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    Size distributions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in urban atmosphere: Sorption mechanism and source contributions to respiratory deposition
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2016) Lv, Yan; Li, Xiang; Xu, Ting Ting; Cheng, Tian Tao; Yang, Xin; Chen, Jian Min; Iinuma, Yoshiteru; Herrmann, Hartmut
    In order to better understand the particle size distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their source contribution to human respiratory system, size-resolved PAHs have been studied in ambient aerosols at a megacity Shanghai site during a 1-year period (2012–2013). The results showed the PAHs had a bimodal distribution with one mode peak in the fine-particle size range (0.4–2.1 µm) and another mode peak in the coarse-particle size range (3.3–9.0 µm). Along with the increase in ring number of PAHs, the intensity of the fine-mode peak increased, while the coarse-mode peak decreased. Plotting of log(PAH / PM) against log(Dp) showed that all slope values were above −1, suggesting that multiple mechanisms (adsorption and absorption) controlled the particle size distribution of PAHs. The total deposition flux of PAHs in the respiratory tract was calculated as being 8.8 ± 2.0 ng h−1. The highest lifetime cancer risk (LCR) was estimated at 1.5  ×  10−6, which exceeded the unit risk of 10−6. The LCR values presented here were mainly influenced by accumulation mode PAHs which came from biomass burning (24 %), coal combustion (25 %), and vehicular emission (27 %). The present study provides us with a mechanistic understanding of the particle size distribution of PAHs and their transport in the human respiratory system, which can help develop better source control strategies.
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    Nitrate radicals and biogenic volatile organic compounds: Oxidation, mechanisms, and organic aerosol
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2017) Ng, Nga Lee; Brown, Steven S.; Archibald, Alexander T.; Atlas, Elliot; Cohen, Ronald C.; Crowley, John N.; Day, Douglas A.; Donahue, Neil M.; Fry, Juliane L.; Fuchs, Hendrik; Griffin, Robert J.; Guzman, Marcelo I.; Herrmann, Hartmut; Hodzic, Alma; Iinuma, Yoshiteru; Jimenez, José L.; Kiendler-Scharr, Astrid; Lee, Ben H.; Luecken, Deborah J.; Mao, Jingqiu; McLaren, Robert; Mutzel, Anke; Osthoff, Hans D.; Ouyang, Bin; Picquet-Varrault, Benedicte; Platt, Ulrich; Pye, Havala O.T.; Rudich, Yinon; Schwantes, Rebecca H.; Shiraiwa, Manabu; Stutz, Jochen; Thornton, Joel A.; Tilgner, Andreas; Williams, Brent J.; Zaveri, Rahul A.
    Oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOC) by the nitrate radical (NO3) represents one of the important interactions between anthropogenic emissions related to combustion and natural emissions from the biosphere. This interaction has been recognized for more than 3 decades, during which time a large body of research has emerged from laboratory, field, and modeling studies. NO3-BVOC reactions influence air quality, climate and visibility through regional and global budgets for reactive nitrogen (particularly organic nitrates), ozone, and organic aerosol. Despite its long history of research and the significance of this topic in atmospheric chemistry, a number of important uncertainties remain. These include an incomplete understanding of the rates, mechanisms, and organic aerosol yields for NO3-BVOC reactions, lack of constraints on the role of heterogeneous oxidative processes associated with the NO3 radical, the difficulty of characterizing the spatial distributions of BVOC and NO3 within the poorly mixed nocturnal atmosphere, and the challenge of constructing appropriate boundary layer schemes and non-photochemical mechanisms for use in state-of-the-art chemical transport and chemistry–climate models. This review is the result of a workshop of the same title held at the Georgia Institute of Technology in June 2015. The first half of the review summarizes the current literature on NO3-BVOC chemistry, with a particular focus on recent advances in instrumentation and models, and in organic nitrate and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation chemistry. Building on this current understanding, the second half of the review outlines impacts of NO3-BVOC chemistry on air quality and climate, and suggests critical research needs to better constrain this interaction to improve the predictive capabilities of atmospheric models.