Correlation of secondary organic aerosol with odd oxygen in Mexico City

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Read Full Article (file size: 472472 bytes) Cited by GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 35, L15804, doi:10.1029/2008GL034058, 2008 Correlation of secondary organic aerosol with odd oxygen in Mexico City Scott C. Herndon Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Massachusetts, USA Timothy B. Onasch Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Massachusetts, USA Ezra C. Wood Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Massachusetts, USA Jesse H. Kroll Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Massachusetts, USA Manjula R. Canagaratna Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Massachusetts, USA John T. Jayne Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Massachusetts, USA Miguel A. Zavala Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Molina Center for Energy and the Environment, La Jolla, California, USA W. Berk Knighton Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Montana State University, Bozeman, Montana, USA Claudio Mazzoleni Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA Manvendra K. Dubey Earth and Environmental Sciences Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA Ingrid M. Ulbrich Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and CIRES, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA Jose L. Jimenez Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry and CIRES, University of Colorado, Boulder, Colorado, USA Robert Seila National Exposure Research Laboratory, Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA Joost A. de Gouw Earth System Research Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, USA Benjamin de Foy Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Saint Louis University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA Jerome Fast Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, Washington, USA Luisa T. Molina Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA Molina Center for Energy and the Environment, La Jolla, California, USA Charles E. Kolb Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Massachusetts, USA Douglas R. Worsnop Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, Massachusetts, USA Abstract Photochemically processed urban emissions were characterized at a mountain top location, free from local sources, within the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. Analysis of the Mexico City emission plume demonstrates a strong correlation between secondary organic aerosol and odd oxygen (O₃ + NO₂). The measured oxygenated-organic aerosol correlates with odd oxygen measurements with an apparent slope of (104–180) μg m⁻³ ppmv⁻¹ (STP) and r² > 0.9. The dependence of the observed proportionality on the gas-phase hydrocarbon profile is discussed. The observationally-based correlation between oxygenated organic aerosol mass and odd oxygen may provide insight into poorly understood secondary organic aerosol production mechanisms by leveraging knowledge of gas-phase ozone production chemistry. These results suggest that global and regional models may be able to use the observed proportionality to estimate SOA as a co-product of modeled O₃ production until more complete models of SOA formation become available. Received 22 March 2008; accepted 20 June 2008; published 5 August 2008. Keywords: secondary organic aerosol; photochemistry; urban. Index Terms: 0305 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Aerosols and particles (0345, 4801, 4906); 0325 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Evolution of the atmosphere (1610, 8125); 0345 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Pollution: urban and regional (0305, 0478, 4251); 0365 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere: composition and chemistry; 0317 Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Chemical kinetic and photochemical properties. Read Full Article (file size: 472472 bytes) Cited by Citation: Herndon, S. C., et al. (2008), Correlation of secondary organic aerosol with odd oxygen in Mexico City, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L15804, doi:10.1029/2008GL034058. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.

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