Carbonaceous PM is made up of black carbon, primary
organic aerosol (POA) and, especially, secondary
organic aerosol (SOA), which is known to contain harmful reactive oxygen species and can damage lung tissue.
They also play a role in the formation of secondary
organic aerosols — air pollutants produced when sunlight, organic molecules and airborne chemicals come together and interact.
Along the PlaetSolar itinerary, the colored dots represent the concentration of
organic aerosols, from blue (light concentration) to red (strong concentration).
The rapidly formed reaction products are usually very non-volatile and are precursors for the secondary
organic aerosol, which is important for the earth's climate.
Forest fires in the lower latitudes, however, are actually beneficial sources of black carbon because it is coupled with
organic aerosols and ends up reflecting light and heat, causing the surrounding area to cool.
Volatility is a key property of
organic aerosol because it determines the partitioning between the gas and particle phases, and thus the formation of SOA particles.
Secondary
organic aerosols are formed primarily through chemistry that occurs in the gas phase.
Yet, the factors that influence the formation of these aerosols, known as secondary
organic aerosol or SOA, are often assumed.
A study published April 7 in PNAS Online Early Edition describes how a team of scientists, including researchers from the University of California, Davis, showed that vapor losses to the walls of laboratory chambers can suppress the formation of secondary
organic aerosol, which in turn has contributed to the underprediction of SOA in climate and air quality models.
In one of the first studies of its kind, scientists have found that tar sands production in Canada is one of North America's largest sources of secondary
organic aerosols — air pollutants that affect the climate, cloud formation and public health.
Laboratory chamber walls have been stealing vapors, causing researchers to underestimate the formation of secondary
organic aerosol in the atmosphere.
The resulting mass concentration of secondary
organic aerosols was roughly between five and 100 μg / m3.
It drives the formation of much of the atmospheric
organic aerosol present in our environment.
Even though open windows bring in more ozone from outside, the reduction in the indoor limonene concentration and SOA formation strength more than make up for it, as less secondary
organic aerosol is formed inside.
«The results suggest that about 10 percent of the reacting VOC mass is converted tosecondary
organic aerosol over the tree tops.
Using aircraft to measure air pollution over the Alberta tar sands region, the researchers found that tar sands production emitted between 55 and 101 metric tonnes of secondary
organic aerosols per day.
In research recently published in Environmental Science & Technology, Waring describes the role of limonene, the organic compound that gives cleaners and air fresheners an orange scent and acts as a solvent, in the formation of secondary
organic aerosols.
By adjusting elements of the test, such as the air exchange rate, which is the number of times per hour indoor air is replaced by outdoor air, as well as the concentrations of terpene and ozone in the chamber, the group was able to ascertain how those variables each affected the formation of secondary
organic aerosols.
And while researchers are still striving to fully understand the health and environmental impact of increased levels of secondary
organic aerosols in the atmosphere, studies have linked exposure to outdoor aerosols generally to morbidity and mortality outcomes.
Tar sands study co-author Shao - Meng Li, a senior research scientist at Environment and Climate Change Canada, said that in highly - polluted regions,
some organic aerosols can prevent clouds from forming.
Their reaction products form the so - called secondary
organic aerosol.
With 18 different scenarios tested, the team calculated a range of peak formation of secondary
organic aerosols when typical concentrations of limonene were introduced to ozone - rich environments with a range of air exchange rates.
Researchers said the operation emits secondary
organic aerosols that harm the environment.
, Kilcoyne, A.L.D., Moffet, R.C., Weigand, M., Martin, S.T., Pöschl, U., and Andreae, M.O.: Biogenic potassium salt particles as seeds for secondary
organic aerosol in the Amazon, Science, 337, 1075 - 1078, 2012.
Further investigation showed that Titan's atmosphere has
organic aerosols, called tholins, that likely formed from molecules such as methane and nitrogen.
Shiraiwa, M., Ammann, M., Koop, T., and Pöschl, U: Gas uptake and chemical aging of semi-solid
organic aerosol particles, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108, 11003 - 11008, 2011.
Methods: The research team set out to incorporate a detailed physical and chemical mechanism for
organic aerosols, called the «volatility basis set framework,» in a familiar community climate model.
«Photolytic processing of secondary
organic aerosols dissolved in cloud droplets.»
According to Song, this finding highlights the need to improve how
organic aerosols are currently represented in climate models.
These oligomers are also the starting materials for troubling atmospheric aerosols, known as secondary
organic aerosols.
New study shows the molecular details of how
organic aerosol helps heat up and color the haze over megacities
Yet these particles, called secondary
organic aerosols, are a dominant atmospheric component in most megacity locations.
Study reveals discrepancy in approach commonly used to model
organic aerosol formation at global scales
However, to make climate models more accurate, we are focused on developing a better understanding of the dynamics of
organic aerosols formed from plant - based organic vapors and their interaction with aerosols emitted from human activities,» said Dr. Chen Song, a PNNL atmospheric scientist.
The team injected citric, adipic, and fulvic acid into the chamber as seed aerosols, and then introduced a secondary
organic aerosol from α - pinene, a carbon - containing compound derived from pine trees.
Song and fellow researchers published research in 2007 that addressed assumptions in the ability of diesel exhaust
organic aerosols to mix with
organic aerosols from tree evaporate.
On high biomass burning days, both biomass burning and human - based activities equally contributed to levels of secondary
organic aerosol downwind of Mexico City.
Why It Matters: Current atmospheric computer models do not consider the evolving chemistry of
the organic aerosols.
The team is also using their 2 - species VBS framework to study
organic aerosols and cloud - aerosol interactions for other climate science field campaigns.
Methods: In a series of experiments, the team synthesized
organic aerosols.
The researchers at PNNL and UCI are continuing to answer questions about the properties of
organic aerosols in the atmosphere.
Results: Today's climate models regard
organic aerosols as static carbon - based molecules, but scientists at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and the University of California, Irvine showed that the particles are very dynamic.
A large portion of secondary
organic aerosols - tiny particles in the air we breathe that contribute to cloud formation and precipitation - arise from a combination of man - made pollution and molecules given off by plant matter.
Characterization of chemical composition of secondary
organic aerosols (SOA).
These have garnered more than 600 citations advancing our understanding of what the research field calls secondary
organic aerosols — or SOA for short — and how the carbon - containing aerosol particles mix in the atmosphere.
The CARES field campaign was designed to increase scientific knowledge about the evolution of black carbon, primary
organic aerosols (POA), and secondary
organic aerosols (SOA) from both human - caused and natural (biogenic) sources.
When isoprene is in the presence of human - made sulfate particles it transforms into atmospheric
organic aerosol particles.
Secondary
organic aerosols, or SOAs, are created when hydrocarbon gases, given off by everything from pine trees to snow blowers, undergo a series of chemical reactions in the atmosphere to produce particles.
Analyses of the ground and aircraft data performed by Setyan et al. (2012), Shilling et al. (2013), and Kleinman et al. (2016) showed that
organic aerosol production increased when human - caused emissions from Sacramento mixed with air rich in isoprene, an organic compound wafting from many plants that originate in the area's foothills.
Recently, the team tackled how the particles, called secondary
organic aerosols (SOAs), evaporate when the relative humidity is high.