Articles | Volume 14, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-2919-2021
© Author(s) 2021. 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-14-2919-2021
© Author(s) 2021. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
16 Apr 2021
Research article |
| 16 Apr 2021
| 16 Apr 2021
Determination of Aethalometer multiple-scattering enhancement parameters and impact on source apportionment during the winter 2017/18 EMEP/ACTRIS/COLOSSAL campaign in Milan
Dipartimento di Fisica “Aldo Pontremoli”, Università degli Studi di Milano, and INFN Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Luca Ferrero
GEMMA and POLARIS Research Centre, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
Ezio Bolzacchini
GEMMA and POLARIS Research Centre, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
Alice Corina Forello
Dipartimento di Fisica “Aldo Pontremoli”, Università degli Studi di Milano, and INFN Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Asta Gregorič
Aerosol d.o.o., Kamniška 39A, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Center for Atmospheric Research, University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 11c, 5270 Ajdovščina, Slovenia
Dario Massabò
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Genova, and INFN Sezione di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genoa, Italy
Griša Močnik
Center for Atmospheric Research, University of Nova Gorica, Vipavska 11c, 5270 Ajdovščina, Slovenia
Department of Condensed Matter Physics, Jozef Stefan Institute, Jamova 39, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Paolo Prati
Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di Genova, and INFN Sezione di Genova, Via Dodecaneso 33, 16146 Genoa, Italy
Martin Rigler
Aerosol d.o.o., Kamniška 39A, SI-1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia
Luca Santagostini
GEMMA and POLARIS Research Centre, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca, 20126 Milan, Italy
Francesca Soldan
Dipartimento di Fisica “Aldo Pontremoli”, Università degli Studi di Milano, and INFN Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
now at: Ricerca sul Sistema Energetico – RSE S.p.A., 20134 Milan, Italy
Sara Valentini
Dipartimento di Fisica “Aldo Pontremoli”, Università degli Studi di Milano, and INFN Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Gianluigi Valli
Dipartimento di Fisica “Aldo Pontremoli”, Università degli Studi di Milano, and INFN Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Roberta Vecchi
Dipartimento di Fisica “Aldo Pontremoli”, Università degli Studi di Milano, and INFN Milano, 20133 Milan, Italy
Related authors
Johannes Heuser, Claudia Di Biagio, Jérôme Yon, Mathieu Cazaunau, Antonin Bergé, Edouard Pangui, Marco Zanatta, Laura Renzi, Angela Marinoni, Satoshi Inomata, Chenjie Yu, Vera Bernardoni, Servanne Chevaillier, Daniel Ferry, Paolo Laj, Michel Maillé, Dario Massabò, Federico Mazzei, Gael Noyalet, Hiroshi Tanimoto, Brice Temime-Roussel, Roberta Vecchi, Virginia Vernocchi, Paola Formenti, Bénédicte Picquet-Varrault, and Jean-François Doussin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6407–6428, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6407-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6407-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The spectral optical properties of combustion soot aerosols with varying black (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) content were studied in an atmospheric simulation chamber. Measurements of the mass spectral absorption cross section (MAC), supplemented by literature data, allowed us to establish a generalised exponential relationship between the spectral absorption and the elemental-to-total-carbon ratio (EC / TC) in soot. This relationship can provide a useful tool for modelling the properties of soot.
Silvia Nava, Roberta Vecchi, Paolo Prati, Vera Bernardoni, Laura Cadeo, Giulia Calzolai, Luca Carraresi, Carlo Cialdai, Massimo Chiari, Federica Crova, Alice Forello, Cosimo Fratticioli, Fabio Giardi, Marco Manetti, Dario Massabò, Federico Mazzei, Luca Repetto, Gianluigi Valli, Virginia Vernocchi, and Franco Lucarelli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2137–2147, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2137-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2137-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The new high-time-resolution sampler STRAS has been designed, developed and tested. It enables automatic sequential sampling of up to 168 hourly samples of PM10, PM2.5 or PM1. It has been conceived for subsequent elemental composition analysis (from Na to Pb) by particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE), but optical techniques may also be applied to measure black and brown carbon. Its use combined with other high-temporal-resolution instrumentation can provide complete chemical speciation of aerosols on an hourly basis.
Tommaso Isolabella, Vera Bernardoni, Alessandro Bigi, Marco Brunoldi, Federico Mazzei, Franco Parodi, Paolo Prati, Virginia Vernocchi, and Dario Massabò
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1363–1373, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1363-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1363-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present an innovative software toolkit to differentiate sources of carbonaceous aerosol in the atmosphere. Our toolkit implements an upgraded mathematical model which allows for determination of fundamental optical properties of the aerosol, its sources, and the mass concentration of different carbonaceous species of particulate matter. We have tested the functionality of the software by re-analysing published data, and we obtained a compatible results with additional information.
Alessandro Bigi, Giorgio Veratti, Elisabeth Andrews, Martine Collaud Coen, Lorenzo Guerrieri, Vera Bernardoni, Dario Massabò, Luca Ferrero, Sergio Teggi, and Grazia Ghermandi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14841–14869, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14841-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14841-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric particles include compounds that play a key role in the greenhouse effect and air toxicity. Concurrent observations of these compounds by multiple instruments are presented, following deployment within an urban environment in the Po Valley, one of Europe's pollution hotspots. The study compares these data, highlighting the impact of ground emissions, mainly vehicular traffic and biomass burning, on the absorption of sun radiation and, ultimately, on climate change and air quality.
Jesús Yus-Díez, Vera Bernardoni, Griša Močnik, Andrés Alastuey, Davide Ciniglia, Matic Ivančič, Xavier Querol, Noemí Perez, Cristina Reche, Martin Rigler, Roberta Vecchi, Sara Valentini, and Marco Pandolfi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6335–6355, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6335-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6335-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Here we characterize the multiple-scattering factor, C, of the dual-spot Aethalometer AE33 and its cross-sensitivity to scattering and wavelength dependence for three background stations: urban, regional and mountaintop. C was obtained for two sets of filter tapes: M8020 and M8060. The cross-sensitivity to scattering and wavelength dependence of C were determined by inter-comparing with other absorption and scattering measurements including multi-angle off-line absorption measurements.
Alice Corina Forello, Vera Bernardoni, Giulia Calzolai, Franco Lucarelli, Dario Massabò, Silvia Nava, Rosaria Erika Pileci, Paolo Prati, Sara Valentini, Gianluigi Valli, and Roberta Vecchi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11235–11252, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11235-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11235-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
A new approach coupling aerosol chemical and optical properties in one source apportionment study is proposed. Besides a more robust identification of sources, it was possible to retrieve a source-specific absorption Ångström exponent and a mass absorption cross section at different wavelengths as well as optical apportionment. This piece of information can be very useful for formulating strategies for pollutant abatement to improve air quality and to face climate challenges.
Myriam Agrò, Manuel Bettineschi, Silvia Melina, Diego Aliaga, Andrea Bergomi, Beatrice Biffi, Alessandro Bigi, Giancarlo Ciarelli, Cristina Colombi, Paola Fermo, Ivan Grigioni, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Markku Kulmala, Janne Lampilahti, Angela Marinoni, Celestine Oliewo, Juha Sulo, Gianluigi Valli, Roberta Vecchi, Tuukka Petäjä, Katrianne Lehtipalo, and Federico Bianchi
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2387, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2387, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
This study investigates New Particle Formation (NPF) in Milan, the most populated city in the Po Valley (Italy), using one year of particle number size distribution data (1.2–480 nm). NPF is enhanced under cleaner air conditions with lower pollution, reduced condensation sink, stronger ventilation, and stronger northwesterly winds (e.g., Foehn events). In contrast, longer air mass residence time in the Po Valley and higher air mass exposure to anthropogenic emissions suppress it.
Jesús Yus-Díez, Luka Drinovec, Lucas Alados-Arboledas, Gloria Titos, Elena Bazo, Andrea Casans, Diego Patrón, Xavier Querol, Adolfo Gonzalez-Romero, Carlos Perez García-Pando, and Griša Močnik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3073–3093, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3073-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3073-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
We have used absorption from a photothermal interferometer and scattering measurements to evaluate the most deployed filter photometers used to measure absorption for monitoring networks. We used soot- and dust-dominated aerosol samples in both laboratory and ambient settings. Our results indicated that one of these filter photometers, the MAAP (Multiangle Absorption Photometer), usually used as a pseudo-reference instrument, had 47 % higher absorption values than our reference measurements.
Jesús Yus-Díez, Jeronimo Escribano, Marco Pandolfi, Andres Alastuey, Cristina González-Flórez, Adolfo Gonzalez-Romero, Maria Gonçalves Ageitos, Matic Ivančič, Martina Klose, Konrad Kandler, Vicenzo Obiso, Agnesh Panta, Cristina Reche, Martin Rigler, Xavier Querol, and Carlos Perez Garćia-Pando
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2571, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2571, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary
Short summary
Here we present measurements of dust optical properties during active emissions at a source region in the Moroccan Sahara. We present results on its single scattering albedo, absorption and scattering wavelength dependence and mass efficiency. Furthermore, we have performed imaginary refractive index (k) retrieval under varying assumptions of the refractive index real part, and particle sphericity. We also provide a comparison between the k retrievals and estimations on dust k from AERONET.
Johannes Heuser, Claudia Di Biagio, Jérôme Yon, Mathieu Cazaunau, Antonin Bergé, Edouard Pangui, Marco Zanatta, Laura Renzi, Angela Marinoni, Satoshi Inomata, Chenjie Yu, Vera Bernardoni, Servanne Chevaillier, Daniel Ferry, Paolo Laj, Michel Maillé, Dario Massabò, Federico Mazzei, Gael Noyalet, Hiroshi Tanimoto, Brice Temime-Roussel, Roberta Vecchi, Virginia Vernocchi, Paola Formenti, Bénédicte Picquet-Varrault, and Jean-François Doussin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6407–6428, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6407-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6407-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The spectral optical properties of combustion soot aerosols with varying black (BC) and brown carbon (BrC) content were studied in an atmospheric simulation chamber. Measurements of the mass spectral absorption cross section (MAC), supplemented by literature data, allowed us to establish a generalised exponential relationship between the spectral absorption and the elemental-to-total-carbon ratio (EC / TC) in soot. This relationship can provide a useful tool for modelling the properties of soot.
Silvia Nava, Roberta Vecchi, Paolo Prati, Vera Bernardoni, Laura Cadeo, Giulia Calzolai, Luca Carraresi, Carlo Cialdai, Massimo Chiari, Federica Crova, Alice Forello, Cosimo Fratticioli, Fabio Giardi, Marco Manetti, Dario Massabò, Federico Mazzei, Luca Repetto, Gianluigi Valli, Virginia Vernocchi, and Franco Lucarelli
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2137–2147, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2137-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2137-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The new high-time-resolution sampler STRAS has been designed, developed and tested. It enables automatic sequential sampling of up to 168 hourly samples of PM10, PM2.5 or PM1. It has been conceived for subsequent elemental composition analysis (from Na to Pb) by particle-induced X-ray emission (PIXE), but optical techniques may also be applied to measure black and brown carbon. Its use combined with other high-temporal-resolution instrumentation can provide complete chemical speciation of aerosols on an hourly basis.
Ludovico Di Antonio, Claudia Di Biagio, Paola Formenti, Aline Gratien, Vincent Michoud, Christopher Cantrell, Astrid Bauville, Antonin Bergé, Mathieu Cazaunau, Servanne Chevaillier, Manuela Cirtog, Patrice Coll, Barbara D'Anna, Joel F. de Brito, David O. De Haan, Juliette R. Dignum, Shravan Deshmukh, Olivier Favez, Pierre-Marie Flaud, Cecile Gaimoz, Lelia N. Hawkins, Julien Kammer, Brigitte Language, Franck Maisonneuve, Griša Močnik, Emilie Perraudin, Jean-Eudes Petit, Prodip Acharja, Laurent Poulain, Pauline Pouyes, Eva Drew Pronovost, Véronique Riffault, Kanuri I. Roundtree, Marwa Shahin, Guillaume Siour, Eric Villenave, Pascal Zapf, Gilles Foret, Jean-François Doussin, and Matthias Beekmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3161–3189, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3161-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3161-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
The spectral complex refractive index (CRI) and single scattering albedo were retrieved from submicron aerosol measurements at three sites within the greater Paris area during the ACROSS field campaign (June–July 2022). Measurements revealed urban emission impact on surrounding areas. CRI full period averages at 520 nm were 1.41 – 0.037i (urban), 1.52 – 0.038i (peri-urban), and 1.50 – 0.025i (rural). Organic aerosols dominated the aerosol mass and contributed up to 22 % of absorption at 370 nm.
Laura Cadeo, Beatrice Biffi, Benjamin Chazeau, Cristina Colombi, Rosario Cosenza, Eleonora Cuccia, Manousos-Ioannis Manousakas, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, André S. H. Prévôt, and Roberta Vecchi
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-110, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-110, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents the deployment of the Xact® 625i Ambient Metals Monitor in Milan (Po Valley, Italy) and its performance in measuring PM10 elemental composition at a high temporal resolution. Our findings demonstrate strong agreement between online and offline XRF analyses, underscoring the potential of advanced monitoring technologies for air quality research.
Irena Ježek Brecelj, Asta Gregorič, Lucijan Zgonik, Tjaša Rutar, Matic Ivančič, Balint Alfoldy, Griša Močnik, and Martin Rigler
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3553, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3553, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
Following a major car industry scandal involving diesel emissions tests, Europe introduced new testing procedures. However, concerns remained about their effectiveness. Our independent study examined real-world vehicle emissions and revealed encouraging findings: modern diesel cars perform as well as, or even better than, gasoline cars in terms of nitrogen oxides emissions. We found the same pattern for soot particles, challenging common perceptions about diesel's environmental impact.
Valeria Mardoñez-Balderrama, Griša Močnik, Marco Pandolfi, Robin L. Modini, Fernando Velarde, Laura Renzi, Angela Marinoni, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, Isabel Moreno R., Diego Aliaga, Federico Bianchi, Claudia Mohr, Martin Gysel-Beer, Patrick Ginot, Radovan Krejci, Alfred Wiedensohler, Gaëlle Uzu, Marcos Andrade, and Paolo Laj
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12055–12077, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12055-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12055-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Levels of black carbon (BC) are scarcely reported in the Southern Hemisphere, especially in high-altitude conditions. This study provides insight into the concentration level, variability, and optical properties of BC in La Paz and El Alto and at the Chacaltaya Global Atmosphere Watch Station. Two methods of source apportionment of absorption were tested and compared showing traffic as the main contributor to absorption in the urban area, in addition to biomass and open waste burning.
Piotr Markuszewski, E. Douglas Nilsson, Julika Zinke, E. Monica Mårtensson, Matthew Salter, Przemysław Makuch, Małgorzata Kitowska, Iwona Niedźwiecka-Wróbel, Violetta Drozdowska, Dominik Lis, Tomasz Petelski, Luca Ferrero, and Jacek Piskozub
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11227–11253, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11227-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11227-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Our research provides new insights into the study of sea spray aerosol (SSA) emissions in the Baltic Sea and North Atlantic. We observed that SSA flux is suppressed during increased marine biological activity in the Baltic Sea. At the same time, the influence of wave age showed higher SSA emissions in the Baltic Sea for younger waves compared to the Atlantic Ocean. These insights underscore the complex interplay between biological activity and physical dynamics in regulating SSA emissions.
Tommaso Isolabella, Vera Bernardoni, Alessandro Bigi, Marco Brunoldi, Federico Mazzei, Franco Parodi, Paolo Prati, Virginia Vernocchi, and Dario Massabò
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 1363–1373, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1363-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-1363-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
We present an innovative software toolkit to differentiate sources of carbonaceous aerosol in the atmosphere. Our toolkit implements an upgraded mathematical model which allows for determination of fundamental optical properties of the aerosol, its sources, and the mass concentration of different carbonaceous species of particulate matter. We have tested the functionality of the software by re-analysing published data, and we obtained a compatible results with additional information.
Andrea Cuesta-Mosquera, Kristina Glojek, Griša Močnik, Luka Drinovec, Asta Gregorič, Martin Rigler, Matej Ogrin, Baseerat Romshoo, Kay Weinhold, Maik Merkel, Dominik van Pinxteren, Hartmut Herrmann, Alfred Wiedensohler, Mira Pöhlker, and Thomas Müller
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2583–2605, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2583-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2583-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
This study evaluated the air pollution and climate impacts of residential-wood-burning particle emissions from a rural European site. The authors investigate the optical and physical properties that connect the aerosol emissions with climate by evaluating atmospheric radiative impacts via simple-forcing calculations. The study contributes to reducing the lack of information on the understanding of the optical properties of air pollution from anthropogenic sources.
Alessandro Bigi, Giorgio Veratti, Elisabeth Andrews, Martine Collaud Coen, Lorenzo Guerrieri, Vera Bernardoni, Dario Massabò, Luca Ferrero, Sergio Teggi, and Grazia Ghermandi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14841–14869, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14841-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14841-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric particles include compounds that play a key role in the greenhouse effect and air toxicity. Concurrent observations of these compounds by multiple instruments are presented, following deployment within an urban environment in the Po Valley, one of Europe's pollution hotspots. The study compares these data, highlighting the impact of ground emissions, mainly vehicular traffic and biomass burning, on the absorption of sun radiation and, ultimately, on climate change and air quality.
Virginia Vernocchi, Elena Abd El, Marco Brunoldi, Silvia Giulia Danelli, Elena Gatta, Tommaso Isolabella, Federico Mazzei, Franco Parodi, Paolo Prati, and Dario Massabò
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5479–5493, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5479-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5479-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Bioaerosol are airborne particles or droplets that contain living organisms or biological materials, such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, pollen, or other organic matter. The study of the relationship between bioaerosol viability and air quality or meteorological conditions is an open field, and running experiments of the bioareosol viability in an atmospheric simulation chamber gives the possibility to set up well-defined conditions to evaluate the interaction between bioaerosol and pollutants.
Valeria Mardoñez, Marco Pandolfi, Lucille Joanna S. Borlaza, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, Andrés Alastuey, Jean-Luc Besombes, Isabel Moreno R., Noemi Perez, Griša Močnik, Patrick Ginot, Radovan Krejci, Vladislav Chrastny, Alfred Wiedensohler, Paolo Laj, Marcos Andrade, and Gaëlle Uzu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10325–10347, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10325-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10325-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
La Paz and El Alto are two fast-growing, high-altitude Bolivian cities forming the second-largest metropolitan area in the country. The sources of particulate matter (PM) in this conurbation were not previously investigated. This study identified 11 main sources of PM, of which dust and vehicular emissions stand out as the main ones. The influence of regional biomass combustion and local waste combustion was also observed, with the latter being a major source of hazardous compounds.
Aliki Christodoulou, Iasonas Stavroulas, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Maximillien Desservettaz, Michael Pikridas, Elie Bimenyimana, Jonilda Kushta, Matic Ivančič, Martin Rigler, Philippe Goloub, Konstantina Oikonomou, Roland Sarda-Estève, Chrysanthos Savvides, Charbel Afif, Nikos Mihalopoulos, Stéphane Sauvage, and Jean Sciare
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6431–6456, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6431-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6431-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Our study presents, for the first time, a detailed source identification of aerosols at an urban background site in Cyprus (eastern Mediterranean), a region strongly impacted by climate change and air pollution. Here, we identify an unexpected high contribution of long-range transported pollution from fossil fuel sources in the Middle East, highlighting an urgent need to further characterize these fast-growing emissions and their impacts on regional atmospheric composition, climate, and health.
Balint Alfoldy, Asta Gregorič, Matic Ivančič, Irena Ježek, and Martin Rigler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 135–152, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-135-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-135-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric concentrations and source apportionment (SA) of black carbon (BC) and CO2 were determined in an urban environment during a heating season. BC particles were attributed to two major sources: traffic and heating. The BC SA was implemented by an Aethalometer model used for the SA of CO2 supposing that the source-specific CO2 components are correlated with the corresponding BC. Source-specific emission factors were determined as a ratio of corresponding BC and CO2 components.
Jesús Yus-Díez, Marta Via, Andrés Alastuey, Angeliki Karanasiou, María Cruz Minguillón, Noemí Perez, Xavier Querol, Cristina Reche, Matic Ivančič, Martin Rigler, and Marco Pandolfi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 8439–8456, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8439-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-8439-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents the absorption enhancement of internally and externally mixed black carbon (BC) particles in a Mediterranean city and countryside. We showed the importance of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) and particle ageing by increasing the BC absorption enhancement. We performed a trend analysis on the absorption enhancement. We found a positive trend of the absorption enhancement at the regional station in summer driven by the increase over time of the relative contribution of SOA.
Luka Drinovec, Uroš Jagodič, Luka Pirker, Miha Škarabot, Mario Kurtjak, Kristijan Vidović, Luca Ferrero, Bradley Visser, Jannis Röhrbein, Ernest Weingartner, Daniel M. Kalbermatter, Konstantina Vasilatou, Tobias Bühlmann, Celine Pascale, Thomas Müller, Alfred Wiedensohler, and Griša Močnik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3805–3825, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3805-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3805-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A new photothermal interferometer (PTAAM-2λ) for artefact-free determination of the aerosol absorption coefficient at two wavelengths is presented. The instrument is calibrated with NO2 and polydisperse nigrosin, resulting in very low uncertainties of the absorption coefficients: 4 % at 532 nm and 6 % at 1064 nm. The instrument’s performance makes the PTAAM-2λ a strong candidate for reference measurements of the aerosol absorption coefficient.
Marilena Teri, Thomas Müller, Josef Gasteiger, Sara Valentini, Helmuth Horvath, Roberta Vecchi, Paulus Bauer, Adrian Walser, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3161–3187, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3161-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3161-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We performed an extensive closure study including laboratory and simulated experiments to evaluate various angular corrections for the Aurora 4000 polar nephelometer, focusing on irregularly shaped aerosols such as mineral dust. We describe the impact of particle size, refractive index, and shape on the determination of the particle scattering coefficient and propose a guideline to establish the most appropriate angular correction depending on the aerosol type and the investigated size range.
Kristina Glojek, Griša Močnik, Honey Dawn C. Alas, Andrea Cuesta-Mosquera, Luka Drinovec, Asta Gregorič, Matej Ogrin, Kay Weinhold, Irena Ježek, Thomas Müller, Martin Rigler, Maja Remškar, Dominik van Pinxteren, Hartmut Herrmann, Martina Ristorini, Maik Merkel, Miha Markelj, and Alfred Wiedensohler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5577–5601, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5577-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5577-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
A pilot study to determine the emissions of wood burning under
real-world laboratoryconditions was conducted. We found that measured black carbon (eBC) and particulate matter (PM) in rural shallow terrain depressions with residential wood burning could be much greater than predicted by models. The exceeding levels are a cause for concern since similar conditions can be expected in numerous hilly and mountainous regions across Europe, where approximately 20 % of the total population lives.
Virginia Vernocchi, Marco Brunoldi, Silvia G. Danelli, Franco Parodi, Paolo Prati, and Dario Massabò
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2159–2175, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2159-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2159-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
The performance of a mini inverted soot generator was investigated at a simulation chamber facility by studying the soot generated by ethylene and propane combustion, together with the number, size, optical properties, and EC / OC concentrations. Mass absorption coefficients and Ångström absorption exponents are compatible with the literature, with some differences. The characterization of MISG soot particles is fundamental to design and perform experiments in atmospheric simulation chambers.
Daniel M. Kalbermatter, Griša Močnik, Luka Drinovec, Bradley Visser, Jannis Röhrbein, Matthias Oscity, Ernest Weingartner, Antti-Pekka Hyvärinen, and Konstantina Vasilatou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 561–572, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-561-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-561-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Soot particles with varying amounts of secondary organic matter coating were generated and used to compare a series of aerosol-absorption-measuring instruments: filter-based and photoacoustic instruments as well as photo-thermal interferometers. Significant deviations in the response of the instruments were observed depending on the amount of secondary organic coating. The system can be used for the inter-comparison and characterisation of instruments.
Anna K. Tobler, Alicja Skiba, Francesco Canonaco, Griša Močnik, Pragati Rai, Gang Chen, Jakub Bartyzel, Miroslaw Zimnoch, Katarzyna Styszko, Jaroslaw Nęcki, Markus Furger, Kazimierz Różański, Urs Baltensperger, Jay G. Slowik, and Andre S. H. Prevot
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14893–14906, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14893-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14893-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Kraków is among the cities with the highest particulate matter levels within Europe. We conducted long-term and highly time-resolved measurements of the chemical composition of submicron particlulate matter (PM1). Combined with advanced source apportionment techniques, which allow for time-dependent factor profiles, our results elucidate that traffic and residential heating (biomass burning and coal combustion) as well as oxygenated organic aerosol are the key PM sources in Kraków.
Jesús Yus-Díez, Vera Bernardoni, Griša Močnik, Andrés Alastuey, Davide Ciniglia, Matic Ivančič, Xavier Querol, Noemí Perez, Cristina Reche, Martin Rigler, Roberta Vecchi, Sara Valentini, and Marco Pandolfi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6335–6355, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6335-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6335-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Here we characterize the multiple-scattering factor, C, of the dual-spot Aethalometer AE33 and its cross-sensitivity to scattering and wavelength dependence for three background stations: urban, regional and mountaintop. C was obtained for two sets of filter tapes: M8020 and M8060. The cross-sensitivity to scattering and wavelength dependence of C were determined by inter-comparing with other absorption and scattering measurements including multi-angle off-line absorption measurements.
Vaios Moschos, Martin Gysel-Beer, Robin L. Modini, Joel C. Corbin, Dario Massabò, Camilla Costa, Silvia G. Danelli, Athanasia Vlachou, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, Sönke Szidat, Paolo Prati, André S. H. Prévôt, Urs Baltensperger, and Imad El Haddad
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12809–12833, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12809-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12809-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides a holistic approach to studying the spectrally resolved light absorption by atmospheric brown carbon (BrC) and black carbon using long time series of daily samples from filter-based measurements. The obtained results provide (1) a better understanding of the aerosol absorption profile and its dependence on BrC and on lensing from less absorbing coatings and (2) an estimation of the most important absorbers at typical European locations.
Bjorn Stevens, Sandrine Bony, David Farrell, Felix Ament, Alan Blyth, Christopher Fairall, Johannes Karstensen, Patricia K. Quinn, Sabrina Speich, Claudia Acquistapace, Franziska Aemisegger, Anna Lea Albright, Hugo Bellenger, Eberhard Bodenschatz, Kathy-Ann Caesar, Rebecca Chewitt-Lucas, Gijs de Boer, Julien Delanoë, Leif Denby, Florian Ewald, Benjamin Fildier, Marvin Forde, Geet George, Silke Gross, Martin Hagen, Andrea Hausold, Karen J. Heywood, Lutz Hirsch, Marek Jacob, Friedhelm Jansen, Stefan Kinne, Daniel Klocke, Tobias Kölling, Heike Konow, Marie Lothon, Wiebke Mohr, Ann Kristin Naumann, Louise Nuijens, Léa Olivier, Robert Pincus, Mira Pöhlker, Gilles Reverdin, Gregory Roberts, Sabrina Schnitt, Hauke Schulz, A. Pier Siebesma, Claudia Christine Stephan, Peter Sullivan, Ludovic Touzé-Peiffer, Jessica Vial, Raphaela Vogel, Paquita Zuidema, Nicola Alexander, Lyndon Alves, Sophian Arixi, Hamish Asmath, Gholamhossein Bagheri, Katharina Baier, Adriana Bailey, Dariusz Baranowski, Alexandre Baron, Sébastien Barrau, Paul A. Barrett, Frédéric Batier, Andreas Behrendt, Arne Bendinger, Florent Beucher, Sebastien Bigorre, Edmund Blades, Peter Blossey, Olivier Bock, Steven Böing, Pierre Bosser, Denis Bourras, Pascale Bouruet-Aubertot, Keith Bower, Pierre Branellec, Hubert Branger, Michal Brennek, Alan Brewer, Pierre-Etienne Brilouet, Björn Brügmann, Stefan A. Buehler, Elmo Burke, Ralph Burton, Radiance Calmer, Jean-Christophe Canonici, Xavier Carton, Gregory Cato Jr., Jude Andre Charles, Patrick Chazette, Yanxu Chen, Michal T. Chilinski, Thomas Choularton, Patrick Chuang, Shamal Clarke, Hugh Coe, Céline Cornet, Pierre Coutris, Fleur Couvreux, Susanne Crewell, Timothy Cronin, Zhiqiang Cui, Yannis Cuypers, Alton Daley, Gillian M. Damerell, Thibaut Dauhut, Hartwig Deneke, Jean-Philippe Desbios, Steffen Dörner, Sebastian Donner, Vincent Douet, Kyla Drushka, Marina Dütsch, André Ehrlich, Kerry Emanuel, Alexandros Emmanouilidis, Jean-Claude Etienne, Sheryl Etienne-Leblanc, Ghislain Faure, Graham Feingold, Luca Ferrero, Andreas Fix, Cyrille Flamant, Piotr Jacek Flatau, Gregory R. Foltz, Linda Forster, Iulian Furtuna, Alan Gadian, Joseph Galewsky, Martin Gallagher, Peter Gallimore, Cassandra Gaston, Chelle Gentemann, Nicolas Geyskens, Andreas Giez, John Gollop, Isabelle Gouirand, Christophe Gourbeyre, Dörte de Graaf, Geiske E. de Groot, Robert Grosz, Johannes Güttler, Manuel Gutleben, Kashawn Hall, George Harris, Kevin C. Helfer, Dean Henze, Calvert Herbert, Bruna Holanda, Antonio Ibanez-Landeta, Janet Intrieri, Suneil Iyer, Fabrice Julien, Heike Kalesse, Jan Kazil, Alexander Kellman, Abiel T. Kidane, Ulrike Kirchner, Marcus Klingebiel, Mareike Körner, Leslie Ann Kremper, Jan Kretzschmar, Ovid Krüger, Wojciech Kumala, Armin Kurz, Pierre L'Hégaret, Matthieu Labaste, Tom Lachlan-Cope, Arlene Laing, Peter Landschützer, Theresa Lang, Diego Lange, Ingo Lange, Clément Laplace, Gauke Lavik, Rémi Laxenaire, Caroline Le Bihan, Mason Leandro, Nathalie Lefevre, Marius Lena, Donald Lenschow, Qiang Li, Gary Lloyd, Sebastian Los, Niccolò Losi, Oscar Lovell, Christopher Luneau, Przemyslaw Makuch, Szymon Malinowski, Gaston Manta, Eleni Marinou, Nicholas Marsden, Sebastien Masson, Nicolas Maury, Bernhard Mayer, Margarette Mayers-Als, Christophe Mazel, Wayne McGeary, James C. McWilliams, Mario Mech, Melina Mehlmann, Agostino Niyonkuru Meroni, Theresa Mieslinger, Andreas Minikin, Peter Minnett, Gregor Möller, Yanmichel Morfa Avalos, Caroline Muller, Ionela Musat, Anna Napoli, Almuth Neuberger, Christophe Noisel, David Noone, Freja Nordsiek, Jakub L. Nowak, Lothar Oswald, Douglas J. Parker, Carolyn Peck, Renaud Person, Miriam Philippi, Albert Plueddemann, Christopher Pöhlker, Veronika Pörtge, Ulrich Pöschl, Lawrence Pologne, Michał Posyniak, Marc Prange, Estefanía Quiñones Meléndez, Jule Radtke, Karim Ramage, Jens Reimann, Lionel Renault, Klaus Reus, Ashford Reyes, Joachim Ribbe, Maximilian Ringel, Markus Ritschel, Cesar B. Rocha, Nicolas Rochetin, Johannes Röttenbacher, Callum Rollo, Haley Royer, Pauline Sadoulet, Leo Saffin, Sanola Sandiford, Irina Sandu, Michael Schäfer, Vera Schemann, Imke Schirmacher, Oliver Schlenczek, Jerome Schmidt, Marcel Schröder, Alfons Schwarzenboeck, Andrea Sealy, Christoph J. Senff, Ilya Serikov, Samkeyat Shohan, Elizabeth Siddle, Alexander Smirnov, Florian Späth, Branden Spooner, M. Katharina Stolla, Wojciech Szkółka, Simon P. de Szoeke, Stéphane Tarot, Eleni Tetoni, Elizabeth Thompson, Jim Thomson, Lorenzo Tomassini, Julien Totems, Alma Anna Ubele, Leonie Villiger, Jan von Arx, Thomas Wagner, Andi Walther, Ben Webber, Manfred Wendisch, Shanice Whitehall, Anton Wiltshire, Allison A. Wing, Martin Wirth, Jonathan Wiskandt, Kevin Wolf, Ludwig Worbes, Ethan Wright, Volker Wulfmeyer, Shanea Young, Chidong Zhang, Dongxiao Zhang, Florian Ziemen, Tobias Zinner, and Martin Zöger
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 13, 4067–4119, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-13-4067-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The EUREC4A field campaign, designed to test hypothesized mechanisms by which clouds respond to warming and benchmark next-generation Earth-system models, is presented. EUREC4A comprised roughly 5 weeks of measurements in the downstream winter trades of the North Atlantic – eastward and southeastward of Barbados. It was the first campaign that attempted to characterize the full range of processes and scales influencing trade wind clouds.
Silvia G. Danelli, Marco Brunoldi, Dario Massabò, Franco Parodi, Virginia Vernocchi, and Paolo Prati
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4461–4470, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4461-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4461-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Experiments conducted inside confined artificial environments, such as atmospheric simulation chambers (ASCs), where atmospheric conditions and composition are controlled, can provide valuable information on bio-aerosol viability, dispersion, and impact. We focus here on the reproducible aerosolization and injection of viable microorganisms into an ASC, the first and crucial step of any experimental protocol to expose bio-aerosols to different atmospheric conditions.
Andrea Cuesta-Mosquera, Griša Močnik, Luka Drinovec, Thomas Müller, Sascha Pfeifer, María Cruz Minguillón, Björn Briel, Paul Buckley, Vadimas Dudoitis, Javier Fernández-García, María Fernández-Amado, Joel Ferreira De Brito, Veronique Riffault, Harald Flentje, Eimear Heffernan, Nikolaos Kalivitis, Athina-Cerise Kalogridis, Hannes Keernik, Luminita Marmureanu, Krista Luoma, Angela Marinoni, Michael Pikridas, Gerhard Schauer, Norbert Serfozo, Henri Servomaa, Gloria Titos, Jesús Yus-Díez, Natalia Zioła, and Alfred Wiedensohler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3195–3216, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3195-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3195-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements of black carbon must be conducted with instruments operating in quality-checked and assured conditions to generate reliable and comparable data. Here, 23 Aethalometers monitoring black carbon mass concentrations in European networks were characterized and intercompared. The influence of different aerosol sources, maintenance activities, and the filter material on the instrumental variabilities were investigated. Good agreement and in general low deviations were seen.
Luca Ferrero, Asta Gregorič, Griša Močnik, Martin Rigler, Sergio Cogliati, Francesca Barnaba, Luca Di Liberto, Gian Paolo Gobbi, Niccolò Losi, and Ezio Bolzacchini
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4869–4897, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4869-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4869-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
The work experimentally quantifies the impact of cloudiness and cloud type on the atmospheric heating rate of black and brown carbon. The most impacting clouds were stratocumulus, altostratus and stratus. Clouds caused a decrease of the heating rate of about 12 % per okta. The black carbon decease was slightly higher with respect to that of brown carbon. This study highlights the need to take into account the role of cloudiness when modelling light-absorbing aerosol climate forcing.
Jesús Yus-Díez, Marina Ealo, Marco Pandolfi, Noemí Perez, Gloria Titos, Griša Močnik, Xavier Querol, and Andrés Alastuey
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 431–455, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-431-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-431-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Here we describe the vertical profiles of extensive (scattering and absorption) and intensive (e.g. albedo and asymmetry parameter) aerosol optical properties from coupling ground-based measurements from two sites in north-eastern Spain and airborne measurements performed with an aircraft. We analyse different aerosol layers along the vertical profile for a regional pollution episode and a Saharan dust intrusion. The results show a change with height depending on the different measured layers.
Bradley Visser, Jannis Röhrbein, Peter Steigmeier, Luka Drinovec, Griša Močnik, and Ernest Weingartner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 7097–7111, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-7097-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-7097-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Here we report on the development of a novel single-beam photothermal interferometer and its use in the measurement of aerosol light absorption. We demonstrate how light-absorbing gases can be used to calibrate the instrument and how this absorption is automatically subtracted during normal operation. The performance of the instrument is compared to a standard filter-based instrument using a black carbon test aerosol. The 60 s detection limit is found to be less than 10 Mm-1.
Asta Gregorič, Luka Drinovec, Irena Ježek, Janja Vaupotič, Matevž Lenarčič, Domen Grauf, Longlong Wang, Maruška Mole, Samo Stanič, and Griša Močnik
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14139–14162, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14139-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14139-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new method for the determination of highly time-resolved and source-separated black carbon emission rates. The atmospheric dynamics is quantified using the atmospheric radon concentration. Different intensity and daily dynamics of black carbon emission rates for two different environments are presented: urban and rural area. The method can be used to assess the efficiency of pollution mitigation measures, thereby avoiding the influence of variable meteorology.
Martin Rigler, Luka Drinovec, Gašper Lavrič, Athanasia Vlachou, André S. H. Prévôt, Jean Luc Jaffrezo, Iasonas Stavroulas, Jean Sciare, Judita Burger, Irena Kranjc, Janja Turšič, Anthony D. A. Hansen, and Griša Močnik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4333–4351, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4333-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4333-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Carbonaceous aerosols are a large fraction of fine particulate matter. They are extremely diverse, and they directly impact air quality, visibility, cloud formation and public health. In this paper we present a new instrument and new method to measure carbon content in particulate matter in real time and at a high time resolution. The new method was validated in a 1-month winter field campaign in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
Luka Drinovec, Jean Sciare, Iasonas Stavroulas, Spiros Bezantakos, Michael Pikridas, Florin Unga, Chrysanthos Savvides, Bojana Višić, Maja Remškar, and Griša Močnik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3799–3813, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3799-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3799-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Atmospheric mineral dust influences Earth's radiative budget, has adverse health effects, and affects regulatory PM10 concentrations. We present a highly time resolved online technique for quantification of mineral dust concentration in ambient air. The technique uses a virtual impactor to concentrate coarse particles, where absorption is then measured using a filter photometer. The method was tested in the field at a regional background site on Cyprus.
Giovanni Baccolo, Edyta Łokas, Paweł Gaca, Dario Massabò, Roberto Ambrosini, Roberto S. Azzoni, Caroline Clason, Biagio Di Mauro, Andrea Franzetti, Massimiliano Nastasi, Michele Prata, Paolo Prati, Ezio Previtali, Barbara Delmonte, and Valter Maggi
The Cryosphere, 14, 657–672, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-657-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-657-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Cryoconite is the sediment found on the surface of glaciers. The paper presents cryoconite as an environmental matrix able to accumulate natural and artificial radioactivity with unprecedented efficiency. Only samples from sites where nuclear accidents and explosions occurred present a stronger radioactive contamination. The peculiarities of glacial environments are responsible for this extreme feature, making cryoconite a useful tool tool for the monitoring of environmental radioactivity.
Aurélien Chauvigné, Diego Aliaga, Karine Sellegri, Nadège Montoux, Radovan Krejci, Griša Močnik, Isabel Moreno, Thomas Müller, Marco Pandolfi, Fernando Velarde, Kay Weinhold, Patrick Ginot, Alfred Wiedensohler, Marcos Andrade, and Paolo Laj
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 14805–14824, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14805-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14805-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The study presents for the first time the analysis of aerosol optical properties at the unique high-altitude station of Chacaltaya, Bolivia. Ideally located, the station allows us to better understand influences of urban areas and the Amazon Forest on tropospheric properties. An emerging method is applied to characterize aerosol origins and permits us to illustrate evidence of natural and anthropogenic influences.
Michael Pikridas, Spiros Bezantakos, Griša Močnik, Christos Keleshis, Fred Brechtel, Iasonas Stavroulas, Gregoris Demetriades, Panayiota Antoniou, Panagiotis Vouterakos, Marios Argyrides, Eleni Liakakou, Luka Drinovec, Eleni Marinou, Vassilis Amiridis, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, and Jean Sciare
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6425–6447, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6425-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6425-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This work evaluates the performance of three sensors that monitor black carbon (soot). These sensors exhibit similar behavior to their rack-mounted counterparts and are therefore promising for more extended use. A reconstruction of the black carbon mass vertical distribution above Athens, Greece, is shown using drones, similar to those acquired by remote-sensing techniques. The potential of combining miniature sensors with drones for at least the lower part of the atmosphere is exhibited.
Alice Corina Forello, Vera Bernardoni, Giulia Calzolai, Franco Lucarelli, Dario Massabò, Silvia Nava, Rosaria Erika Pileci, Paolo Prati, Sara Valentini, Gianluigi Valli, and Roberta Vecchi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11235–11252, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11235-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11235-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
A new approach coupling aerosol chemical and optical properties in one source apportionment study is proposed. Besides a more robust identification of sources, it was possible to retrieve a source-specific absorption Ångström exponent and a mass absorption cross section at different wavelengths as well as optical apportionment. This piece of information can be very useful for formulating strategies for pollutant abatement to improve air quality and to face climate challenges.
Marc D. Mallet, Barbara D'Anna, Aurélie Même, Maria Chiara Bove, Federico Cassola, Giandomenico Pace, Karine Desboeufs, Claudia Di Biagio, Jean-Francois Doussin, Michel Maille, Dario Massabò, Jean Sciare, Pascal Zapf, Alcide Giorgio di Sarra, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11123–11142, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11123-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11123-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We present findings from a summertime field campaign at the remote island of Lampedusa in the central Mediterranean Sea. We show that the aerosol loading is similar to coastal sites around the Mediterranean. We observe higher loadings of sulfate and aged organic aerosol from air masses transported over the central and eastern Mediterranean in comparison to those from the western Mediterranean. These results highlight the rarity of pristine air masses, even in remote marine environments.
Dario Massabò, Alessandro Altomari, Virginia Vernocchi, and Paolo Prati
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 3173–3182, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3173-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-3173-2019, 2019
Henri Diémoz, Francesca Barnaba, Tiziana Magri, Giordano Pession, Davide Dionisi, Sara Pittavino, Ivan K. F. Tombolato, Monica Campanelli, Lara Sofia Della Ceca, Maxime Hervo, Luca Di Liberto, Luca Ferrero, and Gian Paolo Gobbi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 3065–3095, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3065-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3065-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We assess the impact of air masses transported from the Po basin on the particulate matter (PM) levels in the northwestern Alps using multi-sensor observations from ground and space, and models. In this part 1 of the study, we investigate the phenomenon through three selected case studies representative of different seasons. We show that advected aerosols remarkably degrade the air quality of the Alpine area (PM10 increasing up to >100 µg m−3) and we discuss the measurement–model discrepancies.
Nivedita K. Kumar, Joel C. Corbin, Emily A. Bruns, Dario Massabó, Jay G. Slowik, Luka Drinovec, Griša Močnik, Paolo Prati, Athanasia Vlachou, Urs Baltensperger, Martin Gysel, Imad El-Haddad, and André S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17843–17861, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17843-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17843-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
It is clear that considerable uncertainties still exist in understanding the magnitude of aerosol absorption on a global scale and its contribution to global warming. This manuscript provides a comprehensive assessment of the optical absorption by organic aerosols (brown carbon) from residential wood combustion as a function of atmospheric aging.
Dario Massabò, Silvia Giulia Danelli, Paolo Brotto, Antonio Comite, Camilla Costa, Andrea Di Cesare, Jean François Doussin, Federico Ferraro, Paola Formenti, Elena Gatta, Laura Negretti, Maddalena Oliva, Franco Parodi, Luigi Vezzulli, and Paolo Prati
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 5885–5900, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5885-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-5885-2018, 2018
Samuël Weber, Gaëlle Uzu, Aude Calas, Florie Chevrier, Jean-Luc Besombes, Aurélie Charron, Dalia Salameh, Irena Ježek, Griša Močnik, and Jean-Luc Jaffrezo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 9617–9629, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9617-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-9617-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The oxidative potential (OP) of the PM appears to be a relevant proxy of health outcomes from PM exposure. We developed a new statistical model using a coupled approach with positive matrix factorization (PMF) and multiple linear regressions to attribute a redox activity per PM sources. Our results highlight the importance of biomass burning and vehicular sources to explain the observed OP of PM. A different contribution of the sources is observed when considering OP or the mass of the PM10.
Biagio Di Mauro, Giovanni Baccolo, Roberto Garzonio, Claudia Giardino, Dario Massabò, Andrea Piazzalunga, Micol Rossini, and Roberto Colombo
The Cryosphere, 11, 2393–2409, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2393-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-11-2393-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
In the paper, we demonstrate the potential of field and satellite hyperspectral reflectance data in characterizing the spatial distribution of impurities on the Morteratsch Glacier. In situ reflectance spectra showed that impurities reduced ice reflectance in visible wavelengths by 80–90 %. Satellite data also showed the outcropping of dust during the melting season in the upper parts of the glacier. Laboratory measurements of cryoconite showed the presence of elemental and organic carbon.
Linda M. J. Kooijmans, Kadmiel Maseyk, Ulli Seibt, Wu Sun, Timo Vesala, Ivan Mammarella, Pasi Kolari, Juho Aalto, Alessandro Franchin, Roberta Vecchi, Gianluigi Valli, and Huilin Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 11453–11465, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-11453-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-11453-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Carbon cycle studies rely on the accuracy of models to estimate the amount of CO2 being taken up by vegetation. The gas carbonyl sulfide (COS) can serve as a tool to estimate the vegetative CO2 uptake by scaling the ecosystem uptake of COS to that of CO2. Here we investigate the nighttime fluxes of COS. The relationships found in this study will aid in implementing nighttime COS uptake in models, which is key to obtain accurate estimates of vegetative CO2 uptake with the use of COS.
Jorge Saturno, Christopher Pöhlker, Dario Massabò, Joel Brito, Samara Carbone, Yafang Cheng, Xuguang Chi, Florian Ditas, Isabella Hrabě de Angelis, Daniel Morán-Zuloaga, Mira L. Pöhlker, Luciana V. Rizzo, David Walter, Qiaoqiao Wang, Paulo Artaxo, Paolo Prati, and Meinrat O. Andreae
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2837–2850, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2837-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2837-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Different Aethalometer correction schemes were compared to a multi-wavelength absorption reference measurement. One of the correction schemes was found to artificially increase the short-wavelength absorption coefficients. It was found that accounting for aerosol scattering properties in the correction is crucial to retrieve the proper absorption Ångström exponent (AAE). We found that the raw AAE of uncompensated Aethalometer attenuation significantly correlates with a measured reference AAE.
Lorenzo Caponi, Paola Formenti, Dario Massabó, Claudia Di Biagio, Mathieu Cazaunau, Edouard Pangui, Servanne Chevaillier, Gautier Landrot, Meinrat O. Andreae, Konrad Kandler, Stuart Piketh, Thuraya Saeed, Dave Seibert, Earle Williams, Yves Balkanski, Paolo Prati, and Jean-François Doussin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 7175–7191, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7175-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-7175-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents new laboratory measurements of the shortwave mass absorption efficiency (MAE) used by climate models for mineral dust of different origin and at different sizes. We found that small particles are more efficient, by given mass, in absorbing radiation, particularly at shorter wavelength. Because dust has high concentrations in the atmosphere, light absorption by mineral dust can be competitive to other absorbing atmospheric aerosols such as black and brown carbon.
Peter Zotter, Hanna Herich, Martin Gysel, Imad El-Haddad, Yanlin Zhang, Griša Močnik, Christoph Hüglin, Urs Baltensperger, Sönke Szidat, and André S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4229–4249, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4229-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4229-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Most studies use a single Ångström exponent for wood burning (αWB) and traffic (αTR) emissions in the Aethalometer model, used for source apportionment of black carbon, derived from previous work. However, accurate determination of the α values is currently lacking. Comparing radiocarbon measurements (14C) with the Aehtalometer model, good agreement was found, indicating that the Aethalometer model reproduces reasonably well the 14C results using our best estimate of a single αWB and αTR.
Luka Drinovec, Asta Gregorič, Peter Zotter, Robert Wolf, Emily Anne Bruns, André S. H. Prévôt, Jean-Eudes Petit, Olivier Favez, Jean Sciare, Ian J. Arnold, Rajan K. Chakrabarty, Hans Moosmüller, Agnes Filep, and Griša Močnik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 1043–1059, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1043-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-1043-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Black carbon measurements are usually conducted with absorption filter photometers, which are prone to the filter-loading effect – a saturation of the instrumental response due to the accumulation of the sample in the filter matrix. In this paper, we conducted several field campaigns to investigate the hypothesis that this filter-loading effect depends on the optical properties of particles present in the filter matrix, especially on the coating of black carbon particles.
Monique Teich, Dominik van Pinxteren, Michael Wang, Simonas Kecorius, Zhibin Wang, Thomas Müller, Griša Močnik, and Hartmut Herrmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 1653–1672, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-1653-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-1653-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This study provides a large data set on concentrations of individual brown carbon constituents, i.e., nitrated aromatic compounds, in diverse atmospheric environments and their relative contribution to water-soluble and particulate light absorption. It extends the existing knowledge on the abundance of brown carbon and its molecular composition and provides scientific motivation for further studies on ambient brown carbon constituents.
Luca Ferrero, David Cappelletti, Maurizio Busetto, Mauro Mazzola, Angelo Lupi, Christian Lanconelli, Silvia Becagli, Rita Traversi, Laura Caiazzo, Fabio Giardi, Beatrice Moroni, Stefano Crocchianti, Martin Fierz, Griša Močnik, Giorgia Sangiorgi, Maria G. Perrone, Marion Maturilli, Vito Vitale, Roberto Udisti, and Ezio Bolzacchini
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 12601–12629, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12601-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12601-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This study reports results from systematic vertical aerosol profiles measured in the Arctic using a tethered balloon platform. The collected data allowed for finding common rules of aerosol behavior along height and seasons. Transport events, secondary aerosol formation and ship impact are examples of the issues investigated along height. The importance of these issues is related to their climatic implications in reference to the aerosol direct and indirect effects in the Arctic atmosphere.
Joonas Enroth, Sanna Saarikoski, Jarkko Niemi, Anu Kousa, Irena Ježek, Griša Močnik, Samara Carbone, Heino Kuuluvainen, Topi Rönkkö, Risto Hillamo, and Liisa Pirjola
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5497–5512, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5497-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5497-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
This paper presents a comprehensive summary of roadside measurements using a mobile laboratory, equipped with state-of-the-art instrumentation. Pollution gradients were observed for particle number, black carbon, organics, some metals, and gases at four different highway environments. Flow dynamics appeared to be an important factor, however, at the most open site, condensation of semi-volatile organics was observed. The fleet average NO2 emission factor increased over the last decade.
V. Crenn, J. Sciare, P. L. Croteau, S. Verlhac, R. Fröhlich, C. A. Belis, W. Aas, M. Äijälä, A. Alastuey, B. Artiñano, D. Baisnée, N. Bonnaire, M. Bressi, M. Canagaratna, F. Canonaco, C. Carbone, F. Cavalli, E. Coz, M. J. Cubison, J. K. Esser-Gietl, D. C. Green, V. Gros, L. Heikkinen, H. Herrmann, C. Lunder, M. C. Minguillón, G. Močnik, C. D. O'Dowd, J. Ovadnevaite, J.-E. Petit, E. Petralia, L. Poulain, M. Priestman, V. Riffault, A. Ripoll, R. Sarda-Estève, J. G. Slowik, A. Setyan, A. Wiedensohler, U. Baltensperger, A. S. H. Prévôt, J. T. Jayne, and O. Favez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 5063–5087, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-5063-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-5063-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
A large intercomparison study of 13 Q-ACSM was conducted for a 3-week period in the region of Paris to evaluate the performance of this instrument and to monitor the major NR-PM1 chemical components. Reproducibility expanded uncertainties of Q-ACSM concentration measurements were found to be 9, 15, 19, 28, and 36% for NR-PM1, NO3, OM, SO4, and NH4, respectively. Some recommendations regarding best calibration practices, standardized data processing and data treatment are also provided.
I. Ježek, T. Katrašnik, D. Westerdahl, and G. Močnik
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 11011–11026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11011-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-11011-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
On-road measurement of black carbon (BC), NOx and particle number (PN) emission factors (EF) by chasing vehicles is the first such study where BC EFs of many individual diesel cars were determined in real-world conditions. Median BC EF of diesel and gasoline cars in use for <5 years, decreased by 60% and 47% from those in use for 5–10 years. Reductions for goods vehicles' NOx and PN EFs were 52% and 67%. We found an increase of BC EFs in newer goods vehicle fleet compared to 5 – 10 year old one.
A. Karanasiou, M. C. Minguillón, M. Viana, A. Alastuey, J.-P. Putaud, W. Maenhaut, P. Panteliadis, G. Močnik, O. Favez, and T. A. J. Kuhlbusch
Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/amtd-8-9649-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amtd-8-9649-2015, 2015
Revised manuscript not accepted
R. Fröhlich, V. Crenn, A. Setyan, C. A. Belis, F. Canonaco, O. Favez, V. Riffault, J. G. Slowik, W. Aas, M. Aijälä, A. Alastuey, B. Artiñano, N. Bonnaire, C. Bozzetti, M. Bressi, C. Carbone, E. Coz, P. L. Croteau, M. J. Cubison, J. K. Esser-Gietl, D. C. Green, V. Gros, L. Heikkinen, H. Herrmann, J. T. Jayne, C. R. Lunder, M. C. Minguillón, G. Močnik, C. D. O'Dowd, J. Ovadnevaite, E. Petralia, L. Poulain, M. Priestman, A. Ripoll, R. Sarda-Estève, A. Wiedensohler, U. Baltensperger, J. Sciare, and A. S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2555–2576, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2555-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2555-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Source apportionment (SA) of organic aerosol mass spectrometric data measured with the Aerodyne ACSM using PMF/ME2 is a frequently used technique in the AMS/ACSM community. ME2 uncertainties due to instrument-to-instrument variations are elucidated by performing SA on ambient data from 14 individual, co-located ACSMs, recorded during the first ACTRIS ACSM intercomparison study at SIRTA near Paris (France). The mean uncertainty was 17.2%. Recommendations for future studies using ME2 are provided.
L. Drinovec, G. Močnik, P. Zotter, A. S. H. Prévôt, C. Ruckstuhl, E. Coz, M. Rupakheti, J. Sciare, T. Müller, A. Wiedensohler, and A. D. A. Hansen
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1965–1979, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1965-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1965-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new real-time algorithm for compensation of the filter-loading effect in filter photometers, based on a two parallel spot measurement of optical absorption. This algorithm has been incorporated into the new Aethalometer AE33. Intercomparison studies show excellent reproducibility of the AE33 measurements and very good agreement with post-processed data obtained using earlier aethalometer models and other filter-based absorption photometers.
J.-E. Petit, O. Favez, J. Sciare, V. Crenn, R. Sarda-Estève, N. Bonnaire, G. Močnik, J.-C. Dupont, M. Haeffelin, and E. Leoz-Garziandia
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 2985–3005, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2985-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2985-2015, 2015
E. A. Bruns, M. Krapf, J. Orasche, Y. Huang, R. Zimmermann, L. Drinovec, G. Močnik, I. El-Haddad, J. G. Slowik, J. Dommen, U. Baltensperger, and A. S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 2825–2841, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2825-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2825-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Residential wood combustion contributes significantly to the total atmospheric particulate burden; however, uncertainties remain in the magnitude and characteristics of wood burning products. The effects of wood loading on freshly emitted and aged emissions were investigated. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, which negatively impact health, contributed more to the total organic aerosol under highly loaded burner conditions, which has significant implications for burner operation protocols.
G. Curci, L. Ferrero, P. Tuccella, F. Barnaba, F. Angelini, E. Bolzacchini, C. Carbone, H. A. C. Denier van der Gon, M. C. Facchini, G. P. Gobbi, J. P. P. Kuenen, T. C. Landi, C. Perrino, M. G. Perrone, G. Sangiorgi, and P. Stocchi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 2629–2649, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2629-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-2629-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Particulate matter (PM) at ground level is of primary concern for the quality of the air we breathe. Most direct sources of PM are near the ground, but an important fraction of PM is produced by photochemical processes happening also in the upper atmospheric layers. We investigated the contribution of those layers to the PM near the ground and found a significant impact. Nitrate is a major player in the “vertical direction”, owing to its sensitivity to ambient temperature and relative humidity.
P. Panteliadis, T. Hafkenscheid, B. Cary, E. Diapouli, A. Fischer, O. Favez, P. Quincey, M. Viana, R. Hitzenberger, R. Vecchi, D. Saraga, J. Sciare, J. L. Jaffrezo, A. John, J. Schwarz, M. Giannoni, J. Novak, A. Karanasiou, P. Fermo, and W. Maenhaut
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 779–792, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-779-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-779-2015, 2015
I. Ježek, L. Drinovec, L. Ferrero, M. Carriero, and G. Močnik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 43–55, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-43-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-43-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We used two methods - the stationary method and the chasing method - for measuring emission factors (EF) of black carbon and particle number concentration in real driving conditions in a controlled environment. We further developed the data processing for both methods. The comparison of emission factors determined by the two methods showed good agreement. EFs of a single car measured with either method have a specific distribution with a characteristic value and a long tail of super emissions.
J.-E. Petit, O. Favez, J. Sciare, F. Canonaco, P. Croteau, G. Močnik, J. Jayne, D. Worsnop, and E. Leoz-Garziandia
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 13773–13787, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-13773-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-13773-2014, 2014
A. Balzarini, F. Angelini, L. Ferrero, M. Moscatelli, M. G. Perrone, G. Pirovano, G. M. Riva, G. Sangiorgi, A. M. Toppetti, G. P. Gobbi, and E. Bolzacchini
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmdd-7-6133-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmdd-7-6133-2014, 2014
Revised manuscript has not been submitted
L. Ferrero, M. Castelli, B. S. Ferrini, M. Moscatelli, M. G. Perrone, G. Sangiorgi, L. D'Angelo, G. Rovelli, B. Moroni, F. Scardazza, G. Močnik, E. Bolzacchini, M. Petitta, and D. Cappelletti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 9641–9664, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9641-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-9641-2014, 2014
S. Segura, V. Estellés, G. Titos, H. Lyamani, M. P. Utrillas, P. Zotter, A. S. H. Prévôt, G. Močnik, L. Alados-Arboledas, and J. A. Martínez-Lozano
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2373–2387, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2373-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2373-2014, 2014
S. M. Platt, I. El Haddad, A. A. Zardini, M. Clairotte, C. Astorga, R. Wolf, J. G. Slowik, B. Temime-Roussel, N. Marchand, I. Ježek, L. Drinovec, G. Močnik, O. Möhler, R. Richter, P. Barmet, F. Bianchi, U. Baltensperger, and A. S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 9141–9158, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9141-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9141-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Aerosols | Technique: Laboratory Measurement | Topic: Validation and Intercomparisons
An interlaboratory comparison to quantify oxidative potential measurement in aerosol particles: challenges and recommendations for harmonisation
Quantifying the uncertainties in thermal–optical analysis of carbonaceous aircraft engine emissions: an interlaboratory study
Pressure-dependent performance of two CEN-specified condensation particle counters
Characterisation of a self-sustained, water-based condensation particle counter for aircraft cruising pressure level operation
Importance of size representation and morphology in modelling optical properties of black carbon: comparison between laboratory measurements and model simulations
Characterization of tandem aerosol classifiers for selecting particles: implication for eliminating the multiple charging effect
Impact of particle size, refractive index, and shape on the determination of the particle scattering coefficient – an optical closure study evaluating different nephelometer angular truncation and illumination corrections
Quantification of major particulate matter species from a single filter type using infrared spectroscopy – application to a large-scale monitoring network
Comparing black-carbon- and aerosol-absorption-measuring instruments – a new system using lab-generated soot coated with controlled amounts of secondary organic matter
Assessment of real-time bioaerosol particle counters using reference chamber experiments
Constraining the response factors of an extractive electrospray ionization mass spectrometer for near-molecular aerosol speciation
Application of the ECT9 protocol for radiocarbon-based source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols
Intercomparison and characterization of 23 Aethalometers under laboratory and ambient air conditions: procedures and unit-to-unit variabilities
Laboratory validation of a compact single-scattering albedo (SSA) monitor
Facility for production of ambient-like model aerosols (PALMA) in the laboratory: application in the intercomparison of automated PM monitors with the reference gravimetric method
An interlaboratory comparison of aerosol inorganic ion measurements by ion chromatography: implications for aerosol pH estimate
Multifactor colorimetric analysis on pH-indicator papers: an optimized approach for direct determination of ambient aerosol pH
Highly oxygenated organic molecule cluster decomposition in atmospheric pressure interface time-of-flight mass spectrometers
Mass spectral characterization of primary emissions and implications in source apportionment of organic aerosol
Nitrate radical generation via continuous generation of dinitrogen pentoxide in a laminar flow reactor coupled to an oxidation flow reactor
Development of an antioxidant assay to study oxidative potential of airborne particulate matter
Determination of n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and hopanes in atmospheric aerosol: evaluation and comparison of thermal desorption GC-MS and solvent extraction GC-MS approaches
Inter-comparison of elemental and organic carbon mass measurements from three North American national long-term monitoring networks at a co-located site
B3010: a boosted TSI 3010 condensation particle counter for airborne studies
Effect of dry or wet substrate deposition on the organic volume fraction of core–shell aerosol particles
Spectral Intensity Bioaerosol Sensor (SIBS): an instrument for spectrally resolved fluorescence detection of single particles in real time
HOx and NOx production in oxidation flow reactors via photolysis of isopropyl nitrite, isopropyl nitrite-d7, and 1,3-propyl dinitrite at λ = 254, 350, and 369 nm
Can ozone be used to calibrate aerosol photoacoustic spectrometers?
The Fifth International Workshop on Ice Nucleation phase 2 (FIN-02): laboratory intercomparison of ice nucleation measurements
Viscosity of erythritol and erythritol–water particles as a function of water activity: new results and an intercomparison of techniques for measuring the viscosity of particles
Characterization of steady-state fluorescence properties of polystyrene latex spheres using off- and online spectroscopic methods
Organosulfates in atmospheric aerosol: synthesis and quantitative analysis of PM2.5 from Xi'an, northwestern China
Characterization of a catalyst-based conversion technique to measure total particulate nitrogen and organic carbon and comparison to a particle mass measurement instrument
On the accuracy of aerosol photoacoustic spectrometer calibrations using absorption by ozone
A reference data set for validating vapor pressure measurement techniques: homologous series of polyethylene glycols
Evaluation of the new capture vapourizer for aerosol mass spectrometers (AMS) through laboratory studies of inorganic species
Controlled nitric oxide production via O(1D) + N2O reactions for use in oxidation flow reactor studies
Characterization of three new condensation particle counters for sub-3 nm particle detection during the Helsinki CPC workshop: the ADI versatile water CPC, TSI 3777 nano enhancer and boosted TSI 3010
A novel single-cavity three-wavelength photoacoustic spectrometer for atmospheric aerosol research
Inter-comparison of NIOSH and IMPROVE protocols for OC and EC determination: implications for inter-protocol data conversion
Operation of the Airmodus A11 nano Condensation Nucleus Counter at various inlet pressures and various operation temperatures, and design of a new inlet system
Accuracy and precision of 14C-based source apportionment of organic and elemental carbon in aerosols using the Swiss_4S protocol
The charging of neutral dimethylamine and dimethylamine–sulfuric acid clusters using protonated acetone
Validation of the poke-flow technique combined with simulations of fluid flow for determining viscosities in samples with small volumes and high viscosities
Determination of atmospheric organosulfates using HILIC chromatography with MS detection
Characterisation and optimisation of a sample preparation method for the detection and quantification of atmospherically relevant carbonyl compounds in aqueous medium
Inter-comparison of laboratory smog chamber and flow reactor systems on organic aerosol yield and composition
ECOC comparison exercise with identical thermal protocols after temperature offset correction – instrument diagnostics by in-depth evaluation of operational parameters
An intercomparison study of analytical methods used for quantification of levoglucosan in ambient aerosol filter samples
Refractory black carbon mass concentrations in snow and ice: method evaluation and inter-comparison with elemental carbon measurement
Pamela A. Dominutti, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, Anouk Marsal, Takoua Mhadhbi, Rhabira Elazzouzi, Camille Rak, Fabrizia Cavalli, Jean-Philippe Putaud, Aikaterini Bougiatioti, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Despina Paraskevopoulou, Ian Mudway, Athanasios Nenes, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, Catherine Banach, Steven J. Campbell, Hana Cigánková, Daniele Contini, Greg Evans, Maria Georgopoulou, Manuella Ghanem, Drew A. Glencross, Maria Rachele Guascito, Hartmut Herrmann, Saima Iram, Maja Jovanović, Milena Jovašević-Stojanović, Markus Kalberer, Ingeborg M. Kooter, Suzanne E. Paulson, Anil Patel, Esperanza Perdrix, Maria Chiara Pietrogrande, Pavel Mikuška, Jean-Jacques Sauvain, Katerina Seitanidi, Pourya Shahpoury, Eduardo J. d. S. Souza, Sarah Steimer, Svetlana Stevanovic, Guillaume Suarez, P. S. Ganesh Subramanian, Battist Utinger, Marloes F. van Os, Vishal Verma, Xing Wang, Rodney J. Weber, Yuhan Yang, Xavier Querol, Gerard Hoek, Roy M. Harrison, and Gaëlle Uzu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 177–195, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-177-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-177-2025, 2025
Short summary
Short summary
In this work, 20 labs worldwide collaborated to evaluate the measurement of air pollution's oxidative potential (OP), a key indicator of its harmful effects. The study aimed to identify disparities in the widely used OP dithiothreitol assay and assess the consistency of OP among labs using the same protocol. The results showed that half of the labs achieved acceptable results. However, variability was also found, highlighting the need for standardisation in OP procedures.
Timothy A. Sipkens, Joel C. Corbin, Brett Smith, Stéphanie Gagné, Prem Lobo, Benjamin T. Brem, Mark P. Johnson, and Gregory J. Smallwood
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 4291–4302, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4291-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-4291-2024, 2024
Short summary
Short summary
Carbonaceous particles, such as soot, contribute to climate forcing, air pollution, and human health impacts. Thermal–optical analysis is a calibration standard used to measure these particles, but significant differences have been observed in the measurements across identical instruments. We report on the reproducibility of these measurements for aircraft emissions, which range from 8.0 % of the nominal value for organic carbon to 17 % for elemental carbon.
Paulus S. Bauer, Dorian Spät, Martina Eisenhut, Andreas Gattringer, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 4445–4460, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4445-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-4445-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
Particle number concentration is one of the most important parameters to quantify an aerosol. Aerosol number concentration in the nanometer range is commonly measured with condensation particle counters (CPCs). A CEN technical specification harmonizes the CPC specifications. However, it is not specified for low-pressure conditions as on high mountains or on airplanes. Here, we present the pressure-dependent performance of two different models of CEN CPCs, the Grimm 5410 CEN and the TSI 3772 CEN.
Patrick Weber, Oliver F. Bischof, Benedikt Fischer, Marcel Berg, Susanne Hering, Steven Spielman, Gregory Lewis, Andreas Petzold, and Ulrich Bundke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3505–3514, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3505-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3505-2023, 2023
Short summary
Short summary
This study tests the new water condensation particle counter (MAGIC 210-LP) for deployment on passenger aircraft coordinated by the European research infrastructure IAGOS. We conducted a series of laboratory experiments for flight altitude conditions. We demonstrate that this water condensation particle counter model shows excellent agreement with a butanol-based instrument used in parallel and a Faraday cup electrometer as reference instrument at all tested pressure conditions.
Baseerat Romshoo, Mira Pöhlker, Alfred Wiedensohler, Sascha Pfeifer, Jorge Saturno, Andreas Nowak, Krzysztof Ciupek, Paul Quincey, Konstantina Vasilatou, Michaela N. Ess, Maria Gini, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Chris Robins, François Gaie-Levrel, and Thomas Müller
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6965–6989, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6965-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6965-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Black carbon (BC) is often assumed to be spherically shaped, causing uncertainties in its optical properties when modelled. This study investigates different modelling techniques for the optical properties of BC by comparing them to laboratory measurements. We provide experimental support for emphasizing the use of appropriate size representation (polydisperse size method) and morphological representation (aggregate morphology) for optical modelling and parameterization scheme development of BC.
Yao Song, Xiangyu Pei, Huichao Liu, Jiajia Zhou, and Zhibin Wang
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3513–3526, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3513-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3513-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Accurate particle classification is very important in aerosol studies. Differential mobility analyzers (DMAs), centrifugal particle mass analyzers (CPMAs), aerodynamic aerosol classifiers (AACs) and their tandem systems are commonly used. We demonstrated that DMA–CPMA is more susceptible to the multiple charging effect than DMA–AAC. It is not suggested to reduce the resolutions of the instruments, especially when selecting small-size soot particles.
Marilena Teri, Thomas Müller, Josef Gasteiger, Sara Valentini, Helmuth Horvath, Roberta Vecchi, Paulus Bauer, Adrian Walser, and Bernadett Weinzierl
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3161–3187, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3161-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3161-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
We performed an extensive closure study including laboratory and simulated experiments to evaluate various angular corrections for the Aurora 4000 polar nephelometer, focusing on irregularly shaped aerosols such as mineral dust. We describe the impact of particle size, refractive index, and shape on the determination of the particle scattering coefficient and propose a guideline to establish the most appropriate angular correction depending on the aerosol type and the investigated size range.
Bruno Debus, Andrew T. Weakley, Satoshi Takahama, Kathryn M. George, Anahita Amiri-Farahani, Bret Schichtel, Scott Copeland, Anthony S. Wexler, and Ann M. Dillner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2685–2702, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2685-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2685-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
In the US, routine particulate matter composition is measured on samples collected on three types of filter media and analyzed using several techniques. We propose an alternate approach that uses one analytical technique, Fourier transform-infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), and one filter type to measure the chemical composition of particulate matter in a major US monitoring network. This method could be used to add low-cost sites to the network, fill-in missing data, or for quality control.
Daniel M. Kalbermatter, Griša Močnik, Luka Drinovec, Bradley Visser, Jannis Röhrbein, Matthias Oscity, Ernest Weingartner, Antti-Pekka Hyvärinen, and Konstantina Vasilatou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 561–572, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-561-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-561-2022, 2022
Short summary
Short summary
Soot particles with varying amounts of secondary organic matter coating were generated and used to compare a series of aerosol-absorption-measuring instruments: filter-based and photoacoustic instruments as well as photo-thermal interferometers. Significant deviations in the response of the instruments were observed depending on the amount of secondary organic coating. The system can be used for the inter-comparison and characterisation of instruments.
Gian Lieberherr, Kevin Auderset, Bertrand Calpini, Bernard Clot, Benoît Crouzy, Martin Gysel-Beer, Thomas Konzelmann, José Manzano, Andrea Mihajlovic, Alireza Moallemi, David O'Connor, Branko Sikoparija, Eric Sauvageat, Fiona Tummon, and Konstantina Vasilatou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7693–7706, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7693-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7693-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Today there is no standard procedure to validate bioaerosol and pollen monitors. Three instruments were tested, focusing on detecting particles of different sizes. Only one instrument was able to detect the smallest particles (0.5 µm Ø), whereas the others performed best at the largest tested particles (10 µm Ø). These results are the first step towards a standardised validation procedure. The need for a reference counting method for larger particles (pollen grains: 10–200 µm Ø) was emphasised.
Dongyu S. Wang, Chuan Ping Lee, Jordan E. Krechmer, Francesca Majluf, Yandong Tong, Manjula R. Canagaratna, Julia Schmale, André S. H. Prévôt, Urs Baltensperger, Josef Dommen, Imad El Haddad, Jay G. Slowik, and David M. Bell
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6955–6972, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6955-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6955-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
To understand the sources and fate of particulate matter in the atmosphere, the ability to quantitatively describe its chemical composition is essential. In this work, we developed a calibration method for a state-of-the-art measurement technique without the need for chemical standards. Statistical analyses identified the driving factors behind instrument sensitivity variability towards individual components of particulate matter.
Lin Huang, Wendy Zhang, Guaciara M. Santos, Blanca T. Rodríguez, Sandra R. Holden, Vincent Vetro, and Claudia I. Czimczik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3481–3500, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3481-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3481-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Radiocarbon (14C)-based source apportionment of aerosol carbon fractions requires the physical separation of OC from EC and minimizing of the incorporation of extraneous carbon. Using pure and mixed reference materials ranging in age from modern to fossil, we show that the ECT9 protocol effectively isolates OC and EC. This work expands existing opportunities for characterizing and monitoring sources of carbonaceous aerosols, including µg C-sized samples from the Arctic.
Andrea Cuesta-Mosquera, Griša Močnik, Luka Drinovec, Thomas Müller, Sascha Pfeifer, María Cruz Minguillón, Björn Briel, Paul Buckley, Vadimas Dudoitis, Javier Fernández-García, María Fernández-Amado, Joel Ferreira De Brito, Veronique Riffault, Harald Flentje, Eimear Heffernan, Nikolaos Kalivitis, Athina-Cerise Kalogridis, Hannes Keernik, Luminita Marmureanu, Krista Luoma, Angela Marinoni, Michael Pikridas, Gerhard Schauer, Norbert Serfozo, Henri Servomaa, Gloria Titos, Jesús Yus-Díez, Natalia Zioła, and Alfred Wiedensohler
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3195–3216, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3195-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3195-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
Measurements of black carbon must be conducted with instruments operating in quality-checked and assured conditions to generate reliable and comparable data. Here, 23 Aethalometers monitoring black carbon mass concentrations in European networks were characterized and intercompared. The influence of different aerosol sources, maintenance activities, and the filter material on the instrumental variabilities were investigated. Good agreement and in general low deviations were seen.
Julia Perim de Faria, Ulrich Bundke, Andrew Freedman, Timothy B. Onasch, and Andreas Petzold
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1635–1653, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1635-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1635-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
An evaluation of the performance and accuracy of a Cavity Attenuated Phase-Shift Single Scattering Albedo Monitor (CAPS PMSSA; Aerodyne Research, Inc.) was conducted in an optical-closure study with proven technologies for aerosol particle optical-property measurements. This study demonstrates that the CAPS PMSSA is a robust and reliable instrument for the direct measurement of the particle scattering and extinction coefficients and thus single-scattering albedo.
Stefan Horender, Kevin Auderset, Paul Quincey, Stefan Seeger, Søren Nielsen Skov, Kai Dirscherl, Thomas O. M. Smith, Katie Williams, Camille C. Aegerter, Daniel M. Kalbermatter, François Gaie-Levrel, and Konstantina Vasilatou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1225–1238, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1225-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1225-2021, 2021
Short summary
Short summary
A new facility has been developed which allows for the stable and reproducible generation of ambient-like model aerosols in the laboratory. The set-up consists of multiple aerosol generators, a custom-made flow tube homogeniser, isokinetic sampling probes, and a system to control aerosol temperature and humidity. The model aerosols, which contain fresh and aged soot, inorganic salt, and dust particles, can be used for the calibration of air quality monitoring instruments.
Jingsha Xu, Shaojie Song, Roy M. Harrison, Congbo Song, Lianfang Wei, Qiang Zhang, Yele Sun, Lu Lei, Chao Zhang, Xiaohong Yao, Dihui Chen, Weijun Li, Miaomiao Wu, Hezhong Tian, Lining Luo, Shengrui Tong, Weiran Li, Junling Wang, Guoliang Shi, Yanqi Huangfu, Yingze Tian, Baozhu Ge, Shaoli Su, Chao Peng, Yang Chen, Fumo Yang, Aleksandra Mihajlidi-Zelić, Dragana Đorđević, Stefan J. Swift, Imogen Andrews, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Ye Sun, Agung Kramawijaya, Jinxiu Han, Supattarachai Saksakulkrai, Clarissa Baldo, Siqi Hou, Feixue Zheng, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, Chao Yan, Yongchun Liu, Markku Kulmala, Pingqing Fu, and Zongbo Shi
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6325–6341, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6325-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6325-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
An interlaboratory comparison was conducted for the first time to examine differences in water-soluble inorganic ions (WSIIs) measured by 10 labs using ion chromatography (IC) and by two online aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ACSM) methods. Major ions including SO42−, NO3− and NH4+ agreed well in 10 IC labs and correlated well with ACSM data. WSII interlab variability strongly affected aerosol acidity results based on ion balance, but aerosol pH computed by ISORROPIA II was very similar.
Guo Li, Hang Su, Nan Ma, Guangjie Zheng, Uwe Kuhn, Meng Li, Thomas Klimach, Ulrich Pöschl, and Yafang Cheng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6053–6065, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6053-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6053-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol acidity plays an important role in regulating the chemistry, health, and ecological effect of aerosol particles. However, a direct measurement of aerosol pH is very challenging because of its fast transition and equilibrium with adjacent environments. Therefore, most early studies have to use modeled pH, resulting in intensive debates about model uncertainties. Here we developed an optimized approach to measure aerosol pH by using pH-indicator papers combined with RGB-based colorimetry.
Tommaso Zanca, Jakub Kubečka, Evgeni Zapadinsky, Monica Passananti, Theo Kurtén, and Hanna Vehkamäki
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3581–3593, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3581-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3581-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
In this paper we quantify (using a statistical model) the probability of decomposition of a representative class of HOM clusters in an APi-TOF mass spectrometer. This is important because it quantifies the systematic error of measurements in a APi-TOF MS due to cluster decomposition. The results (specific for our selected clusters) show that decomposition is negligible, provided their bonding energy is large enough to allow formation in the atmosphere in the first place.
Weiqi Xu, Yao He, Yanmei Qiu, Chun Chen, Conghui Xie, Lu Lei, Zhijie Li, Jiaxing Sun, Junyao Li, Pingqing Fu, Zifa Wang, Douglas R. Worsnop, and Yele Sun
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 3205–3219, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3205-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-3205-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We characterized mass spectral features of organic aerosol (OA) and water-soluble OA (WSOA) from 21 cooking, crop straw, wood, and coal burning experiments using aerosol mass spectrometers with standard and capture vaporizers, and we demonstrated the applications of source spectral profiles in improving source apportionment of ambient OA at a highly polluted rural site in the North China Plain in winter.
Andrew T. Lambe, Ezra C. Wood, Jordan E. Krechmer, Francesca Majluf, Leah R. Williams, Philip L. Croteau, Manuela Cirtog, Anaïs Féron, Jean-Eudes Petit, Alexandre Albinet, Jose L. Jimenez, and Zhe Peng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 2397–2411, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2397-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-2397-2020, 2020
Short summary
Short summary
We present a new method to continuously generate N2O5 in the gas phase that is injected into a reactor where it decomposes to generate nitrate radicals (NO3). To assess the applicability of the method towards different chemical systems, we present experimental and model characterization of the integrated NO3 exposure and other metrics as a function of operating conditions. We demonstrate the method by characterizing secondary organic aerosol particles generated from the β-pinene + NO3 reaction.
Pourya Shahpoury, Tom Harner, Gerhard Lammel, Steven Lelieveld, Haijie Tong, and Jake Wilson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6529–6539, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6529-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6529-2019, 2019
Meng Wang, Ru-Jin Huang, Junji Cao, Wenting Dai, Jiamao Zhou, Chunshui Lin, Haiyan Ni, Jing Duan, Ting Wang, Yang Chen, Yongjie Li, Qi Chen, Imad El Haddad, and Thorsten Hoffmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4779–4789, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4779-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4779-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
The analytical performances of SE-GC-MS and TD-GC-MS for the determination of n-alkanes, PAHs and hopanes were evaluated and compared. The two methods show a good agreement with a high correlation efficient (R2 > 0.98) and a slope close to unity. The concentrations of n-alkanes, PAHs and hopanes are found to be much higher in Beijing than those in Chengdu, Shanghai and Guangzhou, most likely due to emissions from coal combustion for wintertime heating in Beijing.
Tak W. Chan, Lin Huang, Kulbir Banwait, Wendy Zhang, Darrell Ernst, Xiaoliang Wang, John G. Watson, Judith C. Chow, Mark Green, Claudia I. Czimczik, Guaciara M. Santos, Sangeeta Sharma, and Keith Jones
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 4543–4560, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4543-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-4543-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This study compared 10 years of carbonaceous aerosol measurements collected at Egbert by three North American long-term monitoring networks. The study evaluated how differences in sample collection and analysis affected the concentrations of total carbon (TC), organic carbon (OC), and elemental carbon (EC). Various carbonaceous fractions measured by the three networks were consistent and comparable over the period. Elevated OC and EC were observed when ambient temperature exceeded 10 °C.
David Picard, Michel Attoui, and Karine Sellegri
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2531–2543, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2531-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2531-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
We report here how we managed to improve the performance of an aerosol particle counter model TSI3010. Our device is based on a secondhand unit and reuses its core elements (saturator, condenser, optics). We redesigned the electronics and thermal management. Laboratory experiments show that the cutoff diameter was decreased from 10 to 2.5 nm, bringing the B3010 close to more complex and expensive products. These results may help designers and users improve the performance of their devices.
Hansol D. Lee, Chathuri P. Kaluarachchi, Elias S. Hasenecz, Jonic Z. Zhu, Eduard Popa, Elizabeth A. Stone, and Alexei V. Tivanski
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 2033–2042, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2033-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-2033-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
Dry and wet aerosol deposition modes are commonly used to collect particles on a solid substrate for experiments. We demonstrate, using single-particle microscopy and bulk methods, how the substrate-deposited particles with two components can yield the same core–shell morphology but different shell thicknesses depending on the deposition method. Thus we strongly advise future works to use wet deposition when possible to obtain accurate assessment of the single-particle organic volume fraction.
Tobias Könemann, Nicole Savage, Thomas Klimach, David Walter, Janine Fröhlich-Nowoisky, Hang Su, Ulrich Pöschl, J. Alex Huffman, and Christopher Pöhlker
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1337–1363, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1337-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1337-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents a comprehensive assessment of the SIBS, an instrument for spectrally resolved fluorescence detection of single particles. Exemplary ambient data and fluorescence spectra obtained for 16 reference compounds (biofluorophores and PSLs) show that the SIBS has the ability to expand the scope of fluorescent bioaerosol quantification and classification. Detailed technical insights will be broadly beneficial for users of various WIBS generations and other LIF instruments.
Andrew T. Lambe, Jordan E. Krechmer, Zhe Peng, Jason R. Casar, Anthony J. Carrasquillo, Jonathan D. Raff, Jose L. Jimenez, and Douglas R. Worsnop
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 299–311, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-299-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-299-2019, 2019
Short summary
Short summary
This paper is an evaluation of methods used to generate OH radicals under conditions with high concentrations of NO and NO2 to simulate oxidation chemistry in polluted urban atmospheres over equivalent atmospheric timescales of ~ 1 day.
D. Al Fischer and Geoffrey D. Smith
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6419–6427, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6419-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6419-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Photoacoustic spectroscopy is a commonly used technique for measuring light absorption by aerosols, but it requires careful calibration to be accurate. Here, we explore the use of one popular calibrant, ozone, and demonstrate that its response is dependent on the identity of the bath gas used.
Paul J. DeMott, Ottmar Möhler, Daniel J. Cziczo, Naruki Hiranuma, Markus D. Petters, Sarah S. Petters, Franco Belosi, Heinz G. Bingemer, Sarah D. Brooks, Carsten Budke, Monika Burkert-Kohn, Kristen N. Collier, Anja Danielczok, Oliver Eppers, Laura Felgitsch, Sarvesh Garimella, Hinrich Grothe, Paul Herenz, Thomas C. J. Hill, Kristina Höhler, Zamin A. Kanji, Alexei Kiselev, Thomas Koop, Thomas B. Kristensen, Konstantin Krüger, Gourihar Kulkarni, Ezra J. T. Levin, Benjamin J. Murray, Alessia Nicosia, Daniel O'Sullivan, Andreas Peckhaus, Michael J. Polen, Hannah C. Price, Naama Reicher, Daniel A. Rothenberg, Yinon Rudich, Gianni Santachiara, Thea Schiebel, Jann Schrod, Teresa M. Seifried, Frank Stratmann, Ryan C. Sullivan, Kaitlyn J. Suski, Miklós Szakáll, Hans P. Taylor, Romy Ullrich, Jesus Vergara-Temprado, Robert Wagner, Thomas F. Whale, Daniel Weber, André Welti, Theodore W. Wilson, Martin J. Wolf, and Jake Zenker
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 6231–6257, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6231-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-6231-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The ability to measure ice nucleating particles is vital to quantifying their role in affecting clouds and precipitation. Methods for measuring droplet freezing were compared while co-sampling relevant particle types. Measurement correspondence was very good for ice nucleating particles of bacterial and natural soil origin, and somewhat more disparate for those of mineral origin. Results reflect recently improved capabilities and provide direction toward addressing remaining measurement issues.
Yangxi Chu, Erin Evoy, Saeid Kamal, Young Chul Song, Jonathan P. Reid, Chak K. Chan, and Allan K. Bertram
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 4809–4822, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4809-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-4809-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The viscosity of erythritol, a tetrol found in aerosol particles, is highly uncertain. To help resolve this uncertainty, we measured the viscosities of
erythritol–water particles using rectangular-area fluorescence recovery after photobleaching and aerosol optical tweezers techniques. These results
should help improve the understanding of the viscosity of secondary organic aerosol particles. In addition, we present an intercomparison of techniques
for measuring the viscosity of particles.
Tobias Könemann, Nicole J. Savage, J. Alex Huffman, and Christopher Pöhlker
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 3987–4003, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3987-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3987-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This study presents an overview of fluorescence properties of polystyrene latex spheres (PSLs), which are widely used in numerous scientific disciplines. By using different spectroscopic techniques, we show that the
fluorescence landscapeof PSLs is more complex than the information provided by manufacturers may imply. By understanding general fluorescence properties of PSLs, individual researchers may probe specific spectral features important to the operation of their own instruments.
Ru-Jin Huang, Junji Cao, Yang Chen, Lu Yang, Jincan Shen, Qihua You, Kai Wang, Chunshui Lin, Wei Xu, Bo Gao, Yongjie Li, Qi Chen, Thorsten Hoffmann, Colin D. O'Dowd, Merete Bilde, and Marianne Glasius
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 3447–3456, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3447-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-3447-2018, 2018
Chelsea E. Stockwell, Agnieszka Kupc, Bartłomiej Witkowski, Ranajit K. Talukdar, Yong Liu, Vanessa Selimovic, Kyle J. Zarzana, Kanako Sekimoto, Carsten Warneke, Rebecca A. Washenfelder, Robert J. Yokelson, Ann M. Middlebrook, and James M. Roberts
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2749–2768, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2749-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2749-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
This work investigates the total conversion of particle-bound nitrogen and organic carbon across platinum and molybdenum catalysts followed by NO–O3 chemiluminescence and nondispersive infrared CO2 detection. We show the instrument is an accurate particle mass measurement method and demonstrate its ability to calibrate particle mass measurement instrumentation through comparisons with a calibrated particle-into-liquid sampler coupled to an electrospray ionization source of a mass spectrometer.
Nicholas W. Davies, Michael I. Cotterell, Cathryn Fox, Kate Szpek, Jim M. Haywood, and Justin M. Langridge
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 2313–2324, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2313-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-2313-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
The poorly characterised optical properties of atmospheric aerosols are one of the major uncertainties when modelling future climate change. Photoacoustic spectroscopy is an accurate and sensitive method for measurement of aerosol light absorption. Photoacoustic spectrometers require calibration; hence this study validates the use of ozone as a calibrant and simultaneously verifies the accuracy of the photoacoustic spectrometers in question.
Ulrich K. Krieger, Franziska Siegrist, Claudia Marcolli, Eva U. Emanuelsson, Freya M. Gøbel, Merete Bilde, Aleksandra Marsh, Jonathan P. Reid, Andrew J. Huisman, Ilona Riipinen, Noora Hyttinen, Nanna Myllys, Theo Kurtén, Thomas Bannan, Carl J. Percival, and David Topping
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 49–63, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-49-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-49-2018, 2018
Short summary
Short summary
Vapor pressures of low-volatility organic molecules at atmospheric temperatures reported in the literature often differ by several orders of magnitude between measurement techniques. These discrepancies exceed the stated uncertainty of each technique, which is generally reported to be smaller than a factor of 2. We determined saturation vapor pressures for the homologous series of polyethylene glycols ranging in vapor pressure at 298 K from 1E−7 Pa to 5E−2 Pa as a reference set.
Weiwei Hu, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Douglas A. Day, Philip Croteau, Manjula R. Canagaratna, John T. Jayne, Douglas R. Worsnop, and Jose L. Jimenez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2897–2921, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2897-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2897-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
Aerosol mass spectrometers (AMS) from ARI are used widely to measure the non-refractory species in PM1. Recently, a new capture vapourizer (CV) has been designed to reduce the need for a bounce-related CE correction in the commonly used standard vapourizer (SV) installed in AMS. To test the CV, the fragments, CE and size distributions of four pure inorganic species in the CV-AMS are investigated in various laboratory experiments. Results from the co-located SV-AMS are also shown as a comparison.
Andrew Lambe, Paola Massoli, Xuan Zhang, Manjula Canagaratna, John Nowak, Conner Daube, Chao Yan, Wei Nie, Timothy Onasch, John Jayne, Charles Kolb, Paul Davidovits, Douglas Worsnop, and William Brune
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2283–2298, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2283-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2283-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
This work enables the study of NOx-influenced secondary organic aerosol formation chemistry in oxidation flow reactors to an extent that was not previously possible. The method uses reactions of exited oxygen O(1D) radicals (formed from ozone photolysis at 254 nm or nitrous oxide photolysis at 185 nm) with nitrous oxide (N2O) to produce NO. We demonstrate proof of concept using chemical ionization mass spectrometer measurements to detect gas-phase oxidation products of isoprene and α -pinene.
Juha Kangasluoma, Susanne Hering, David Picard, Gregory Lewis, Joonas Enroth, Frans Korhonen, Markku Kulmala, Karine Sellegri, Michel Attoui, and Tuukka Petäjä
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2271–2281, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2271-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2271-2017, 2017
Short summary
Short summary
The manuscript presents a characterization of three new particle counters able to detect airborne nanoparticles smaller than 3 nm in diameter. We explored some of the parameters affecting the smallest detectable particle size, such as sample flow relative humidity, the particle chemical composition and the electrical charging state. The characterization results help one to select a suitable particle counter for a given application.
Claudia Linke, Inas Ibrahim, Nina Schleicher, Regina Hitzenberger, Meinrat O. Andreae, Thomas Leisner, and Martin Schnaiter
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 5331–5346, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5331-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-5331-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Various carbonaceous materials are present in the atmosphere. Besides gaseous organic compounds, carbonaceous particles like soot are emitted into the air from traffic sources, residential wood combustion, or wildfires. Variable chemical compositions of such materials, which often result from incomplete combustion processes, show differences in the absorption behavior at visible wavelengths. Our instrument is able to measure the absorption at three visible wavelengths.
Cheng Wu, X. H. Hilda Huang, Wai Man Ng, Stephen M. Griffith, and Jian Zhen Yu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 4547–4560, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4547-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-4547-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
Organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in more than 1300 Hong Kong samples were analyzed using both NIOSH TOT and IMPROVE TOR protocols. EC discrepancy between the two protocols mainly (83 %) arises from a difference in peak inert mode temperature, while the rest (17 %) is attributed to a difference in the optical method (transmittance vs. reflectance) applied for the charring correction. Two approaches are proposed to translate NIOSH TOT OC and EC data into IMPROVE TOR OC and EC data.
Juha Kangasluoma, Alessandro Franchin, Jonahtan Duplissy, Lauri Ahonen, Frans Korhonen, Michel Attoui, Jyri Mikkilä, Katrianne Lehtipalo, Joonas Vanhanen, Markku Kulmala, and Tuukka Petäjä
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 2977–2988, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2977-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-9-2977-2016, 2016
Short summary
Short summary
The paper describes technical aspects of using the Airmodus A11 nCNC at various inlet pressures and how temperature selection affects the performance of the instrument. We also present a sampling box to minimize the inlet losses and make use of the instrument more convenient.
G. O. Mouteva, S. M. Fahrni, G. M. Santos, J. T. Randerson, Y.-L. Zhang, S. Szidat, and C. I. Czimczik
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 3729–3743, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3729-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-3729-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
We describe a stepwise uncertainty analysis of 14C measurements of organic (OC) and elemental (EC) carbon fractions of aerosols. Using the Swiss_4S thermal-optical protocol with a newly established trapping setup, we show that we can efficiently isolate and trap each carbon fraction and perform 14C analysis of ultra-small OC and EC samples with high accuracy and low 14C blanks. Our study presents a first step towards the development of a common protocol for OC and EC 14C measurements.
K. Ruusuvuori, P. Hietala, O. Kupiainen-Määttä, T. Jokinen, H. Junninen, M. Sipilä, T. Kurtén, and H. Vehkamäki
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2577–2588, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2577-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2577-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Ionization reagents suitable for accurate measurements of the atmospheric gas-phase amine vapour concentrations are needed. Based on computational results, acetone is a viable option for use as an ionization reagent in CI-APi-TOF measurements on atmospheric dimethylamine. However, comparison between the computational and experimental results revealed notable discrepancies. Further study is still required before the acetone CI-APi-TOF can be considered a viable option in practice.
J. W. Grayson, M. Song, M. Sellier, and A. K. Bertram
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2463–2472, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2463-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2463-2015, 2015
A. P. S. Hettiyadura, E. A. Stone, S. Kundu, Z. Baker, E. Geddes, K. Richards, and T. Humphry
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2347–2358, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2347-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2347-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
Organosulfates are SOA products that have proven difficult to quantify. This study addresses the need for authentic quantification standards with a straightforward approach to synthesizing highly pure organosulfate potassium salts. New standards are used to develop a new separation protocol for small, functionalized organosulfates. Upon validation, this method is used to assess sample preparation protocols and to make new measurements of organosulfates in Centreville, Alabama.
M. Rodigast, A. Mutzel, Y. Iinuma, S. Haferkorn, and H. Herrmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2409–2416, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2409-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2409-2015, 2015
Short summary
Short summary
An optimised method for derivatisation of carbonyl compounds with o-(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorobenzyl)hydroxylamine (PFBHA) in aqueous samples is described. The comprehensive optimisation of the method leads to an improvement of the detection limit up to a factor of 10 highlighting the good sensitivity of the optimised method for atmospherically relevant carbonyl compounds. The optimised method was successfully applied to detect carbonyl compounds from the aqueous phase oxidation of 3-methylbutanone.
E. A. Bruns, I. El Haddad, A. Keller, F. Klein, N. K. Kumar, S. M. Pieber, J. C. Corbin, J. G. Slowik, W. H. Brune, U. Baltensperger, and A. S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 2315–2332, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2315-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-2315-2015, 2015
P. Panteliadis, T. Hafkenscheid, B. Cary, E. Diapouli, A. Fischer, O. Favez, P. Quincey, M. Viana, R. Hitzenberger, R. Vecchi, D. Saraga, J. Sciare, J. L. Jaffrezo, A. John, J. Schwarz, M. Giannoni, J. Novak, A. Karanasiou, P. Fermo, and W. Maenhaut
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 779–792, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-779-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-779-2015, 2015
K. E. Yttri, J. Schnelle-Kreis, W. Maenhaut, G. Abbaszade, C. Alves, A. Bjerke, N. Bonnier, R. Bossi, M. Claeys, C. Dye, M. Evtyugina, D. García-Gacio, R. Hillamo, A. Hoffer, M. Hyder, Y. Iinuma, J.-L. Jaffrezo, A. Kasper-Giebl, G. Kiss, P. L. López-Mahia, C. Pio, C. Piot, C. Ramirez-Santa-Cruz, J. Sciare, K. Teinilä, R. Vermeylen, A. Vicente, and R. Zimmermann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 125–147, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-125-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-125-2015, 2015
S. Lim, X. Faïn, M. Zanatta, J. Cozic, J.-L. Jaffrezo, P. Ginot, and P. Laj
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 3307–3324, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3307-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-3307-2014, 2014
Cited articles
Ammerlaan, B. A. J., Holzinger, R., Jedynska, A. D., and Henzing, J. S.: Technical note: Aerosol light absorption measurements with a carbon analyser – Calibration and precision estimates, Atmos. Environ., 164, 1–7, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.05.031, 2017.
Arnott, W. P., Hamasha, K., Moosmüller, H., Sheridan, P. J., and Ogren, J. A.: Towards Aerosol Light-Absorption Measurements with a 7-Wavelength Aethalometer: Evaluation with a Photoacoustic Instrument and 3-Wavelength Nephelometer, Aerosol Sci. Tech., 39, 17–29, https://doi.org/10.1080/027868290901972, 2005.
Backman, J., Schmeisser, L., Virkkula, A., Ogren, J. A., Asmi, E., Starkweather, S., Sharma, S., Eleftheriadis, K., Uttal, T., Jefferson, A., Bergin, M., Makshtas, A., Tunved, P., and Fiebig, M.: On Aethalometer measurement uncertainties and an instrument correction factor for the Arctic, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 5039–5062, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-5039-2017, 2017.
Baumgardner, D., Popovicheva, O., Allan, J., Bernardoni, V., Cao, J., Cavalli, F., Cozic, J., Diapouli, E., Eleftheriadis, K., Genberg, P. J., Gonzalez, C., Gysel, M., John, A., Kirchstetter, T. W., Kuhlbusch, T. A. J., Laborde, M., Lack, D., Müller, T., Niessner, R., Petzold, A., Piazzalunga, A., Putaud, J. P., Schwarz, J., Sheridan, P., Subramanian, R., Swietlicki, E., Valli, G., Vecchi, R., and Viana, M.: Soot reference materials for instrument calibration and intercomparisons: a workshop summary with recommendations, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 5, 1869–1887, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-5-1869-2012, 2012.
Bernardoni, V., Pileci, R. E., Caponi, L., and Massabò, D.: The Multi-Wavelength Absorption Analyzer (MWAA) model as a tool for source and component apportionment based on aerosol absorption properties: application to samples collected in different environments, Atmosphere, 8, 218, https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos8110218, 2017a.
Bernardoni, V., Valli, G., and Vecchi, R.: Set-up of a multi-wavelength polar photometer for the off-line measurement of light absorption properties of atmospheric aerosol collected with high-temporal resolution, J. Aerosol Sci., 107, 84–93, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2017.02.009, 2017b.
Bond, T. C., Anderson, T. L., and Campbell, D.: Calibration and Intercomparison of Filter-Based Measurements of Visible Light Absorption by Aerosols, Aerosol Sci. Technol., 30, 582–600, https://doi.org/10.1080/027868299304435, 1999.
Bond, T. C., S. J. Doherty, D. W. Fahey, P. M. Forster, T. Berntsen, B. J. DeAngelo, M. G. Flanner, S. Ghan, B. Kärcher, D. Koch, S. Kinne, Y. Kondo, P. K. Quinn, M. C. Sarofim, M. G. Schultz, M. Schulz, C. Venkataraman, H. Zhang, S. Zhang, N. Bellouin, S. K. Guttikunda, P. K. Hopke, M. Z. Jacobson, J. W. Kaiser, Z. Klimont, U. Lohmann, J. P. Schwarz, D. Shindell, T. Storelvmo, S. G. Warren, and C. S. Zender: Bounding the role of black carbon in the climate system: A scientific assessment, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 118, 5380–5552, https://doi.org/10.1002/jgrd.50171, 2013.
Collaud Coen, M., Weingartner, E., Apituley, A., Ceburnis, D., Fierz-Schmidhauser, R., Flentje, H., Henzing, J. S., Jennings, S. G., Moerman, M., Petzold, A., Schmid, O., and Baltensperger, U.: Minimizing light absorption measurement artifacts of the Aethalometer: evaluation of five correction algorithms, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 3, 457–474, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-3-457-2010, 2010.
Cuesta-Mosquera, A., Močnik, G., Drinovec, L., Müller, T., Pfeifer, S., Minguillón, M. C., Björn, B., Buckley, P., Dudoitis, V., Fernández-García, J., Fernández-Amado, M., Ferreira De Brito, J., Flentje, H., Heffernan, E., Kalivitis, N., Kalogridis, A.-C., Keernik, H., Marmureanu, L., Luoma, K., Marinoni, A., Pikridas, M., Schauer, G., Serfozo, N., Servomaa, H., Titos, G., Yus-Díez, J., Zioła, N., and Wiedensohler, A.: Intercomparison and characterization of 23 Aethalometers under laboratory and ambient air conditions: Procedures and unit-to-unit variabilities, Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss. [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-2020-344, in review, 2020.
Deming, W. E.: Statistical adjustment of data, Wiley, NY (Dover Publications edition, 1985), 1943.
Di Biagio, C., Formenti, P., Cazaunau, M., Pangui, E., Marchand, N., and Doussin, J.-F.: Aethalometer multiple scattering correction Cref for mineral dust aerosols, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2923–2939, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2923-2017, 2017.
Drinovec, L., Močnik, G., Zotter, P., Prévôt, A. S. H., Ruckstuhl, C., Coz, E., Rupakheti, M., Sciare, J., Müller, T., Wiedensohler, A., and Hansen, A. D. A.: The “dual-spot” Aethalometer: an improved measurement of aerosol black carbon with real-time loading compensation, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 8, 1965–1979, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-8-1965-2015, 2015.
Ferrero, L., Močnik, G., Cogliati, S., Gregorič, A., Colombo, R., and Bolzacchini, E.: Heating Rate of Light Absorbing Aerosols: Time-Resolved Measurements, the Role of Clouds, and Source Identification, Environ. Sci. Technol., 52, 3546–3555, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b04320, 2018.
Fialho, P., Hansen, A. D. A., and Honrath, R. E.: Absorption coefficients by aerosols in remote areas: a new approach to decouple dust and black carbon absorption coefficients using seven-wavelength Aethalometer data, J. Aerosol Sci., 36, 267–282, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2004.09.004, 2005.
Forello, A. C., Bernardoni, V., Calzolai, G., Lucarelli, F., Massabò, D., Nava, S., Pileci, R. E., Prati, P., Valentini, S., Valli, G., and Vecchi, R.: Exploiting multi-wavelength aerosol absorption coefficients in a multi-time resolution source apportionment study to retrieve source-dependent absorption parameters, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 11235–11252, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-11235-2019, 2019.
Forello, A. C., Amato, F., Bernardoni, V., Calzolai, G., Canepari, S., Costabile, F., Di Liberto, L., Gualtieri, M., Lucarelli, F., Nava, S., Perrino, C., Petralia, E., Valentini, S., Valli, G., and Vecchi, R.: Gaining knowledge on source contribution to aerosol optical absorption properties and organics by receptor modelling, Atmos. Environ., 243, 117873, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117873, 2020.
Fuller, G. W., Tremper, A. H., Baker, T. D., Yttri, K. E., and Butterfield, D.: Contribution of wood burning to PM10 in London, Atmos. Environ., 87, 87–94, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.12.037, 2014.
GAW Report No. 227: WMO/GAW Aerosol Measurement Procedures, Guidelines and Recommendations, 2nd edn., ISBN: 978-92-63-11177-7, 2016.
Harrison, R. M., Beddows, D. C. S., Jones, A. M., Calvo, A., Alves, C., and Pio, C: An evaluation of some issues regarding the use of aethalometers to measure woodsmoke concentrations, Atmos. Environ., 80, 540–548, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.08.026, 2013.
Hänel, G.: Radiation budget of the boundary layer: Part II. Simultaneous measurement of mean solar volume absorption and extinction coefficients of particles, Beit. Phys. Atmos., 60, 241–247, 1987.
Hänel, G.: Optical properties of atmospheric particles: Complete parameter sets obtained through polar photometry and an improved inversion technique, Appl. Optics, 33, 7187–7199, https://doi.org/10.1364/AO.33.007187, 1994.
Hansen, A. D. A., Rosen, H., and Novakov, T.: Real-time measurement of the absorption coefficient of aerosol particles, Appl. Optics, 21, 3060–3062, 1982.
Helin, A., Niemi, J., Virkkula, A., Pirjola, L., Teinilä, K., Backman, J., Aurela, M., Saarikoski, S., Rönkkö, T., Asmi, E., and Timonen, H.: Characteristics and source apportionment of black carbon in the Helsinki metropolitan area, Finland, Atmos. Environ., 190, 87–98, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2018.07.022, 2018.
IPCC Climate Change 2013: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, eds: Stocker, T. F., Qin, D., Plattner, G.-K., Tignor, M., Allen, S. K., Boschung, J., Nauels, A., Xia, Y., Bex, V., and Midgley, P. M., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA, 1535 pp., https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415324, 2013.
Kim, J.-H., Kim, S.-W., Ogren, J. A., Sheridan, P. J., Yoon, S.-C., Sharma, S., and Lin, N.-H.: Multiple scattering correction factor estimation for aethalometer aerosol absorption coefficient measurement, Aerosol Sci. Technol., 53, 160–171, https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2018.1555368, 2019.
Kumar, N. K., Corbin, J. C., Bruns, E. A., Massabó, D., Slowik, J. G., Drinovec, L., Močnik, G., Prati, P., Vlachou, A., Baltensperger, U., Gysel, M., El-Haddad, I., and Prévôt, A. S. H.: Production of particulate brown carbon during atmospheric aging of residential wood-burning emissions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 17843–17861, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-17843-2018, 2018.
Lack, D. A., Bahreini, R., Langridge, J. M., Gilman, J. B., and Middlebrook, A. M.: Brown carbon absorption linked to organic mass tracers in biomass burning particles, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 2415–2422, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-2415-2013, 2013.
Laing, J. R., Jaffe, D. A., and Sedlacek, A. J. III: Comparison of filter-based absorption measurements of biomass burning aerosol and background aerosol at the Mt. Bachelor observatory, Aerosol Air Qual. Res., 20, 663–678, https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2019.06.0298, 2020.
Laj, P., Bigi, A., Rose, C., Andrews, E., Lund Myhre, C., Collaud Coen, M., Lin, Y., Wiedensohler, A., Schulz, M., Ogren, J. A., Fiebig, M., Gliß, J., Mortier, A., Pandolfi, M., Petäja, T., Kim, S.-W., Aas, W., Putaud, J.-P., Mayol-Bracero, O., Keywood, M., Labrador, L., Aalto, P., Ahlberg, E., Alados Arboledas, L., Alastuey, A., Andrade, M., Artíñano, B., Ausmeel, S., Arsov, T., Asmi, E., Backman, J., Baltensperger, U., Bastian, S., Bath, O., Beukes, J. P., Brem, B. T., Bukowiecki, N., Conil, S., Couret, C., Day, D., Dayantolis, W., Degorska, A., Eleftheriadis, K., Fetfatzis, P., Favez, O., Flentje, H., Gini, M. I., Gregorič, A., Gysel-Beer, M., Hallar, A. G., Hand, J., Hoffer, A., Hueglin, C., Hooda, R. K., Hyvärinen, A., Kalapov, I., Kalivitis, N., Kasper-Giebl, A., Kim, J. E., Kouvarakis, G., Kranjc, I., Krejci, R., Kulmala, M., Labuschagne, C., Lee, H.-J., Lihavainen, H., Lin, N.-H., Löschau, G., Luoma, K., Marinoni, A., Martins Dos Santos, S., Meinhardt, F., Merkel, M., Metzger, J.-M., Mihalopoulos, N., Nguyen, N. A., Ondracek, J., Pérez, N., Perrone, M. R., Petit, J.-E., Picard, D., Pichon, J.-M., Pont, V., Prats, N., Prenni, A., Reisen, F., Romano, S., Sellegri, K., Sharma, S., Schauer, G., Sheridan, P., Sherman, J. P., Schütze, M., Schwerin, A., Sohmer, R., Sorribas, M., Steinbacher, M., Sun, J., Titos, G., Toczko, B., Tuch, T., Tulet, P., Tunved, P., Vakkari, V., Velarde, F., Velasquez, P., Villani, P., Vratolis, S., Wang, S.-H., Weinhold, K., Weller, R., Yela, M., Yus-Diez, J., Zdimal, V., Zieger, P., and Zikova, N.: A global analysis of climate-relevant aerosol properties retrieved from the network of Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) near-surface observatories, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 4353–4392, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-4353-2020, 2020.
Laskin, A., Laskin, J., and Nizkorodov, S. A.: Chemistry of Atmospheric Brown Carbon, Chem. Rev., 115, 4335–4382, https://doi.org/10.1021/cr5006167, 2015.
Liousse, C., Cachier, H., and Jennings, S. G.: Optical and thermal measurements of black carbon aerosol content in different environments: variation of the specific attenuation cross-section, sigma (σ), Atmos. Environ. A-Gen., 27, 1203–1211, https://doi.org/10.1016/0960-1686(93)90246-U, 1993.
Liu, S., Aiken, A. C., Gorkowski, K., Dubey, M. K., Cappa, C. D., Williams, L. R., Herndon, S. C., Massoli, P., Fortner, E. C., Chhabra, P. S., Fortner, E. C., Chhabra, P. S., Brooks, W. A., Onasch, T. B., Jayne, J. T., Worsnop, D. R., China, S., Sharma, N., Mazzoleni, C., Xu, L., Ng, N. L., Liu, D., Allan, J. D., Lee, J. D., Fleming, Z. L., Mohr, C., Zotter, P., Szidat, S., and Prévôt, A. S. H.: Enhanced light absorption by mixed source black and brown carbon particles in UK winter, Nat. Commun., 6, 8435, https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms9435, 2015.
Lu, Z., Streets, D. G., Winijkul, E., Yan, F., Chen, Y., Bond, T. C., Feng, Y., Dubey, M. K., Liu, S., Pinto, J. P., and Carmichael G. R.: Light Absorption Properties and Radiative Effects of Primary Organic Aerosol Emissions, Environ. Sci. Technol., 49, 4868–4877, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.5b00211, 2015.
Martinsson, J., Abdul Azeem, H., Sporre, M. K., Bergström, R., Ahlberg, E., Öström, E., Kristensson, A., Swietlicki, E., and Eriksson Stenström, K.: Carbonaceous aerosol source apportionment using the Aethalometer model – evaluation by radiocarbon and levoglucosan analysis at a rural background site in southern Sweden, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4265–4281, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4265-2017, 2017.
Massabò, D., Bernardoni, V., Bove, M. C., Brunengo, A. M., Cuccia, E., Piazzalunga, A., Prati, P., Valli, G., and Vecchi, R.: A multi-wavelength optical set-up for the characterization of carbonaceous particulate matter, J. Aerosol Sci. 60, 34–46, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2013.02.006, 2013.
Massabò, D., Caponi, L., Bernardoni, V., Bove, M. C., Brotto, P., Calzolai, G., Cassola, F., Chiari, M., Fedi, M. E., Fermo, P., Giannoni, M., Lucarelli, F., Nava, S., Piazzalunga, A., Valli, G., Vecchi, R., and Prati, P.: Multi-wavelength optical determination of black and brown carbon in atmospheric aerosols, Atmos. Environ., 108, 1–12, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.02.058, 2015.
Moosmüller, H., Chakrabarty, R. K., and Arnott, W. P.: Aerosol light absorption and its measurement: A review, J. Quant. Spectrosc. Rad., 110, 844–878, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jqsrt.2009.02.035, 2009.
Müller, T.: Development of correction factors for Aethalometers AE31 and AE33, available at: http://www.wmo-gaw-wcc-aerosol-physics.org/files/WP3.2-Aethalometer-AE31-AE33-Mueller.pdf (last access: 18 March 2020), 2015.
Müller, T., Henzing, J. S., de Leeuw, G., Wiedensohler, A., Alastuey, A., Angelov, H., Bizjak, M., Collaud Coen, M., Engström, J. E., Gruening, C., Hillamo, R., Hoffer, A., Imre, K., Ivanow, P., Jennings, G., Sun, J. Y., Kalivitis, N., Karlsson, H., Komppula, M., Laj, P., Li, S.-M., Lunder, C., Marinoni, A., Martins dos Santos, S., Moerman, M., Nowak, A., Ogren, J. A., Petzold, A., Pichon, J. M., Rodriquez, S., Sharma, S., Sheridan, P. J., Teinilä, K., Tuch, T., Viana, M., Virkkula, A., Weingartner, E., Wilhelm, R., and Wang, Y. Q.: Characterization and intercomparison of aerosol absorption photometers: result of two intercomparison workshops, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 4, 245–268, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-4-245-2011, 2011.
Petzold, A. and Schönlinner, M.: Multi-angle absorption photometry – A new method for the measurement of aerosol light absorption and atmospheric black carbon, J. Aerosol Sci., 35, 421–441, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2003.09.005, 2004.
Petzold, A., Kopp, C., and Niessner, R.: The Dependence of the Specific Attenuation Cross-Section on Black Carbon Mass Fraction and Particle Size, Atmos. Environ., 31, 661–672, https://doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(96)00245-2, 1997.
Petzold, A., Schloesser, H., Sheridan, P. J., Arnott W. P., Ogren J. A., and Virkkula, A.: Evaluation of Multiangle Absorption Photometry for Measuring Aerosol Light Absorption, Aerosol Sci. Technol., 39, 40–51, https://doi.org/10.1080/027868290901945, 2005.
Petzold, A., Ogren, J. A., Fiebig, M., Laj, P., Li, S.-M., Baltensperger, U., Holzer-Popp, T., Kinne, S., Pappalardo, G., Sugimoto, N., Wehrli, C., Wiedensohler, A., and Zhang, X.-Y.: Recommendations for reporting ”black carbon” measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 8365–8379, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8365-2013, 2013.
Piazzalunga, A., Fermo, P., Bernardoni, V., Vecchi, R., Valli, G., De Gregorio, M.A: A simplified method for levoglucosan quantification in wintertime atmospheric particulate matter by high performance anion-exchange chromatography coupled with pulsed amperometric detection, Int. J. Environ. Anal. Chem., 90, 934–947, https://doi.org/10.1080/03067310903023619, 2010.
Ripley, B. D. and Thompson, M: Regression techniques for the detection of analytical bias. Analyst, 112, 377–383. https://doi.org/10.1039/AN9871200377, 1987.
Sandradewi, J., Prévôt, A. S. H., Szidat, S., Perron, N., Alfarra, M. R., Lanz, V. A., Weingartner, E., and Baltensperger, U.: Using aerosol light absorption measurements for the quantitative determination of wood burning and traffic emission contributions to particulate matter, Environ. Sci. Technol., 42, 3316–3323, https://doi.org/10.1021/es702253m, 2008a.
Sandradewi, J., Prévôt, A. S. H., Weingartner, E., Schmidhauser, R., Gysel, M., and Baltensperger, U.: A study of wood burning and traffic aerosols in an Alpine valley using a multi-wavelength Aethalometer, Atmos. Environ., 42, 101–112, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2007.09.034, 2008b.
Saturno, J., Pöhlker, C., Massabò, D., Brito, J., Carbone, S., Cheng, Y., Chi, X., Ditas, F., Hrabě de Angelis, I., Morán-Zuloaga, D., Pöhlker, M. L., Rizzo, L. V., Walter, D., Wang, Q., Artaxo, P., Prati, P., and Andreae, M. O.: Comparison of different Aethalometer correction schemes and a reference multi-wavelength absorption technique for ambient aerosol data, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 10, 2837–2850, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-10-2837-2017, 2017.
Schmid, O., Artaxo, P., Arnott, W. P., Chand, D., Gatti, L. V., Frank, G. P., Hoffer, A., Schnaiter, M., and Andreae, M. O.: Spectral light absorption by ambient aerosols influenced by biomass burning in the Amazon Basin. I: Comparison and field calibration of absorption measurement techniques, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 3443–3462, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-6-3443-2006, 2006.
Segura, S., Estellés, V., Titos, G., Lyamani, H., Utrillas, M. P., Zotter, P., Prévôt, A. S. H., Močnik, G., Alados-Arboledas, L., and Martínez-Lozano, J. A.: Determination and analysis of in situ spectral aerosol optical properties by a multi-instrumental approach, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 2373–2387, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-2373-2014, 2014.
Valentini, S., Bernardoni, V., Massabò, D., Prati, P., Valli, G., and Vecchi, R.: Tailoring coefficients in the IMPROVE algorithm to assess site-specific reconstructed light extinction, Atmos. Environ., 172, 168–176, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.10.038, 2018.
Valentini S., Barnaba, F., Bernardoni, V., Calzolai G., Costabile, F., Di Liberto, L., Forello, A. C., Gobbi, G. P., Gualtieri, M., Lucarelli, F., Nava, S., Petralia, E., Valli, G., Wiedensohler, A., and Vecchi, R: Classifying aerosol particles through the combination of optical and physical-chemical properties: Results from a wintertime campaign in Rome (Italy), Atmos. Res., 235, 104799, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2019.104799, 2020.
Valentini, S., Bernardoni, V., Ciniglia D., Forello, A. C., Massabó, D., Prati, P., Soldan, F., Valli G., and Vecchi R.: Applicability of Benchtop Multi-Wavelength Polar Photometers to Off-line Measurements of the Multi-Angle Absorption Photometer (MAAP) Samples, J. Aerosol Sci., 152, 105701, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2020.105701, 2021.
Vecchi, R., Bernardoni, V., Paganelli, C., and Valli, G.: A filter-based light-absorption measurement with polar photometer: Effects of sampling artefacts from organic carbon, J. Aerosol Sci., 70, 15–25, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2013.12.012, 2014.
Virkkula, A.: Correction of the Calibration of the 3-wavelength Particle Soot Absorption Photometer (3λ PSAP), Aerosol Sci. Tech., 44, 706–712, https://doi.org/10.1080/02786826.2010.482110, 2010.
Virkkula, A., Mäkelä, T., Hillamo, R., Yli-Tuomi, T., Hirsikko, A., Hämeri, K., and Koponen, I. K.: A simple procedure for correcting loading effects of aethalometer data, J. Air Waste Manage., 57, 1214–1222, https://doi.org/10.3155/1047-3289.57.10.1214, 2007.
Washenfelder, R. A., Attwood, A. R., Brock, C. A., Guo, H., Xu, L., Weber, R. J., Ng, N. L., Allen, H. M., Ayres, B. R., Baumann, K., R. C., Cohen, Draper, D. C., Duffey, K. C., Edgerton, E., Fry J. L., Hu, W. W., Jimenez, J. L., Palm, B. B., Romer, P., Stone, E. A., Wooldridge, P. J., and Brown, S. S: Biomass burning dominates brown carbon absorption in the rural southeastern United States, Geophys. Res. Lett., 42, 653–664, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GL062444, 2015.
Weingartner, E., Saathoff, H., Schnaiter, M., Streit, N., Bitnar, B., and Baltensperger, U.: Absorption of light by soot particles: Determination of the absorption coefficient by means of aethalometers, J. Aerosol Sci., 34, 1445–1463, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0021-8502(03)00359-8, 2003.
Zhao, G., Yu, Y., Tian, P., Li, J., Guo, S. and Zhao, C.: Evaluation and Correction of the Ambient Pparticle Sectral Light Absorption Measured Using a Filter-based Aethalometer, Aerosol Air Qual. Res, 20, 1833–1841, https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2019.10.0500, 2020.
Zotter, P., Herich, H., Gysel, M., El-Haddad, I., Zhang, Y., Močnik, G., Hüglin, C., Baltensperger, U., Szidat, S., and Prévôt, A. S. H.: Evaluation of the absorption Ångström exponents for traffic and wood burning in the Aethalometer-based source apportionment using radiocarbon measurements of ambient aerosol, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4229–4249, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4229-2017, 2017.
Short summary
An instrument-dependent wavelength-independent parameter (C) is often used to face multiple-scattering issues affecting aerosol light absorption measurements by Aethalometers. Instead, we determined multi-wavelength C by comparison with absorption measurements of samples collected in parallel performed by an instrument developed in-house. Considering C wavelength dependence, harmonized results were obtained applying source and component apportionment models to data from different Aethalometers.
An instrument-dependent wavelength-independent parameter (C) is often used to face...
