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    Explicit modeling of volatile organic compounds partitioning in the atmospheric aqueous phase
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2013) Mouchel-Vallon, C.; Bräuer, P.; Camredon, M.; Valorso, R.; Madronich, S.; Hermann, M.; Aumont, B.
    The gas phase oxidation of organic species is a multigenerational process involving a large number of secondary compounds. Most secondary organic species are water-soluble multifunctional oxygenated molecules. The fully explicit chemical mechanism GECKO-A (Generator of Explicit Chemistry and Kinetics of Organics in the Atmosphere) is used to describe the oxidation of organics in the gas phase and their mass transfer to the aqueous phase. The oxidation of three hydrocarbons of atmospheric interest (isoprene, octane and α-pinene) is investigated for various NOx conditions. The simulated oxidative trajectories are examined in a new two dimensional space defined by the mean oxidation state and the solubility. The amount of dissolved organic matter was found to be very low (yield less than 2% on carbon atom basis) under a water content typical of deliquescent aerosols. For cloud water content, 50% (isoprene oxidation) to 70% (octane oxidation) of the carbon atoms are found in the aqueous phase after the removal of the parent hydrocarbons for low NOx conditions. For high NOx conditions, this ratio is only 5% in the isoprene oxidation case, but remains large for α-pinene and octane oxidation cases (40% and 60%, respectively). Although the model does not yet include chemical reactions in the aqueous phase, much of this dissolved organic matter should be processed in cloud drops and modify both oxidation rates and the speciation of organic species.
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    Aging of secondary organic aerosol generated from the ozonolysis of α-pinene: Effects of ozone, light and temperature
    (München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2015) Denjean, C.; Formenti, P.; Picquet-Varrault, B.; Camredon, M.; Pangui, E.; Zapf, P.; Katrib, Y.; Giorio, C.; Tapparo, A.; Temime-Roussel, B.; Monod, A.; Aumont, B.; Doussin, J.F.
    A series of experiments was conducted in the CESAM (French acronym for Experimental Multiphasic Atmospheric Simulation Chamber) simulation chamber to investigate the evolution of the physical and chemical properties of secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) during different forcings. The present experiments represent a first attempt to comprehensively investigate the influence of oxidative processing, photochemistry, and diurnal temperature cycling upon SOA properties. SOAs generated from the ozonolysis of α-pinene were exposed under dry conditions (< 1% relative humidity) to (1) elevated ozone concentrations, (2) light (under controlled temperature conditions) or (3) light and heat (6 °C light-induced temperature increase), and the resultant changes in SOA optical properties (i.e. absorption and scattering), hygroscopicity and chemical composition were measured using a suite of instrumentation interfaced to the CESAM chamber. The complex refractive index (CRI) was derived from integrated nephelometer measurements of 525 nm wavelength, using Mie scattering calculations and measured number size distributions. The particle size growth factor (GF) was measured with a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer (H-TDMA). An aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) was used for the determination of the f44 / f43 and O : C ratio of the particles bulk. No change in SOA size or chemical composition was observed during O3 and light exposure at constant temperature; in addition, GF and CRI of the SOA remained constant with forcing. On the contrary, illumination of SOAs in the absence of temperature control led to an increase in the real part of the CRI from 1.35 (±0.03) to 1.49 (±0.03), an increase of the GF from 1.04 (±0.02) to 1.14 (±0.02) and an increase of the f44 / f43 ratio from 1.73 (±0.03) to 2.23 (±0.03). The simulation of the experiments using the master chemical mechanism (MCM) and the Generator for Explicit Chemistry and Kinetics of Organics in the Atmosphere (GECKO-A) shows that these changes resulted from the evaporation of semi-volatile and less oxidized SOA species induced by the relatively minor increases in temperature (~ 6 °C). These surprising results suggest that α-pinene–O3 SOA properties may be governed more by local temperature fluctuations than by oxidative processing and photochemistry.