both fixed stations and mobile monitoring. Yet the performance faces great challenges due to environmental impacts and long-term drifts. Here, we conducted 30 months of co-located observations using such sensors with a reference instrument. After corrections of environmental impacts and drifts, the accuracy reached 1–3 ppm. We recommend standard gas calibration within 3-6 months.
Bo Fang, Nana Wei, Weixiong Zhao, Nana Yang, Hao Zhou, Heng Zhang, Jiarong Li, Weijun Zhang, Yanyu Lu, Zhu Zhu, and Yue Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1243–1256, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1243-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1243-2025, 2025
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A portable laser-flash photolysis Faraday rotation spectrometer for measuring atmospheric total hydroxyl (OH) reactivity was developed, with optical box dimensions of 130 cm × 40 cm × 35 cm. It features a pump–probe multi-pass cell with a high overlapping factor of 75.4 %. The instrument’s precision and uncertainty are 1.0 s-1 (1σ, 300 s) and within 2 s-1, respectively. This portable, cost-effective instrument expands current measurement capabilities and is convenient for field applications.
Brice Barret, Patrice Medina, Natalie Brett, Roman Pohorsky, Kathy S. Law, Slimane Bekki, Gilberto J. Fochesatto, Julia Schmale, Steve R. Arnold, Andrea Baccarini, Maurizio Busetto, Meeta Cesler-Maloney, Barbara D'Anna, Stefano Decesari, Jingqiu Mao, Gianluca Pappaccogli, Joel Savarino, Federico Scoto, and William R. Simpson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1163–1184, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1163-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1163-2025, 2025
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The Fairbanks area experiences severe pollution episodes in winter because of enhanced emissions of pollutants trapped near the surface by strong temperature inversions. Low-cost sensors were deployed on board a car and a tethered balloon to measure the concentrations of gaseous pollutants (CO, O3, and NOx) in Fairbanks during winter 2022. Data calibration with reference measurements and machine learning methods enabled us to document pollution at the surface and power plant plumes aloft.
Hendrik Fuchs, Aaron Stainsby, Florian Berg, René Dubus, Michelle Färber, Andreas Hofzumahaus, Frank Holland, Kelvin H. Bates, Steven S. Brown, Matthew M. Coggon, Glenn S. Diskin, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Christopher M. Jernigan, Jeff Peischl, Michael A. Robinson, Andrew W. Rollins, Nell B. Schafer, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Patrick R. Veres, Carsten Warneke, Eleanor M. Waxman, Lu Xu, Kristen Zuraski, Andreas Wahner, and Anna Novelli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 881–895, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-881-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-881-2025, 2025
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Significant improvements have been made to the instruments used to measure OH reactivity, which is equivalent to the sum of air pollutant concentrations. Accurate and precise measurements with a high time resolution have been achieved, allowing use on aircraft, as demonstrated during flights in the USA.
Inge Wiekenkamp, Anna Katharina Lehmann, Alexander Bütow, Jörg Hartmann, Stefan Metzger, Thomas Ruhtz, Christian Wille, Mathias Zöllner, and Torsten Sachs
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 749–772, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-749-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-749-2025, 2025
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Airborne eddy covariance platforms are crucial to measure three-dimensional wind and turbulent matter and energy transport between the surface and the atmosphere at larger scales. In this study, we introduce a new airborne eddy covariance platform (Schleicher ASK-16) and demonstrate that this platform is able to accurately measure turbulent fluxes and wind vectors. Data from this platform can help to build bridges between local tower measurements and remote-sensing-based products.
Takuji Sugidachi, Masatomo Fujiwara, Kensaku Shimizu, Shin-Ya Ogino, Junko Suzuki, and Ruud J. Dirksen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 509–531, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-509-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-509-2025, 2025
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A Peltier-based chilled-mirror hygrometer, SKYDEW, has been developed to measure tropospheric and stratospheric water vapor. Continuous accurate measurements of water vapor are essential for climate monitoring. More than 40 soundings with SKYDEW have been conducted since 2011 to evaluate the performance. The result of soundings at tropical and midlatitudes demonstrated that SKYDEW is able to measure up to an altitude of 20–25 km for daytime soundings and above 25 km for nighttime soundings.
Johannes C. Laube, Tanja J. Schuck, Huilin Chen, Markus Geldenhuys, Steven van Heuven, Timo Keber, Maria Elena Popa, Elinor Tuffnell, Bärbel Vogel, Thomas Wagenhäuser, Alessandro Zanchetta, and Andreas Engel
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4034, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-4034, 2025
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A large balloon was launched in summer 2021 in the Arctic to carry instruments for trace gas measurements up to 32 km, above the reach of aircraft. The main aims were to evaluate different techniques and atmospheric processes. We focus on halogenated greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances. For this, air was collected with the AirCore technique and a cryogenic air sampler and measured after the flight. A companion paper reports observations of major greenhouse gases.
Cort L. Zang and Megan D. Willis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 17–35, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-17-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-17-2025, 2025
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Atmospheric chemistry of the diverse pool of reactive organic carbon (ROC; all organic species excluding methane) controls air quality, both indoors and outdoors, and influences Earth's climate. However, many important ROC compounds in the atmosphere are difficult to measure. We demonstrate measurement of diverse ROC compounds in a single instrument at a forested site. This approach can improve our ability to measure a broad range of atmospheric ROC.
Emily D. Wein, Lars E. Kalnajs, and Darin W. Toohey
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 7097–7107, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7097-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-7097-2024, 2024
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We describe a low-cost and small research-grade spectrometer for measurements of water vapor in the boundary layer. The instrument uses small Arduino microcontrollers and inexpensive laser diodes to reduce cost while maintaining high performance comparable to more expensive instruments. Performance was assessed with intercomparisons between commercially available instruments outdoors. The design's simplicity, performance, and price point allow it to be accessible to a variety of users.
Pedro Henrique Herig Coimbra, Benjamin Loubet, Olivier Laurent, Laura Bignotti, Mathis Lozano, and Michel Ramonet
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6625–6645, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6625-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6625-2024, 2024
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This study presents direct flux measurements in tall towers using existing slow-response analysers and adding 3D sonic anemometers. This way, we can significantly improve greenhouse gas monitoring with little extra instrumental effort. Slow-response analysers may be used here as the relevant frequency ranges depend on measuring height. Tall towers offer a large footprint, amplifying spatial coverage. The presented concept is a valuable bridge between atmospheric and ecosystem communities.
Kristen Okorn and Laura T. Iraci
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 6425–6457, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6425-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-6425-2024, 2024
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We reviewed 60 sensor networks and 17 related efforts (sensor review papers and data accessibility projects) to better understand the landscape of stationary low-cost gas-phase sensor networks deployed in outdoor environments worldwide. Gaps in monitoring efforts include the availability of gas-phase measurements compared to particulate matter (PM) and geographic coverage gaps (the Global South, rural areas). We conclude with a summary of cross-network unification and quality control efforts.
Henning Finkenzeller, Jyri Mikkilä, Cecilia Righi, Paxton Juuti, Mikko Sipilä, Matti Rissanen, Douglas Worsnop, Aleksei Shcherbinin, Nina Sarnela, and Juha Kangasluoma
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5989–6001, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5989-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5989-2024, 2024
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Chemical ionisation mass spectrometry is used in the atmospheric sciences to measure trace gas concentrations. Neutral gases require charging in inlets before the mass-to-charge ratio of the resulting ions can be analysed. This study uses multiphysics modelling to investigate how the MION2 and Eisele type inlets work and shows the effect of tuning parameters and their current limitations. The findings are helpful for inlet users and are expected to aid in developing improved inlets.
Guillem Montalban-Faet, Eric Meneses-Albala, Santiago Felici-Castell, Juan J. Perez-Solano, and Jaume Segura-Garcia
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-127, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2024-127, 2024
Revised manuscript accepted for AMT
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WHO warns of ground-level ozone problems in urban areas, recommending increased monitoring for which low-cost sensors coupled with artificial intelligence are an excellent alternative.
Steven A. Bailey, Reem A. Hannun, Andrew K. Swanson, and Thomas F. Hanisco
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5903–5910, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5903-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5903-2024, 2024
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We have developed a portable, optically based instrument that measures NO2. It consumes less than 6 W of power, so it can easily run off a small battery. This instrument has made both balloon and UAV flights. NO2 measurement results compare favorably with other known NO2 instruments. We find this instrument to be stable with repeatable results compared with calibration sources. Material cost to build a single instrument is around USD 4000. This could be lowered with economies of scale.
Jinghui Lian, Olivier Laurent, Mali Chariot, Luc Lienhardt, Michel Ramonet, Hervé Utard, Thomas Lauvaux, François-Marie Bréon, Grégoire Broquet, Karina Cucchi, Laurent Millair, and Philippe Ciais
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5821–5839, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5821-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5821-2024, 2024
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We have designed and deployed a mid-cost medium-precision CO2 sensor monitoring network in Paris since July 2020. The data are automatically calibrated by a newly implemented data processing system. The accuracies of the mid-cost instruments vary from 1.0 to 2.4 ppm for hourly afternoon measurements. Our model–data analyses highlight prospects for integrating mid-cost instrument data with high-precision measurements to improve fine-scale CO2 emission quantification in urban areas.
Abdullah Bolek, Martin Heimann, and Mathias Göckede
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5619–5636, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5619-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5619-2024, 2024
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This study describes the development of a new UAV platform to measure atmospheric greenhouse gas (GHG) mole fractions, 2D wind speed, air temperature, humidity, and pressure. Understanding GHG flux processes and controls across various ecosystems is essential for estimating the current and future state of climate change. It was shown that using the UAV platform for such measurements is beneficial for improving our understanding of GHG processes over complex landscapes.
Jonathan F. Dooley, Kenneth Minschwaner, Manvendra K. Dubey, Sahar H. El Abbadi, Evan D. Sherwin, Aaron G. Meyer, Emily Follansbee, and James E. Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 5091–5111, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5091-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-5091-2024, 2024
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Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas originating from both natural and human activities. We describe a new uncrewed aerial system (UAS) designed to measure methane emission rates over a wide range of scales. This system has been used for direct quantification of point sources and distributed emitters over scales of up to 1 km. The system uses simultaneous measurements of methane and ethane to distinguish between different kinds of natural and human-related emission sources.
John Ericksen, Tobias P. Fischer, G. Matthew Fricke, Scott Nowicki, Nemesio M. Pérez, Pedro Hernández Pérez, Eleazar Padrón González, and Melanie E. Moses
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4725–4736, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4725-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4725-2024, 2024
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Volcanic eruptions emit significant quantities of carbon dioxide (CO2) to the atmosphere. We present a new method for directly determining the CO2 emission from a volcanic eruption on the island of La Palma, Spain, using an unpiloted aerial vehicle (UAV). We also collected samples of the emitted CO2 and analyzed their isotopic composition. Together with the emission rate the isotopic data provide valuable information on the state of volcanic activity and the potential evolution of the eruption.
László Haszpra
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4629–4647, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4629-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4629-2024, 2024
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The paper evaluates a 30-year-long atmospheric CO2 data series from a mid-continental central European site, Hegyhátsál (HUN). It presents the site-specific features observed in the long-term evolution of the atmospheric CO2 concentration. Since the measurement data are widely used in atmospheric inverse models and budget calculations all around the world, the paper provides potentially valuable information for model tuning and interpretation of the model results.
Mathieu Casado, Amaelle Landais, Tim Stoltmann, Justin Chaillot, Mathieu Daëron, Fréderic Prié, Baptiste Bordet, and Samir Kassi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4599–4612, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4599-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4599-2024, 2024
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Measuring water isotopic composition in Antarctica is difficult because of the extremely cold temperature in winter. Here, we designed a new infrared spectrometer able to measure the vapour isotopic composition during more than 95 % of the year in the coldest locations of Antarctica, whereas current commercial instruments are only able to measure during the warm summer months in the interior.
Jean-Louis Bonne, Ludovic Donnat, Grégory Albora, Jérémie Burgalat, Nicolas Chauvin, Delphine Combaz, Julien Cousin, Thomas Decarpenterie, Olivier Duclaux, Nicolas Dumelié, Nicolas Galas, Catherine Juery, Florian Parent, Florent Pineau, Abel Maunoury, Olivier Ventre, Marie-France Bénassy, and Lilian Joly
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4471–4491, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4471-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4471-2024, 2024
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We present a top-down approach to quantify CO2 and CH4 emissions at the scale of an industrial site, based on a mass balance model relying on atmospheric concentrations measurements from a new sensor embarked on board uncrewed aircraft vehicles (UAVs). We present a laboratory characterization of our sensor and a field validation of our quantification method, together with field application to the monitoring of two real-world offshore oil and gas platforms.
Rodrigo Rivera-Martinez, Pramod Kumar, Olivier Laurent, Gregoire Broquet, Christopher Caldow, Ford Cropley, Diego Santaren, Adil Shah, Cécile Mallet, Michel Ramonet, Leonard Rivier, Catherine Juery, Olivier Duclaux, Caroline Bouchet, Elisa Allegrini, Hervé Utard, and Philippe Ciais
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4257–4290, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4257-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4257-2024, 2024
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We explore the use of metal oxide semiconductors (MOSs) as a low-cost alternative for detecting and measuring CH4 emissions from industrial facilities. MOSs were exposed to several controlled releases to test their accuracy in detecting and quantifying emissions. Two reconstruction models were compared, and emission estimates were computed using a Gaussian dispersion model. Findings show that MOSs can provide accurate emission estimates with a 25 % emission rate error and a 9.5 m location error.
Zihan Zhu, Javier González-Rocha, Yifan Ding, Isis Frausto-Vicencio, Sajjan Heerah, Akula Venkatram, Manvendra Dubey, Don Collins, and Francesca M. Hopkins
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3883–3895, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3883-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3883-2024, 2024
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Increases in agriculture, oil and gas, and waste management activities have contributed to the increase in atmospheric methane levels and resultant climate warming. In this paper, we explore the use of small uncrewed aircraft systems (sUASs) and AirCore technology to detect and quantify methane emissions. Results from field experiments demonstrate that sUASs and AirCore technology can be effective for detecting and quantifying methane emissions in near real time.
Sebastian Diez, Stuart Lacy, Hugh Coe, Josefina Urquiza, Max Priestman, Michael Flynn, Nicholas Marsden, Nicholas A. Martin, Stefan Gillott, Thomas Bannan, and Pete M. Edwards
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3809–3827, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3809-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3809-2024, 2024
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In this paper we present an overview of the QUANT project, which to our knowledge is one of the largest evaluations of commercial sensors to date. The objective was to evaluate the performance of a range of commercial products and also to nourish the different applications in which these technologies can offer relevant information.
Linda Ort, Lenard Lukas Röder, Uwe Parchatka, Rainer Königstedt, Daniel Crowley, Frank Kunz, Ralf Wittkowski, Jos Lelieveld, and Horst Fischer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3553–3565, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3553-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3553-2024, 2024
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Airborne in situ measurements are of great importance to collect valuable data to improve our knowledge of the atmosphere but also present challenges which demand specific designs. This study presents an IR spectrometer for airborne trace-gas measurements with high data efficiency and a simple, compact design. Its in-flight performance is characterized with the help of a test flight and a comparison with another spectrometer. Moreover, results from its first campaign highlight its benefits.
Roger Curcoll, Claudia Grossi, Stefan Röttger, and Arturo Vargas
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 3047–3065, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3047-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-3047-2024, 2024
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This paper presents a new user-friendly version of the Atmospheric Radon MONitor (ARMON). The efficiency of the instrument is of 0.0057 s-1, obtained using different techniques at Spanish and German chambers. The total calculated uncertainty of the ARMON for hourly radon concentrations above 5 Bq m-3 is lower than 10 % (k = 1). Results confirm that the ARMON is suitable to measure low-level radon activity concentrations and to be used as a transfer standard to calibrate in situ radon monitors.
Josie K. Radtke, Benjamin N. Kies, Whitney A. Mottishaw, Sydney M. Zeuli, Aidan T. H. Voon, Kelly L. Koerber, Grant W. Petty, Michael P. Vermeuel, Timothy H. Bertram, Ankur R. Desai, Joseph P. Hupy, R. Bradley Pierce, Timothy J. Wagner, and Patricia A. Cleary
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2833–2847, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2833-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2833-2024, 2024
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The use of uncrewed aircraft systems (UASs) to conduct a vertical profiling of ozone and meteorological variables was evaluated using comparisons between tower or ground observations and UAS-based measurements. Changes to the UAS profiler showed an improvement in performance. The profiler was used to see the impact of Chicago pollution plumes on a shoreline area near Lake Michigan.
Chen-Wei Liang and Chang-Hung Shen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2671–2686, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2671-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2671-2024, 2024
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In the present study, a UAV platform with sensing and sampling systems was developed for 3D air pollutant concentration measurements. The sensing system of this platform contains multiple microsensors and IoT technologies for obtaining the real-time 3D distributions of critical air pollutants. The sampling system contains gas sampling sets and a 1 L Tedlar bag instead of a canister for the 3D measurement of VOC concentrations in accordance with the TO-15 method of the US EPA.
Daniel Furuta, Bruce Wilson, Albert A. Presto, and Jiayu Li
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2103–2121, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2103-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2103-2024, 2024
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Methane is an important driver of climate change and is challenging to inexpensively sense in low atmospheric concentrations. We developed a low-cost sensor to monitor methane and tested it in indoor and outdoor settings. Our device shows promise for monitoring low levels of methane. We characterize its limitations and suggest future research directions for further development.
Audrey J. Dang, Nathan M. Kreisberg, Tyler L. Cargill, Jhao-Hong Chen, Sydney Hornitschek, Remy Hutheesing, Jay R. Turner, and Brent J. Williams
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2067–2087, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2067-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2067-2024, 2024
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The Multichannel Organics In situ enviRonmental Analyzer (MOIRA) is a new instrument for measuring speciated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the air and has been developed for mapping concentrations from a hybrid car. MOIRA is characterized in the lab and pilot field studies of indoor air in a single-family residence and outdoor air during a mobile deployment. Future applications include indoor, outdoor, and lab measurements to grasp the impact of VOCs on air quality, health, and climate.
Asher P. Mouat, Zelda A. Siegel, and Jennifer Kaiser
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1979–1994, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1979-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1979-2024, 2024
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Three fast-measurement formaldehyde monitors were deployed at two field sites in Atlanta, GA, over 1 year. Four different zeroing methods were tested to develop an optimal field setup as well as procedures for instrument calibration. Observations agreed well after calibration but were much higher compared to the TO-11A monitoring method, which is the golden standard. Historical HCHO concentrations were compared with measurements in this work, showing a 22 % reduction in midday HCHO since 1999.
Da Yang, Margarita Reza, Roy Mauldin, Rainer Volkamer, and Suresh Dhaniyala
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1463–1474, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1463-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1463-2024, 2024
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This paper evaluates the performance of an aircraft gas inlet. Here, we use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and experiments to demonstrate the role of turbulence in determining sampling performance of a gas inlet and identify ideal conditions for inlet operation to minimize gas loss. Experiments conducted in a high-speed wind tunnel under near-aircraft speeds validated numerical results. We believe that the results obtained from this work will greatly inform future gas inlet studies.
Reena Macagga, Michael Asante, Geoffroy Sossa, Danica Antonijević, Maren Dubbert, and Mathias Hoffmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1317–1332, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1317-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1317-2024, 2024
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Using only low-cost microcontrollers and sensors, we constructed a measurement device to accurately and precisely obtain atmospheric carbon dioxide and water fluxes. The device was tested against known concentration increases and high-cost, commercial sensors during a laboratory and field experiment. We additionally tested the device over a longer period in a field study in Ghana during which the net ecosystem carbon balance and water use efficiency of maize cultivation were studied.
Matthew M. Coggon, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Megan S. Claflin, Eva Y. Pfannerstill, Lu Xu, Jessica B. Gilman, Julia Marcantonio, Cong Cao, Kelvin Bates, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Aaron Lamplugh, Erin F. Katz, Caleb Arata, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Felix Piel, Francesca Majluf, Donald R. Blake, Armin Wisthaler, Manjula Canagaratna, Brian M. Lerner, Allen H. Goldstein, John E. Mak, and Carsten Warneke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 801–825, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-801-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-801-2024, 2024
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Mass spectrometry is a tool commonly used to measure air pollutants. This study evaluates measurement artifacts produced in the proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometer. We provide methods to correct these biases and better measure compounds that degrade air quality.
Tianran Han, Conghui Xie, Yayong Liu, Yanrong Yang, Yuheng Zhang, Yufei Huang, Xiangyu Gao, Xiaohua Zhang, Fangmin Bao, and Shao-Meng Li
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 677–691, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-677-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-677-2024, 2024
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This study reported an integrated UAV measurement platform for GHG monitoring and its application for emission quantification from a coking plant. The key element of this system is a newly designed air sampler, consisting of a 150 m long tube with remote-controlled time stamping. When comparing the top-down results to those derived from the bottom-up inventory method, the present findings indicate that the use of IPCC emission factors for emission calculations can lead to overestimation.
Yuening Li, Faqiang Zhan, Yushan Su, Ying Duan Lei, Chubashini Shunthirasingham, Zilin Zhou, Jonathan P. D. Abbatt, Hayley Hung, and Frank Wania
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 715–729, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-715-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-715-2024, 2024
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A simple device for sampling gases from the atmosphere without the help of pumps was calibrated for an important group of hazardous air pollutants called polycyclic aromatic compounds (PACs). While the sampler appeared to perform well when used for relatively short periods of up to several months, some PACs were lost from the sampler during longer deployments. Sampling rates that can be used to quantitatively interpret the quantities of PACs taken up in the device have been derived.
Jiaxin Li, Kunpeng Zang, Yi Lin, Yuanyuan Chen, Shuo Liu, Shanshan Qiu, Kai Jiang, Xuemei Qing, Haoyu Xiong, Haixiang Hong, Shuangxi Fang, Honghui Xu, and Yujun Jiang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4757–4768, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4757-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4757-2023, 2023
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Based on observed data of CO2 and CH4 and meteorological parameters over the Yellow Sea in November 2012 and June 2013, a data process and quality control method was optimized and established to filter the data influenced by multiple factors. Spatial and seasonal variations in CO2 and CH4 mixing ratios were mainly controlled by the East Asian Monsoon, while the influence of air–sea exchange was slight.
Zaneta Hamryszczak, Antonia Hartmann, Dirk Dienhart, Sascha Hafermann, Bettina Brendel, Rainer Königstedt, Uwe Parchatka, Jos Lelieveld, and Horst Fischer
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4741–4756, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4741-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4741-2023, 2023
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Hydroperoxide measurements improve the understanding of atmospheric oxidation processes. We introduce an instrumental setup for airborne measurements. The aim of the work is the characterization of the measurement method with emphasis on interferences impacting instrumental uncertainty. Technical and physical challenges do not critically impact the instrumental performance. The instrument resolves dynamic processes, such as convective transport, as shown based on the CAFE-Brazil campaign.
James F. Hurley, Alejandra Caceres, Deborah F. McGlynn, Mary E. Tovillo, Suzanne Pinar, Roger Schürch, Ksenia Onufrieva, and Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4681–4692, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4681-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4681-2023, 2023
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Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have a wide range of sources and impacts on environments and human health that make them spatially, temporally, and chemically varied. Current methods lack the ability to collect samples in ways that provide spatial and chemical resolution without complex, costly instrumentation. We describe and validate a low-cost, portable VOC sampler and demonstrate its utility in collecting distributed coordinated samples.
Simone Brunamonti, Manuel Graf, Tobias Bühlmann, Céline Pascale, Ivan Ilak, Lukas Emmenegger, and Béla Tuzson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4391–4407, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4391-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4391-2023, 2023
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The abundance of water vapor (H2O) in the upper atmosphere has a significant impact on the rate of global warming. We developed a new lightweight spectrometer (ALBATROSS) for H2O measurements aboard meteorological balloons. Here, we assess the accuracy and precision of ALBATROSS using metrology-grade reference gases. The results demonstrate the exceptional potential of mid-infrared laser absorption spectroscopy as a new reference method for in situ measurements of H2O in the upper atmosphere.
Roubina Papaconstantinou, Marios Demosthenous, Spyros Bezantakos, Neoclis Hadjigeorgiou, Marinos Costi, Melina Stylianou, Elli Symeou, Chrysanthos Savvides, and George Biskos
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3313–3329, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3313-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3313-2023, 2023
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In this paper, we investigate the performance of low-cost electrochemical gas sensors. We carried out yearlong measurements at a traffic air quality monitoring station, where the low-cost sensors were collocated with reference instruments and exposed to highly variable environmental conditions with extremely high temperatures and low relative humidity (RH). Sensors provide measurements that exhibit increasing errors and decreasing correlations as temperature increases and RH decreases.
Jianghanyang Li, Bianca C. Baier, Fred Moore, Tim Newberger, Sonja Wolter, Jack Higgs, Geoff Dutton, Eric Hintsa, Bradley Hall, and Colm Sweeney
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2851–2863, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2851-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2851-2023, 2023
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Monitoring a suite of trace gases in the stratosphere will help us better understand the stratospheric circulation and its impact on the earth's radiation balance. However, such measurements are rare and usually expensive. We developed an instrument that can measure stratospheric trace gases using a low-cost sampling platform (AirCore). The results showed expected agreement with aircraft measurements, demonstrating this technique provides a low-cost and robust way to observe the stratosphere.
Tara I. Yacovitch, Christoph Dyroff, Joseph R. Roscioli, Conner Daube, J. Barry McManus, and Scott C. Herndon
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1915–1921, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1915-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1915-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Ethylene oxide is a toxic, carcinogenic compound used in the medical and bulk sterilization industry. Here we describe a precise and fast laser-based ethylene oxide monitor. We report months-long concentrations at a Massachusetts site, and we show how they suggest a potential emission source 35 km away. This source, and another, is confirmed by driving the instrument downwind of the sites, where concentrations were tens to tens of thousands of times greater than background levels.
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Short summary
The sources and atmospheric chemistry of gas-phase organic acids are currently poorly understood, due in part to the limited range of measurement techniques available. We evaluated the use of SF6− as a sensitive and selective chemical ionization reagent ion for real-time measurements of gas-phase organic acids at a rural site in Yorkville, Georgia. We found that ambient concentrations of organic acids ranged from a few ppt to several ppb, and are dependent on ambient temperature.
The sources and atmospheric chemistry of gas-phase organic acids are currently poorly...
