Role of sesquiterpenes in biogenic new particle formation

Biogenic vapors form new particles in the atmosphere, affecting global climate. The contributions of monoterpenes and isoprene to new particle formation (NPF) have been extensively studied. However, sesquiterpenes have received little attention despite a potentially important role due to their high molecular weight. Via chamber experiments performed under atmospheric conditions, we report biogenic NPF resulting from the oxidation of pure mixtures of β-caryophyllene, α-pinene, and isoprene, which produces oxygenated compounds over a wide range of volatilities. We find that a class of vapors termed ultralow-volatility organic compounds (ULVOCs) are highly efficient nucleators and quantitatively determine NPF efficiency. When compared with a mixture of isoprene and monoterpene alone, adding only 2% sesquiterpene increases the ULVOC yield and doubles the formation rate. Thus, sesquiterpene emissions need to be included in assessments of global aerosol concentrations in pristine climates where biogenic NPF is expected to be a major source of cloud condensation nuclei

Effect of temperature on the formation of highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) from alpha-pinene ozonolysis

Highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) are important contributors to secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and new-particle formation (NPF) in the boreal atmosphere. This newly discovered class of molecules is efficiently formed from atmospheric oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as monoterpenes, through a process called autoxidation. This process, in which peroxy-radical intermediates isomerize to allow addition of molecular oxygen, is expected to be highly temperature-dependent. Here, we studied the dynamics of HOM formation during a -pinene ozonolysis experiments performed at three different temperatures, 20, 0 and - 15 degrees C, in the Aarhus University Research on Aerosol (AURA) chamber. We found that the HOM formation, under our experimental conditions (50 ppb alpha-pinene and 100 ppb ozone), decreased considerably at lower temperature, with molar yields dropping by around a factor of 50 when experiments were performed at 0 degrees C, compared to 20 degrees C. At -15 degrees C, the HOM signals were already close to the detection limit of the nitrate-based chemical ionization atmospheric pressure interface time-of-flight (CI-APi-TOF) mass spectrometer used for measuring gas-phase HOMs. Surprisingly, comparing spectra measured at 0 and 20 degrees C, ratios between HOMs of different oxidation levels, e.g., the typical HOM products C10H14O7, C10H14O9, and C10H14O11, changed considerably less than the total HOM yields. More oxidized species have undergone more isomerization steps; yet, at lower temperature, they did not decrease more than the less oxidized species. One possible explanation is that the primary rate-limiting steps forming these HOMs occur before the products become oxygenated enough to be detected by our CI-APi-TOF (i.e., typically seven or more oxygen atoms). The strong temperature dependence of HOM formation was observed under temperatures highly relevant to the boreal forest, but the exact magnitude of this effect in the atmosphere will be much more complex: the fate of peroxy radicals is a competition between autoxidation (influenced by temperature and VOC type) and bimolecular termination pathways (influenced mainly by concentration of reaction partners). While the temperature influence is likely smaller in the boreal atmosphere than in our chamber, both the magnitude and complexity of this effect clearly deserve more consideration in future studies in order to estimate the ultimate role of HOMs on SOA and NPF under different atmospheric conditions.Peer reviewe

Measurements of aerosol microphysical and chemical properties in the central Arctic atmosphere during MOSAiC

International audiencethe arctic environment is transforming rapidly due to climate change. aerosols' abundance and physicochemical characteristics play a crucial, yet uncertain, role in these changes due to their influence on the surface energy budget through direct interaction with solar radiation and indirectly via cloud formation. Importantly, arctic aerosol properties are also changing in response to climate change. Despite their importance, year-round measurements of their characteristics are sparse in the arctic and often confined to lower latitudes at Arctic land-based stations and/or short high-latitude summertime campaigns. Here, we present unique aerosol microphysics and chemical composition datasets collected during the year-long Multidisciplinary drifting Observatory for the Study of arctic Climate (MOSaiC) expedition, in the central arctic. these datasets, which include aerosol particle number concentrations, size distributions, cloud condensation nuclei concentrations, fluorescent aerosol concentrations and properties, and aerosol bulk chemical composition (black carbon, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, chloride, and organics) will serve to improve our understanding of high-arctic aerosol processes, with relevance towards improved modelling of the future arctic (and global) climate

Role of sesquiterpenes in biogenic new particle formation

Biogenic vapors form new particles in the atmosphere, affecting global climate. The contributions of monoterpenes and isoprene to new particle formation (NPF) have been extensively studied. However, sesquiterpenes have received little attention despite a potentially important role due to their high molecular weight. Via chamber experiments performed under atmospheric conditions, we report biogenic NPF resulting from the oxidation of pure mixtures of β-caryophyllene, α-pinene, and isoprene, which produces oxygenated compounds over a wide range of volatilities. We find that a class of vapors termed ultralow-volatility organic compounds (ULVOCs) are highly efficient nucleators and quantitatively determine NPF efficiency. When compared with a mixture of isoprene and monoterpene alone, adding only 2% sesquiterpene increases the ULVOC yield and doubles the formation rate. Thus, sesquiterpene emissions need to be included in assessments of global aerosol concentrations in pristine climates where biogenic NPF is expected to be a major source of cloud condensation nuclei

Molecular understanding of new-particle formation from α-pinene between −50 and +25 °C

Highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) contribute substantially to the formation and growth of atmospheric aerosol particles, which affect air quality, human health and Earth s climate. HOMs are formed by rapid, gasphase autoxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) such as -pinene, the most abundant monoterpene in the atmosphere. Due to their abundance and low volatility, HOMs can play an important role in new-particle formation (NPF) and the early growth of atmospheric aerosols, even without any further assistance of other low-volatility compounds such as sulfuric acid. Both the autoxidation reaction forming HOMs and their NPF rates are expected to be strongly dependent on temperature. However, experimental data on both effects are limited. Dedicated experiments were performed at the CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) chamber at CERN to address this question. In this study, we show that a decrease in temperature (from C25 to 50 C) results in a reduced HOM yield and reduced oxidation state of the products, whereas the NPF rates (J1:7 nm) increase substantially. Measurements with two different chemical ionization mass spectrometers (using nitrate and protonated water as reagent ion, respectively) provide the molecular composition of the gaseous oxidation products, and a two-dimensional volatility basis set (2D VBS) model provides their volatility distribution. The HOM yield decreases with temperature from 6.2% at 25 C to 0.7% at 50 C. However, there is a strong reduction of the saturation vapor pressure of each oxidation state as the temperature is reduced. Overall, the reduction in volatility with temperature leads to an increase in the nucleation rates by up to 3 orders of magnitude at 50 C compared with 25 C. In addition, the enhancement of the nucleation rates by ions decreases with decreasing temperature, since the neutral molecular clusters have increased stability against evaporation. The resulting data quantify how the interplay between the temperature-dependent oxidation pathways and the associated vapor pressures affect biogenic NPF at the molecular level. Our measurements, therefore, improve our understanding of pure biogenic NPF for a wide range of tropospheric temperatures and precursor concentrations.Peer reviewe

The role of ions in new particle formation in the CLOUD chamber

The formation of secondary particles in the atmosphere accounts for more than half of global cloud condensation nuclei. Experiments at the CERN CLOUD (Cosmics Leaving OUtdoor Droplets) chamber have underlined the importance of ions for new particle formation, but quantifying their effect in the atmosphere remains challenging. By using a novel instrument setup consisting of two nanoparticle counters, one of them equipped with an ion filter, we were able to further investigate the ion-related mechanisms of new particle formation. In autumn 2015, we carried out experiments at CLOUD on four systems of different chemical compositions involving monoterpenes, sulfuric acid, nitrogen oxides, and ammonia. We measured the influence of ions on the nucleation rates under precisely controlled and atmospherically relevant conditions. Our results indicate that ions enhance the nucleation process when the charge is necessary to stabilize newly formed clusters, i.e., in conditions in which neutral clusters are unstable. For charged clusters that were formed by ion-induced nucleation, we were able to measure, for the first time, their progressive neutralization due to recombination with oppositely charged ions. A large fraction of the clusters carried a charge at 1.5nm diameter. However, depending on particle growth rates and ion concentrations, charged clusters were largely neutralized by ion–ion recombination before they grew to 2.5nm. At this size, more than 90% of particles were neutral. In other words, particles may originate from ion-induced nucleation, although they are neutral upon detection at diameters larger than 2.5nm. Observations at Hyytiälä, Finland, showed lower ion concentrations and a lower contribution of ion-induced nucleation than measured at CLOUD under similar conditions. Although this can be partly explained by the observation that ion-induced fractions decrease towards lower ion concentrations, further investigations are needed to resolve the origin of the discrepancy.© Author(s) 201

Multicomponent new particle formation from sulfuric acid, ammonia, and biogenic vapors

A major fraction of atmospheric aerosol particles, which affect both air quality and climate, form from gaseous precursors in the atmosphere. Highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs), formed by oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds, are known to participate in particle formation and growth. However, it is not well understood how they interact with atmospheric pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) from fossil fuel combustion, as well as ammonia (NH3) from livestock and fertilizers. Here, we show how NOx suppresses particle formation, while HOMs, sulfuric acid, and NH3 have a synergistic enhancing effect on particle formation. We postulate a novel mechanism, involving HOMs, sulfuric acid, and ammonia, which is able to closely reproduce observations of particle formation and growth in daytime boreal forest and similar environments. The findings elucidate the complex interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic vapors in the atmospheric aerosol system.© 2018 The Author