Unveiling the overlooked direct emissions of particulate organic nitrates from ship

Particulate organic nitrates (pONs) have drawn growing interests due to their effects on nitrogen cycling, air pollution, and regional climate. While secondary formation is typically considered as the major source of pONs, direct emissions from various sources remain poorly explored. Ship exhausts have been known as an important source of reactive nitrogen species, yet pONs emissions from ship have been rarely characterized. In this study, we conducted atmospheric measurement of pONs during a ship-based cruise measurement campaign in the East China Sea and also emission measurement of pONs from ship exhausts. During the ship-based cruise, total five typical kinds of pONs were determined and the average total concentrations of five pONs were 479 ± 193 and 250 ± 139 ng m-3 when sampling was influenced by ship emissions or not, respectively, indicating the notable impact of ship exhaust plumes on ambient pONs. Further, five typical pONs were successfully identified and quantified from ship exhausts, with the average total concentration of 1123 ± 406 μg m-3. The much higher pONs levels in ship exhausts than in ambient particulate matters demonstrated ship emission as an important source for pONs. Additionally, their emission factors from ship exhausts were determined as at a range of 0.1-12.6 mg kWh-1. The chemical transport model simulations indicate that direct pONs emissions from ship exert a significant contribution to atmospheric pONs, especially in the clean marine atmosphere. These findings provide compelling evidence for direct emission of pONs from ship and its considerable effects. We call for further studies to better characterize the direct pONs emissions from ship and other potential sources, which should be incorporated into global and regional models.

Refined source apportionment of coal combustion sources by using single particle mass spectrometry

In this study, samples of three typical coal combustion source types, including Domestic bulk coal combustion (DBCC), Heat supply station (HSS), and Power plant (PP) were sampled and large sets of their mass spectra were obtained and analyzed by SPAMS during winter in a megacity in China. A primary goal of this study involves determining representative size-resolved single particle mass spectral signatures of three source types that can be used in source apportionment activities. Chemical types describe the majority of the particles of each source type were extracted by ART-2a algorithm with distinct size characteristics, and the corresponding tracer signals were identified. Mass spectral signatures from three source types were different from each other, and the tracer signals were effective in distinguishing different source types. A high size-resolution source apportionment method were proposed in this study through matching sources' mass spectral signatures to particle spectra in a twelve days ambient sampling to source apportion the particles. Contributions of three source types got different size characteristics, as HSS source got higher contribution in smaller sizes, But PP source got higher contributions as size increased. Source contributions were also quantified during two typical haze episodes, and results indicated that HSS source (for central-heating) and DBCC source (for domestic heating and cooking) may contribute evidently to pollution formation.

Overview of surface measurements and spatial characterization of submicrometer particulate matter during the DISCOVER-AQ 2013 campaign in Houston, TX

The sources of submicrometer particulate matter (PM₁) remain poorly characterized in the industrialized city of Houston, TX. A mobile sampling approach was used to characterize PM₁ composition and concentration across Houston based on high-time-resolution measurements of nonrefractory PM₁ and trace gases during the DISCOVER-AQ Texas 2013 campaign. Two pollution zones with marked differences in PM₁ levels, character, and dynamics were established based on cluster analysis of organic aerosol mass loadings sampled at 16 sites. The highest PM₁ mass concentrations (average 11.6 ± 5.7 µg/m³) were observed to the northwest of Houston (zone 1), dominated by secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mass likely driven by nighttime biogenic organonitrate formation. Zone 2, an industrial/urban area south/east of Houston, exhibited lower concentrations of PM₁ (average 4.4 ± 3.3 µg/m³), significant organic aerosol (OA) aging, and evidence of primary sulfate emissions. Diurnal patterns and backward-trajectory analyses enable the classification of airmass clusters characterized by distinct PM sources: biogenic SOA, photochemical aged SOA, and primary sulfate emissions from the Houston Ship Channel. Principal component analysis (PCA) indicates that secondary biogenic organonitrates primarily related with monoterpenes are predominant in zone 1 (accounting for 34% of the variability in the data set). The relevance of photochemical processes and industrial and traffic emission sources in zone 2 also is highlighted by PCA, which identifies three factors related with these processes/sources (~50% of the aerosol/trace gas concentration variability). PCA reveals a relatively minor contribution of isoprene to SOA formation in zone 1 and the absence of isoprene-derived aerosol in zone 2. The relevance of industrial amine emissions and the likely contribution of chloride-displaced sea salt aerosol to the observed variability in pollution levels in zone 2 also are captured by PCA.

IMPLICATIONS

This article describes an urban-scale mobile study to characterize spatial variations in submicrometer particulate matter (PM₁) in greater Houston. The data set indicates substantial spatial variations in PM₁ sources/chemistry and elucidates the importance of photochemistry and nighttime oxidant chemistry in producing secondary PM₁. These results emphasize the potential benefits of effective control strategies throughout the region, not only to reduce primary emissions of PM₁ from automobiles and industry but also to reduce the emissions of important secondary PM₁ precursors, including sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, ammonia, and volatile organic compounds. Such efforts also could aid in efforts to reduce mixing ratios of ozone.

Nitrate radicals and biogenic volatile organic compounds: oxidation, mechanisms, and organic aerosol

Oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) by the nitrate radical (NO₃) represents one of the important interactions between anthropogenic emissions related to combustion and natural emissions from the biosphere. This interaction has been recognized for more than 3 decades, during which time a large body of research has emerged from laboratory, field, and modeling studies. NO₃-BVOC reactions influence air quality, climate and visibility through regional and global budgets for reactive nitrogen (particularly organic nitrates), ozone, and organic aerosol. Despite its long history of research and the significance of this topic in atmospheric chemistry, a number of important uncertainties remain. These include an incomplete understanding of the rates, mechanisms, and organic aerosol yields for NO₃-BVOC reactions, lack of constraints on the role of heterogeneous oxidative processes associated with the NO₃ radical, the difficulty of characterizing the spatial distributions of BVOC and NO₃ within the poorly mixed nocturnal atmosphere, and the challenge of constructing appropriate boundary layer schemes and non-photochemical mechanisms for use in state-of-the-art chemical transport and chemistry-climate models. This review is the result of a workshop of the same title held at the Georgia Institute of Technology in June 2015. The first half of the review summarizes the current literature on NO₃-BVOC chemistry, with a particular focus on recent advances in instrumentation and models, and in organic nitrate and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation chemistry. Building on this current understanding, the second half of the review outlines impacts of NO₃-BVOC chemistry on air quality and climate, and suggests critical research needs to better constrain this interaction to improve the predictive capabilities of atmospheric models.

Aerosol number size distributions over a coastal semi urban location: Seasonal changes and ultrafine particle bursts

Number-size distribution is one of the important microphysical properties of atmospheric aerosols that influence aerosol life cycle, aerosol-radiation interaction as well as aerosol-cloud interactions. Making use of one-yearlong measurements of aerosol particle number-size distributions (PNSD) over a broad size spectrum (~15-15,000nm) from a tropical coastal semi-urban location-Trivandrum (Thiruvananthapuram), the size characteristics, their seasonality and response to mesoscale and synoptic scale meteorology are examined. While the accumulation mode contributed mostly to the annual mean concentration, ultrafine particles (having diameter <100nm) contributed as much as 45% to the total concentration, and thus constitute a strong reservoir, that would add to the larger particles through size transformation. The size distributions were, in general, bimodal with well-defined modes in the accumulation and coarse regimes, with mode diameters lying in the range 141 to 167nm and 1150 to 1760nm respectively, in different seasons. Despite the contribution of the coarse sized particles to the total number concentration being meager, they contributed significantly to the surface area and volume, especially during transport of marine air mass highlighting the role of synoptic air mass changes. Significant diurnal variation occurred in the number concentrations, geometric mean diameters, which is mostly attributed to the dynamics of the local coastal atmospheric boundary layer and the effect of mesoscale land/sea breeze circulation. Bursts of ultrafine particles (UFP) occurred quite frequently, apparently during periods of land-sea breeze transitions, caused by the strong mixing of precursor-rich urban air mass with the cleaner marine air mass; the resulting turbulence along with boundary layer dynamics aiding the nucleation. These ex-situ particles were observed at the surface due to the transport associated with boundary layer dynamics. The particle growth rates from ultrafine particles to accumulation sizes varied between 1 and 15nmh(-1), with mean growth rate of ~7.35±2.93nmh(-1).

Organic Nitrate Contribution to New Particle Formation and Growth in Secondary Organic Aerosols from α-Pinene Ozonolysis

The chemical kinetics of organic nitrate production during new particle formation and growth of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) were investigated using the short-lived radioactive tracer (13)N in flow-reactor studies of α-pinene oxidation with ozone. Direct and quantitative measurements of the nitrogen content indicate that organic nitrates accounted for ∼40% of SOA mass during initial particle formation, decreasing to ∼15% upon particle growth to the accumulation-mode size range (>100 nm). Experiments with OH scavengers and kinetic model results suggest that organic peroxy radicals formed by α-pinene reacting with secondary OH from ozonolysis are key intermediates in the organic nitrate formation process. The direct reaction of α-pinene with NO3 was found to be less important for particle-phase organic nitrate formation. The nitrogen content of SOA particles decreased slightly upon increase of relative humidity up to 80%. The experiments show a tight correlation between organic nitrate content and SOA particle-number concentrations, implying that the condensing organic nitrates are among the extremely low volatility organic compounds (ELVOC) that may play an important role in the nucleation and growth of atmospheric nanoparticles.

Extractive FTIR spectroscopy with cryogen-free low-temperature inert preconcentration for autonomous measurements of atmospheric organics: 1: Instrument development and preliminary performance

In collaboration with the Jefferson County Department of Health and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the University of Alabama in Huntsville developed a novel sensor for detecting very low levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This sensor uses a commercial Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, a commercial long-path IR gas cell, a commercial acoustic Stirling cyrocooler, and a custom cryogen-free cryotrap to improve sensitivity in an autonomous system with on-board quality control and quality assurance. Laboratory and initial field results show this methodology is sensitive to and well-suited for a wide variety of VOC atmospheric research and monitoring applications, including EPA National Air Toxics Trends Stations and the National Core monitoring network.

Non-sulfate sulfur in fine aerosols across the United States: Insight for organosulfate prevalence

We investigated the discrepancies in long-term sulfur measurements from 2000 to 2012 by two separate speciation methods, X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectroscopy and ion chromatography (IC) across the United States (334 sites). Overall, there was a good correlation between sulfur measurements by XRF spectroscopy and IC (R ≥ 0.90 for most of the sites). However, the inorganic sulfate measured by ion chromatography was not sufficient to account for all the sulfur measured by XRF spectroscopy at many of the sites. Discrepancies were observed with the high ratios of sulfur measured by XRF spectroscopy to that by IC. Such high ratios also exhibited seasonal variation, and differed across land use types; significant differences occurred at locations classified as forest, agriculture, and mobile, but not in locations classified as commercial, desert, industrial, and residential. On average, the excess, or non-sulfate, sulfur (unmeasured organic sulfur or other inorganic species of sulfur) was variable and observed as high as ~13% of organic carbon and ~2% of PM_2.5. The contribution of such assumed organosulfur was larger in the eastern region than other geographical locations in the United States. Besides the temporal and spatial trends, the additional sulfur was found to be related to other factors such as aerosol acidity and emission sources. The results suggest that these unmeasured sulfur species could have significant contribution to aerosol burden, and the understanding of these could help to control PM_2.5 levels and to assess other effects of sulfur aerosols.

Review of the bulk and surface chemistry of iron in atmospherically relevant systems containing humic-like substances

The current state of knowledge and future research directions of the bulk and surface chemistry of iron relevant to atmospheric surfaces are reviewed.