Search

Inorganic aerosol composition was measured in the southeastern United States, a region that exhibits high aerosol mass loading during the summer, as part of the 2013 Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS) campaign. Measurements using a Monitor for AeRosols and GAses (MARGA) revealed two periods of high aerosol nitrate (NO3) concentrations during the campaign. These periods of high nitrate were correlated with increased concentrations of supermicron crustal and sea spray aerosol species, particularly Na+ and Ca2+, and with a shift towards aerosol with larger (1 to 2.5 µm) diameters. We suggest this nitrate aerosol forms by multiphase reactions of HNO3 and particles, reactions that are facilitated by transport of crustal dust and sea spray aerosol from a source within the United States. The observed high aerosol acidity prevents the formation of NH4NO3, the inorganic nitrogen species often dominant in fine-mode aerosol at higher pH. Calculation of the rate of the heterogeneous uptake of HNO3 on mineral aerosol supports the conclusion that aerosol NO3- is produced primarily by this process, and is likely limited by the availability of mineral cation-containing aerosol surface area. Modeling of NO3- and HNO3 by thermodynamic equilibrium models (ISORROPIA II and E-AIM) reveals the importance of including mineral cations in the southeastern United States to accurately balance ion species and predict gas-aerosol phase partitioning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Size-resolved observations of aerosol particles and cloud droplet residuals were studied at a marine boundary layer site (251 ma.m.s.l.) in La Jolla, San Diego, California, during 2012. A counterflow virtual impactor (CVI) was used as the inlet to sample cloud residuals while a total inlet was used to sample both cloud residuals and interstitial particles. Two cloud events totaling 10 h of in-cloud sampling were analyzed. Based on bulk aerosol particle concentrations, mass concentrations of refractory black carbon (rBC), and back trajectories, the two air masses sampled were classified as polluted marine air. Since the fraction of cloud droplets sampled by the CVI was less than 100%, the measured activated fractions of rBC should be considered as lower limits to the total fraction of rBC activated during the two cloud events. Size distributions of rBC and a coating analysis showed that sub-100 nm rBC cores with relatively thick coatings were incorporated into the cloud droplets (i.e., 95 nm rBC cores with median coating thicknesses of at least 65 nm were incorporated into the cloud droplets). Measurements also show that the coating volume fraction of rBC cores is relatively large for sub-100 nm rBC cores. For example, the median coating volume fraction of 95 nm rBC cores incorporated into cloud droplets was at least 0.9, a result that is consistent with k-Köhler theory. Measurements of the total diameter of the rBC-containing particles (rBC core and coating) suggest that the total diameter of rBC-containing particles needed to be at least 165 nm to be incorporated into cloud droplets when the core rBC diameter is ≥ 85 nm. This result is consistent with previous work that has shown that particle diameter is important for activation of non-rBC particles. The activated fractions of rBC determined from the measurements ranged from 0.01 to 0.1 for core rBC diameters ranging from 70 to 220 nm. This type of data is useful for constraining models used for predicting rBC concentrations in the atmosphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]