AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Secondary Organic Aerosols: Are Laboratory Chambers Mimicking the Atmosphere?
LYNN RUSSELL, Scripps Institution of Oceanography
Abstract Number: 30 Working Group: Invited by Conference Chair
Abstract Carbonaceous components contribute about half of the submicron atmospheric aerosol, but our knowledge of their composition and sources has lagged behind that of the inorganic components because of the diversity of organic compounds and the complexity of their mixtures. These particles include directly emitted “primary” particles and “secondary” particles from the photochemical oxidation of volatile organic compounds. The last decade has provided new measurement techniques that have allowed the identification and chemical characterization of both primary carbonaceous particle types and three categories of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) sources – fossil fuel combustion, biofuel and biomass burning, and marine and terrestrial biogenic vapor fluxes. Laboratory-based chamber studies have clearly demonstrated important differences in the SOA from these three types of precursors. Now, by comparing the chemical signatures of SOA composition formed from fossil fuel, biomass burning, and biogenic precursors to the components of atmospheric particles identified in multiple field campaigns as secondary, we provide evidence of the potential contributions of particles similar to those produced in SOA chambers to ambient compositions during those campaigns.