Articles | Volume 15, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4091-2022
© Author(s) 2022. 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-15-4091-2022
© Author(s) 2022. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
13 Jul 2022
Research article |
| 13 Jul 2022
| 13 Jul 2022
Air pollution measurement errors: is your data fit for purpose?
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
Stuart E. Lacy
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
Thomas J. Bannan
Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Centre for Atmospheric Science, School of Natural Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Michael Flynn
Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Centre for Atmospheric Science, School of Natural Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Tom Gardiner
National Physical Laboratory, Teddington TW11 0LW, UK
David Harrison
Bureau Veritas UK, London E1 8HG, UK
Nicholas Marsden
Department of Earth and Environmental Science, Centre for Atmospheric Science, School of Natural Sciences, The University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL, UK
Nicholas A. Martin
National Physical Laboratory, Teddington TW11 0LW, UK
Katie Read
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, University of York, York YO10 5DD, UK
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Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 181–193, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-181-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-181-2023, 2023
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Simone T. Andersen, Beth S. Nelson, Katie A. Read, Shalini Punjabi, Luis Neves, Matthew J. Rowlinson, James Hopkins, Tomás Sherwen, Lisa K. Whalley, James D. Lee, and Lucy J. Carpenter
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Marsailidh M. Twigg, Augustinus J. C. Berkhout, Nicholas Cowan, Sabine Crunaire, Enrico Dammers, Volker Ebert, Vincent Gaudion, Marty Haaima, Christoph Häni, Lewis John, Matthew R. Jones, Bjorn Kamps, John Kentisbeer, Thomas Kupper, Sarah R. Leeson, Daiana Leuenberger, Nils O. B. Lüttschwager, Ulla Makkonen, Nicholas A. Martin, David Missler, Duncan Mounsor, Albrecht Neftel, Chad Nelson, Eiko Nemitz, Rutger Oudwater, Celine Pascale, Jean-Eudes Petit, Andrea Pogany, Nathalie Redon, Jörg Sintermann, Amy Stephens, Mark A. Sutton, Yuk S. Tang, Rens Zijlmans, Christine F. Braban, and Bernhard Niederhauser
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6755–6787, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6755-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6755-2022, 2022
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Alfred W. Mayhew, Ben H. Lee, Joel A. Thornton, Thomas J. Bannan, James Brean, James R. Hopkins, James D. Lee, Beth S. Nelson, Carl Percival, Andrew R. Rickard, Marvin D. Shaw, Peter M. Edwards, and Jaqueline F. Hamilton
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Isoprene nitrates are chemical species commonly found in the atmosphere that are important for their impacts on air quality and climate. This paper compares 3 different representations of the chemistry of isoprene nitrates in computational models highlighting cases where the choice of chemistry included has significant impacts on the concentration and composition of the modelled nitrates. Calibration of mass spectrometers is also shown to be an important factor when analysing isoprene nitrates.
Aristeidis Voliotis, Mao Du, Yu Wang, Yunqi Shao, M. Rami Alfarra, Thomas J. Bannan, Dawei Hu, Kelly L. Pereira, Jaqueline F. Hamilton, Mattias Hallquist, Thomas F. Mentel, and Gordon McFiggans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14147–14175, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14147-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14147-2022, 2022
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Mixing experiments are crucial and highly beneficial for our understanding of atmospheric chemical interactions. However, interpretation quickly becomes complex, and both the experimental design and evaluation need to be scrutinised carefully. Advanced online and offline compositional measurements can reveal substantial additional information to aid in the interpretation of yield data, including components uniquely found in mixtures and property changes in SOA formed from mixtures of VOCs.
Aristeidis Voliotis, Mao Du, Yu Wang, Yunqi Shao, Thomas J. Bannan, Michael Flynn, Spyros N. Pandis, Carl J. Percival, M. Rami Alfarra, and Gordon McFiggans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13677–13693, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13677-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13677-2022, 2022
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The addition of a low-yield precursor to the reactive mixture of aVOC and bVOC can increase or decrease the SOA volatility that is system-dependent. Therefore, the SOA volatility of the mixtures cannot always be predicted based on the additivity. In complex mixtures the formation of lower-volatility products likely outweighs the formation of products with higher volatility. The unique products of each mixture contribute significantly to the signal, suggesting interactions can be important.
Mao Du, Aristeidis Voliotis, Yunqi Shao, Yu Wang, Thomas J. Bannan, Kelly L. Pereira, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Carl J. Percival, M. Rami Alfarra, and Gordon McFiggans
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4385–4406, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4385-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4385-2022, 2022
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Atmospheric chemistry plays a key role in the understanding of aerosol formation and air pollution. We designed chamber experiments for the characterization of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from a biogenic precursor with inorganic seed. Our results highlight the advantages of a combination of online FIGAERO-CIMS and offline LC-Orbitrap MS analytical techniques to characterize the chemical composition of SOA in chamber studies.
Dimitrios Bousiotis, David C. S. Beddows, Ajit Singh, Molly Haugen, Sebastián Diez, Pete M. Edwards, Adam Boies, Roy M. Harrison, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4047–4061, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4047-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4047-2022, 2022
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In the last decade, low-cost sensors have revolutionised the field of air quality monitoring. This paper extends the ability of low-cost sensors to not only measure air pollution, but also to understand where the pollution comes from. This "source apportionment" is a critical step in air quality management to allow for the mitigation of air pollution. The techniques developed in this paper have the potential for great impact in both research and industrial applications.
Hannah Walker, Daniel Stone, Trevor Ingham, Sina Hackenberg, Danny Cryer, Shalini Punjabi, Katie Read, James Lee, Lisa Whalley, Dominick V. Spracklen, Lucy J. Carpenter, Steve R. Arnold, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5535–5557, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5535-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5535-2022, 2022
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Glyoxal is a ubiquitous reactive organic compound in the atmosphere, which may form organic aerosol and impact the atmosphere's oxidising capacity. There are limited measurements of glyoxal's abundance in the remote marine atmosphere. We made new measurements of glyoxal using a highly sensitive technique over two 4-week periods in the tropical Atlantic atmosphere. We show that daytime measurements are mostly consistent with our chemical understanding but a potential missing source at night.
Waldemar Schledewitch, Gary Lloyd, Keith Bower, Thomas Choularton, Michael Flynn, and Martin Gallagher
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-69, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-69, 2022
Publication in ACP not foreseen
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Ice crystals on the surface of ice and snow covered terrain are thought to be transported into clouds that cover the surface. This has important implications for the properties of clouds in these regions. This research measured the potential transport of surface based ice crystals into the surrounding clouds at a mountain top site.
Daniel R. Peters, Olalekan A. M. Popoola, Roderic L. Jones, Nicholas A. Martin, Jim Mills, Elizabeth R. Fonseca, Amy Stidworthy, Ella Forsyth, David Carruthers, Megan Dupuy-Todd, Felicia Douglas, Katie Moore, Rishabh U. Shah, Lauren E. Padilla, and Ramón A. Alvarez
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 321–334, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-321-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-321-2022, 2022
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We present more than 2 years of NO2 pollution measurements from a sensor network in Greater London and compare results to an extensive network of expensive reference-grade monitors. We show the ability of our lower-cost network to generate robust insights about local air pollution. We also show how irregularities in sensor performance lead to some uncertainty in results and demonstrate ways that future users can characterize and mitigate uncertainties to get the most value from sensor data.
Aristeidis Voliotis, Yu Wang, Yunqi Shao, Mao Du, Thomas J. Bannan, Carl J. Percival, Spyros N. Pandis, M. Rami Alfarra, and Gordon McFiggans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 14251–14273, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14251-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-14251-2021, 2021
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Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from mixtures of volatile precursors can be affected by the molecular interactions of the products. Composition and volatility measurements of SOA formed from mixtures of anthropogenic and biogenic precursors reveal processes that can increase or decrease the SOA volatility. The unique products of the mixture were more oxygenated and less volatile than those from either precursor. Analytical context is provided to explore the SOA volatility in mixtures.
Xuan Wang, Daniel J. Jacob, William Downs, Shuting Zhai, Lei Zhu, Viral Shah, Christopher D. Holmes, Tomás Sherwen, Becky Alexander, Mathew J. Evans, Sebastian D. Eastham, J. Andrew Neuman, Patrick R. Veres, Theodore K. Koenig, Rainer Volkamer, L. Gregory Huey, Thomas J. Bannan, Carl J. Percival, Ben H. Lee, and Joel A. Thornton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13973–13996, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13973-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13973-2021, 2021
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Halogen radicals have a broad range of implications for tropospheric chemistry, air quality, and climate. We present a new mechanistic description and comprehensive simulation of tropospheric halogens in a global 3-D model and compare the model results with surface and aircraft measurements. We find that halogen chemistry decreases the global tropospheric burden of ozone by 11 %, NOx by 6 %, and OH by 4 %.
Beth S. Nelson, Gareth J. Stewart, Will S. Drysdale, Mike J. Newland, Adam R. Vaughan, Rachel E. Dunmore, Pete M. Edwards, Alastair C. Lewis, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, W. Joe Acton, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Leigh R. Crilley, Mohammed S. Alam, Ülkü A. Şahin, David C. S. Beddows, William J. Bloss, Eloise Slater, Lisa K. Whalley, Dwayne E. Heard, James M. Cash, Ben Langford, Eiko Nemitz, Roberto Sommariva, Sam Cox, Shivani, Ranu Gadi, Bhola R. Gurjar, James R. Hopkins, Andrew R. Rickard, and James D. Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13609–13630, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13609-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13609-2021, 2021
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Ozone production at an urban site in Delhi is sensitive to volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations, particularly those of the aromatic, monoterpene, and alkene VOC classes. The change in ozone production by varying atmospheric pollutants according to their sources, as defined in an emissions inventory, is investigated. The study suggests that reducing road transport emissions alone does not reduce reactive VOCs in the atmosphere enough to perturb an increase in ozone production.
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
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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.
James Weber, Scott Archer-Nicholls, Nathan Luke Abraham, Youngsub M. Shin, Thomas J. Bannan, Carl J. Percival, Asan Bacak, Paulo Artaxo, Michael Jenkin, M. Anwar H. Khan, Dudley E. Shallcross, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Jonathan Williams, and Alex T. Archibald
Geosci. Model Dev., 14, 5239–5268, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5239-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-14-5239-2021, 2021
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The new mechanism CRI-Strat 2 features state-of-the-art isoprene chemistry not previously available in UKCA and improves UKCA's ability to reproduce observed concentrations of isoprene, monoterpenes, and OH in tropical regions. The enhanced ability to model isoprene, the most widely emitted non-methane volatile organic compound (VOC), will allow understanding of how isoprene and other biogenic VOCs affect atmospheric composition and, through biosphere–atmosphere feedbacks, climate change.
Ernesto Reyes-Villegas, Upasana Panda, Eoghan Darbyshire, James M. Cash, Rutambhara Joshi, Ben Langford, Chiara F. Di Marco, Neil J. Mullinger, Mohammed S. Alam, Leigh R. Crilley, Daniel J. Rooney, W. Joe F. Acton, Will Drysdale, Eiko Nemitz, Michael Flynn, Aristeidis Voliotis, Gordon McFiggans, Hugh Coe, James Lee, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Mathew R. Heal, Sachin S. Gunthe, Tuhin K. Mandal, Bhola R. Gurjar, Shivani, Ranu Gadi, Siddhartha Singh, Vijay Soni, and James D. Allan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 11655–11667, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11655-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-11655-2021, 2021
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This paper shows the first multisite online measurements of PM1 in Delhi, India, with measurements over different seasons in Old Delhi and New Delhi in 2018. Organic aerosol (OA) source apportionment was performed using positive matrix factorisation (PMF). Traffic was the main primary aerosol source for both OAs and black carbon, seen with PMF and Aethalometer model analysis, indicating that control of primary traffic exhaust emissions would make a significant reduction to Delhi air pollution.
Huihui Wu, Jonathan W. Taylor, Justin M. Langridge, Chenjie Yu, James D. Allan, Kate Szpek, Michael I. Cotterell, Paul I. Williams, Michael Flynn, Patrick Barker, Cathryn Fox, Grant Allen, James Lee, and Hugh Coe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9417–9440, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9417-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9417-2021, 2021
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Seasonal biomass burning over West Africa is a globally significant source of carbonaceous particles in the atmosphere, which have important climate impacts but are poorly constrained. We conducted in situ airborne measurements to investigate the evolution of smoke aerosol properties in this region. We observed absorption enhancement for both black carbon and brown carbon after emission, which provides new field results and constraints on aerosol parameterizations for future climate models.
Sobhan Kumar Kompalli, Surendran Nair Suresh Babu, Krishnaswamy Krishna Moorthy, Sreedharan Krishnakumari Satheesh, Mukunda Madhab Gogoi, Vijayakumar S. Nair, Venugopalan Nair Jayachandran, Dantong Liu, Michael J. Flynn, and Hugh Coe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9173–9199, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9173-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9173-2021, 2021
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The first observations of refractory black carbon aerosol size distributions and mixing state in South Asian outflow to the northern Indian Ocean were carried out as a part of the ICARB-2018 experiment during winter. Size distributions indicated mixed sources of BC particles in the outflow, which are thickly coated. The coating thickness of BC is controlled mainly by the availability of condensable species in the outflow.
Dimitrios Bousiotis, Ajit Singh, Molly Haugen, David C. S. Beddows, Sebastián Diez, Killian L. Murphy, Pete M. Edwards, Adam Boies, Roy M. Harrison, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4139–4155, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4139-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4139-2021, 2021
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Measurement and source apportionment of atmospheric pollutants are crucial for the assessment of air quality and the implementation of policies for their improvement. This study highlights the current capability of low-cost sensors in source identification and differentiation using clustering approaches. Future directions towards particulate matter source apportionment using low-cost OPCs are highlighted.
Simone T. Andersen, Lucy J. Carpenter, Beth S. Nelson, Luis Neves, Katie A. Read, Chris Reed, Martyn Ward, Matthew J. Rowlinson, and James D. Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3071–3085, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3071-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3071-2021, 2021
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NOx has been measured in remote marine air via chemiluminescence detection using two different methods for NO2 to NO photolytic conversion: (a) internal diodes and a reaction chamber made of Teflon-like barium-doped material, which causes a NO2 artefact, and (b) external diodes and a quartz photolysis cell. Once corrections are made for the artefact of (a), the two converters are shown to give comparable NO2 mixing ratios, giving confidence in the quantitative measurement of NOx at low levels.
Michael Priestley, Thomas J. Bannan, Michael Le Breton, Stephen D. Worrall, Sungah Kang, Iida Pullinen, Sebastian Schmitt, Ralf Tillmann, Einhard Kleist, Defeng Zhao, Jürgen Wildt, Olga Garmash, Archit Mehra, Asan Bacak, Dudley E. Shallcross, Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, Åsa M. Hallquist, Mikael Ehn, Hugh Coe, Carl J. Percival, Mattias Hallquist, Thomas F. Mentel, and Gordon McFiggans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3473–3490, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3473-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3473-2021, 2021
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A significant fraction of emissions from human activity consists of aromatic hydrocarbons, e.g. benzene, which oxidise to form new compounds important for particle growth. Characterisation of benzene oxidation products highlights the range of species produced as well as their chemical properties and contextualises them within relevant frameworks, e.g. MCM. Cluster analysis of the oxidation product time series distinguishes behaviours of CHON compounds that could aid in identifying functionality.
Mike J. Newland, Daniel J. Bryant, Rachel E. Dunmore, Thomas J. Bannan, W. Joe F. Acton, Ben Langford, James R. Hopkins, Freya A. Squires, William Dixon, William S. Drysdale, Peter D. Ivatt, Mathew J. Evans, Peter M. Edwards, Lisa K. Whalley, Dwayne E. Heard, Eloise J. Slater, Robert Woodward-Massey, Chunxiang Ye, Archit Mehra, Stephen D. Worrall, Asan Bacak, Hugh Coe, Carl J. Percival, C. Nicholas Hewitt, James D. Lee, Tianqu Cui, Jason D. Surratt, Xinming Wang, Alastair C. Lewis, Andrew R. Rickard, and Jacqueline F. Hamilton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1613–1625, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1613-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1613-2021, 2021
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We report the formation of secondary pollutants in the urban megacity of Beijing that are typically associated with remote regions such as rainforests. This is caused by extremely low levels of nitric oxide (NO), typically expected to be high in urban areas, observed in the afternoon. This work has significant implications for how we understand atmospheric chemistry in the urban environment and thus for how to implement effective policies to improve urban air quality.
Rutambhara Joshi, Dantong Liu, Eiko Nemitz, Ben Langford, Neil Mullinger, Freya Squires, James Lee, Yunfei Wu, Xiaole Pan, Pingqing Fu, Simone Kotthaus, Sue Grimmond, Qiang Zhang, Ruili Wu, Oliver Wild, Michael Flynn, Hugh Coe, and James Allan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 147–162, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-147-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-147-2021, 2021
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Black carbon (BC) is a component of particulate matter which has significant effects on climate and human health. Sources of BC include biomass burning, transport, industry and domestic cooking and heating. In this study, we measured BC emissions in Beijing, finding a dominance of traffic emissions over all other sources. The quantitative method presented here has benefits for revising widely used emissions inventories and for understanding BC sources with impacts on air quality and climate.
Patrick A. Barker, Grant Allen, Martin Gallagher, Joseph R. Pitt, Rebecca E. Fisher, Thomas Bannan, Euan G. Nisbet, Stéphane J.-B. Bauguitte, Dominika Pasternak, Samuel Cliff, Marina B. Schimpf, Archit Mehra, Keith N. Bower, James D. Lee, Hugh Coe, and Carl J. Percival
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 15443–15459, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15443-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-15443-2020, 2020
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Africa is estimated to account for approximately 52 % of global biomass burning (BB) carbon emissions. Despite this, there has been little previous in situ study of African BB emissions. This work presents BB emission factors for various atmospheric trace gases sampled from an aircraft in two distinct areas of Africa (Senegal and Uganda). Intracontinental variability in biomass burning methane emission is identified, which is attributed to difference in the specific fuel mixtures burnt.
Douglas Morrison, Ian Crawford, Nicholas Marsden, Michael Flynn, Katie Read, Luis Neves, Virginia Foot, Paul Kaye, Warren Stanley, Hugh Coe, David Topping, and Martin Gallagher
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14473–14490, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14473-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14473-2020, 2020
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We provide conservative estimates of the concentrations of bacteria within transatlantic dust clouds, originating from the African continent. We observe significant seasonal differences in the overall concentrations of particles but no seasonal variation in the ratio between bacteria and dust. With bacteria contributing to ice formation at warmer temperatures than dust, our observations should improve the accuracy of climate models.
Huihui Wu, Jonathan W. Taylor, Kate Szpek, Justin M. Langridge, Paul I. Williams, Michael Flynn, James D. Allan, Steven J. Abel, Joseph Pitt, Michael I. Cotterell, Cathryn Fox, Nicholas W. Davies, Jim Haywood, and Hugh Coe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12697–12719, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12697-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12697-2020, 2020
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Airborne measurements of highly aged biomass burning aerosols (BBAs) over the remote southeast Atlantic provide unique aerosol parameters for climate models. Our observations demonstrate the persistence of strongly absorbing BBAs across wide regions of the South Atlantic. We also found significant vertical variation in the single-scattering albedo of these BBAs, as a function of relative chemical composition and size. Aerosol properties in the marine BL are suggested to be separated from the FT.
Jonathan W. Taylor, Huihui Wu, Kate Szpek, Keith Bower, Ian Crawford, Michael J. Flynn, Paul I. Williams, James Dorsey, Justin M. Langridge, Michael I. Cotterell, Cathryn Fox, Nicholas W. Davies, Jim M. Haywood, and Hugh Coe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11201–11221, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11201-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11201-2020, 2020
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Every year, huge plumes of smoke hundreds of miles wide travel over the south Atlantic Ocean from fires in central and southern Africa. These plumes absorb the sun’s energy and warm the climate. We used airborne optical instrumentation to determine how absorbing the smoke was as well as the relative importance of black and brown carbon. We also tested different ways of simulating these properties that could be used in a climate model.
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Short summary
Regardless of the cost of the measuring instrument, there are no perfect measurements. For this reason, we compare the quality of the information provided by cheap devices when they are used to measure air pollutants and we try to emphasise that before judging the potential usefulness of the devices, the user must specify his own needs. Since commonly used performance indices/metrics can be misleading in qualifying this, we propose complementary visual analysis to the more commonly used metrics.
Regardless of the cost of the measuring instrument, there are no perfect measurements. For this...
