10th International Aerosol Conference September 2 - September 7, 2018 America's Center Convention Complex St. Louis, Missouri, USA
Abstract View
Ambient Particle Formation and Growth in Mexico City
LUCIA CAUDILLO, Dara Salcedo, Oscar Peralta, Telma Castro, National University of Mexico
Abstract Number: 1405 Working Group: Air Quality in Megacities: from Sources to Control
Abstract Studies of the size distribution of fine particles in Mexico City are very scarce. Baumgardner et al. (2000) reported the size distribution of particles between 100 and 700 nm during two weeks in November 1997, in a Natural Reserve south of Mexico City. The variability observed in the concentration of the Aitken and accumulation modes was related to concentrations of CO and O3, suggesting a link between the emission of primary aerosols and condensational growth. Dunn et al. (2004) measured the size distribution of nanoparticles between 3 and 48 nm and observed several nucleation events related with high SO2 concentrations during the morning, and low PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations in the afternoon. However, there has not been any other report of particle size distributions in Mexico for 13 years.
In this work, we will describe measurement of size distributions of particles between 10 and 400nm in Mexico City, using a TSI Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer Spectrometer (SMPS), during 30 days from October to November, 2016. Three different cases were observed during this period. The first one corresponds to new particle formation during high SO2 events. The second one, probably due to secondary formation processes, occurs at midday and is related to high solar radiation and ozone concentrations. The third one is related to the emission of primary nanoparticles from combustion sources.