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- ItemLong-term chemical characterization of tropical and marine aerosols at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO) from 2007 to 2011(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2014) Fomba, K.W.; Müller, K.; Van Pinxteren, D.; Poulain, L.; Van Pinxteren, M.; Herrmann, H.The first long-term aerosol sampling and chemical characterization results from measurements at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory (CVAO) on the island of São Vicente are presented and are discussed with respect to air mass origin and seasonal trends. In total 671 samples were collected using a high-volume PM10 sampler on quartz fiber filters from January 2007 to December 2011. The samples were analyzed for their aerosol chemical composition, including their ionic and organic constituents. Back trajectory analyses showed that the aerosol at CVAO was strongly influenced by emissions from Europe and Africa, with the latter often responsible for high mineral dust loading. Sea salt and mineral dust dominated the aerosol mass and made up in total about 80% of the aerosol mass. The 5-year PM10 mean was 47.1 ± 55.5 μg m−2, while the mineral dust and sea salt means were 27.9 ± 48.7 and 11.1 ± 5.5 μg m−2, respectively. Non-sea-salt (nss) sulfate made up 62% of the total sulfate and originated from both long-range transport from Africa or Europe and marine sources. Strong seasonal variation was observed for the aerosol components. While nitrate showed no clear seasonal variation with an annual mean of 1.1 ± 0.6 μg m−3, the aerosol mass, OC (organic carbon) and EC (elemental carbon), showed strong winter maxima due to strong influence of African air mass inflow. Additionally during summer, elevated concentrations of OM were observed originating from marine emissions. A summer maximum was observed for non-sea-salt sulfate and was connected to periods when air mass inflow was predominantly of marine origin, indicating that marine biogenic emissions were a significant source. Ammonium showed a distinct maximum in spring and coincided with ocean surface water chlorophyll a concentrations. Good correlations were also observed between nss-sulfate and oxalate during the summer and winter seasons, indicating a likely photochemical in-cloud processing of the marine and anthropogenic precursors of these species. High temporal variability was observed in both chloride and bromide depletion, differing significantly within the seasons, air mass history and Saharan dust concentration. Chloride (bromide) depletion varied from 8.8 ± 8.5% (62 ± 42%) in Saharan-dust-dominated air mass to 30 \textpm 12% (87 ± 11%) in polluted Europe air masses. During summer, bromide depletion often reached 100% in marine as well as in polluted continental samples. In addition to the influence of the aerosol acidic components, photochemistry was one of the main drivers of halogenide depletion during the summer; while during dust events, displacement reaction with nitric acid was found to be the dominant mechanism. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis identified three major aerosol sources: sea salt, aged sea salt and long-range transport. The ionic budget was dominated by the first two of these factors, while the long-range transport factor could only account for about 14% of the total observed ionic mass.
- ItemHydroxymethanesulfonic acid in size-segregated aerosol particles at nine sites in Germany(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2014) Scheinhardt, S.; van Pinxteren, D.; Müller, K.; Spindler, G.; Herrmann, H.In the course of two field campaigns, size-segregated particle samples were collected at nine sites in Germany, including traffic, urban, rural, marine and mountain sites. During the chemical characterisation of the samples some of them were found to contain an unknown substance that was later identified as hydroxymethanesulfonic acid (HMSA). HMSA is known to be formed during the reaction of S(IV) (HSO3− or SO32−) with formaldehyde in the aqueous phase. Due to its stability, HMSA can act as a reservoir species for S(IV) in the atmosphere and is therefore of interest for the understanding of atmospheric sulfur chemistry. However, no HMSA data are available for atmospheric particles from central Europe, and even on a worldwide scale data are scarce. Thus, the present study now provides a representative data set with detailed information on HMSA concentrations in size-segregated central European aerosol particles. HMSA mass concentrations in this data set were highly variable: HMSA was found in 224 out of 738 samples (30%), sometimes in high mass concentrations exceeding those of oxalic acid. On average over all 154 impactor runs, 31.5 ng m−3 HMSA was found in PM10, contributing 0.21% to the total mass. The results show that the particle diameter, the sampling location, the sampling season and the air mass origin impact the HMSA mass concentration. Highest concentrations were found in the particle fraction 0.42–1.2 μm, at urban sites, in winter and with eastern (continental) air masses, respectively. The results suggest that HMSA is formed during aging of pollution plumes. A positive correlation of HMSA with sulfate, oxalate and PM is found (R2 > 0.4). The results furthermore suggest that the fraction of HMSA in PM slightly decreases with increasing pH.
- ItemStable water isotopologue ratios in fog and cloud droplets of liquid clouds are not size-dependent(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2012) Spiegel, J.K.; Aemisegger, F.; Scholl, M.; Wienhold, F.G.; Collett Jr., J.L.; Lee, T.; van Pinxteren, D.; Mertes, S.; Tilgner, A.; Herrmann, H.; Werner, R.A.; Buchmann, N.; Eugster, W.In this work, we present the first observations of stable water isotopologue ratios in cloud droplets of different sizes collected simultaneously. We address the question whether the isotope ratio of droplets in a liquid cloud varies as a function of droplet size. Samples were collected from a ground intercepted cloud (= fog) during the Hill Cap Cloud Thuringia 2010 campaign (HCCT-2010) using a three-stage Caltech Active Strand Cloud water Collector (CASCC). An instrument test revealed that no artificial isotopic fractionation occurs during sample collection with the CASCC. Furthermore, we could experimentally confirm the hypothesis that the δ values of cloud droplets of the relevant droplet sizes (μm-range) were not significantly different and thus can be assumed to be in isotopic equilibrium immediately with the surrounding water vapor. However, during the dissolution period of the cloud, when the supersaturation inside the cloud decreased and the cloud began to clear, differences in isotope ratios of the different droplet sizes tended to be larger. This is likely to result from the cloud's heterogeneity, implying that larger and smaller cloud droplets have been collected at different moments in time, delivering isotope ratios from different collection times.
- ItemGeneral overview: European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EUCAARI) – integrating aerosol research from nano to global scales(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2011) Kulmala, M.; Asmi, A.; Lappalainen, H.K.; Carslaw, K.S.; Pöschl, U.; Baltensperger, U.; Hov, Ø.; Brenquier, J.-L.; Pandis, S.N.; Facchini, M.C.; Hansson, H.-C.; Wiedensohler, A.; O'Dowd, C.D.; Boers, R.; Boucher, O.; de Leeuw, G.; Denier van der Gon, H.A.C.; Feichter, J.; Krejci, R.; Laj, P.; Lihavainen, H.; Lohmann, U.; McFiggans, G.; Mentel, T.; Pilinis, C.; Riipinen, I.; Schulz, M.; Stohl, A.; Swietlicki, E.; Vignati, E.; Alves, C.; Amann, M.; Ammann, M.; Arabas, S.; Artaxo, P.; Baars, H.; Beddows, D.C.S.; Bergström, R.; Beukes, J.P.; Bilde, M.; Burkhart, J.F.; Canonaco, F.; Clegg, S.L.; Coe, H.; Crumeyrolle, S.; D'Anna, B.; Decesari, S.; Gilardoni, S.; Fischer, M.; Fjaeraa, A.M.; Fountoukis, C.; George, C.; Gomes, L.; Halloran, P.; Hamburger, T.; Harrison, R.M.; Herrmann, H.; Hoffmann, T.; Hoose, C.; Hu, M.; Hyvärinen, A.; Hõrrak, U.; Iinuma, Y.; Iversen, T.; Josipovic, M.; Kanakidou, M.; Kiendler-Scharr, A.; Kirkevåg, A.; Kiss, G.; Klimont, Z.; Kolmonen, P.; Komppula, M.; Kristjánsson, J.-E.; Laakso, L.; Laaksonen, A.; Labonnote, L.; Lanz, V.A.; Lehtinen, K.E.J.; Rizzo, L.V.; Makkonen, R.; Manninen, H.E.; McMeeking, G.; Merikanto, J.; Minikin, A.; Mirme, S.; Morgan, W.T.; Nemitz, E.; O'Donnell, D.; Panwar, T.S.; Pawlowska, H.; Petzold, A.; Pienaar, J.J.; Pio, C.; Plass-Duelmer, C.; Prévôt, A.S.H.; Pryor, S.; Reddington, C.L.; Roberts, G.; Rosenfeld, D.; Schwarz, J.; Seland, Ø.; Sellegri, K.; Shen, X.J.; Shiraiwa, M.; Siebert, H.; Sierau, B.; Simpson, D.; Sun, J.Y.; Topping, D.; Tunved, P.; Vaattovaara, P.; Vakkari, V.; Veefkind, J.P.; Visschedijk, A.; Vuollekoski, H.; Vuolo, R.; Wehner, B.; Wildt, J.; Woodward, S.; Worsnop, D.R.; van Zadelhoff, G.-J.; Zardini, A.A.; Zhang, K.; van Zyl, P.G.; Kerminen, V.-M.In this paper we describe and summarize the main achievements of the European Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality Interactions project (EUCAARI). EUCAARI started on 1 January 2007 and ended on 31 December 2010 leaving a rich legacy including: (a) a comprehensive database with a year of observations of the physical, chemical and optical properties of aerosol particles over Europe, (b) comprehensive aerosol measurements in four developing countries, (c) a database of airborne measurements of aerosols and clouds over Europe during May 2008, (d) comprehensive modeling tools to study aerosol processes fron nano to global scale and their effects on climate and air quality. In addition a new Pan-European aerosol emissions inventory was developed and evaluated, a new cluster spectrometer was built and tested in the field and several new aerosol parameterizations and computations modules for chemical transport and global climate models were developed and evaluated. These achievements and related studies have substantially improved our understanding and reduced the uncertainties of aerosol radiative forcing and air quality-climate interactions. The EUCAARI results can be utilized in European and global environmental policy to assess the aerosol impacts and the corresponding abatement strategies.
- ItemModeling the multiphase processing of an urban and a rural air mass with COSMO-MUSCAT(Amsterdam : Elsevier, 2014) Schrödner, R.; Tilgner, A.; Wolke, R.; Herrmann, H.A reduced version of the complex aqueous phase mechanism CAPRAM3.0i (C3.0RED) was used in the regional chemistry transport model COSMO–MUSCAT in a 2-D application. Besides sulfate and nitrate production, the mechanism treats a complex HOx-chemistry, transition metal ion chemistry and organic species up to C4. The effects of the cloud chemistry on the chemical composition of air and particles were investigated. Sensitivity studies were conducted for an urban and a rural air mass. For this purpose simulations with C3.0RED were compared to ones with a simple inorganic aqueous phase mechanism (INORG) and without aqueous phase chemistry. A reduction of the gas phase concentrations of major oxidants was observed especially in the urban environment. Compared to INORG, C3.0RED is always more acidic leading to shifts in several chemical subsystems, (e.g. production of sulfate). Using C3.0RED instead of INORG, differences in sulfate mass of 3% to −15% occurred. The modeled O/C-ratio tends to be higher than observations as C3.0RED does not consider the whole population of organics and no insoluble organic mass. Nevertheless, the modeled concentration of glyoxalic acid is in the range of atmospheric measurements in both environments, whereas oxalic acid and pyruvic acid are underestimated in the urban case.
- ItemIn-cloud sulfate addition to single particles resolved with sulfur isotope analysis during HCCT-2010(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2014) Harris, E.; Sinha, B.; van Pinxteren, D.; Schneider, J.; Poulain, L.; Collett, J.; D'Anna, B.; Fahlbusch, B.; Foley, S.; Fomba, K.W.; George, C.; Gnauk, T.; Henning, S.; Lee, T.; Mertes, S.; Roth, A.; Stratmann, F.; Borrmann, S.; Hoppe, P.; Herrmann, H.In-cloud production of sulfate modifies aerosol size distribution, with important implications for the magnitude of indirect and direct aerosol cooling and the impact of SO2 emissions on the environment. We investigate which sulfate sources dominate the in-cloud addition of sulfate to different particle classes as an air parcel passes through an orographic cloud. Sulfate aerosol, SO2 and H2SO4 were collected upwind, in-cloud and downwind of an orographic cloud for three cloud measurement events during the Hill Cap Cloud Thuringia campaign in autumn 2010 (HCCT-2010). Combined SEM and NanoSIMS analysis of single particles allowed the δ34S of particulate sulfate to be resolved for particle size and type. The most important in-cloud SO2 oxidation pathway at HCCT-2010 was aqueous oxidation catalysed by transition metal ions (TMI catalysis), which was shown with single particle isotope analyses to occur primarily in cloud droplets nucleated on coarse mineral dust. In contrast, direct uptake of H2SO4 (g) and ultrafine particulate were the most important sources modifying fine mineral dust, increasing its hygroscopicity and facilitating activation. Sulfate addition to "mixed" particles (secondary organic and inorganic aerosol) and coated soot was dominated by in-cloud aqueous SO2 oxidation by H2O2 and direct uptake of H2SO4 (g) and ultrafine particle sulfate, depending on particle size mode and time of day. These results provide new insight into in-cloud sulfate production mechanisms, and show the importance of single particle measurements and models to accurately assess the environmental effects of cloud processing.
- ItemOn the abundance and source contributions of dicarboxylic acids in size-resolved aerosol particles at continental sites in central Europe(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2014) van Pinxteren, D.; Neusüß, C.; Herrmann, H.Dicarboxylic acids (DCAs) are among the most abundant organic compounds observed in atmospheric aerosol particles and have been extensively studied at many places around the world. The importance of the various primary sources and secondary formation pathways discussed in the literature is often difficult to assess from field studies, though. In the present study, a large data set of size-resolved DCA concentrations from several inland sites in Germany is combined with results from a recently developed approach of statistical back-trajectory analysis and additional data. Principal component analysis is then used to reveal the most important factors governing the abundance of DCAs in different particle size ranges. The two most important sources revealed are (i) photochemical formation during intense radiation days in polluted air masses, likely occurring in the gas phase on short timescales (gasSOA), and (ii) secondary reactions in anthropogenically influenced air masses, likely occurring in the aqueous phase on longer timescales (aqSOA). While the first source strongly impacts DCA concentrations mainly in small and large particles, the second one enhances accumulation mode DCAs and is responsible for the bulk of the observed concentrations. Primary sources were found to be minor (sea salt, soil resuspension) or non-existent (biomass burning, traffic). The results can be regarded as representative for typical central European continental conditions.
- ItemA case of extreme particulate matter concentrations over Central Europe caused by dust emitted over the southern Ukraine(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2008) Birmili, W.; Schepanski, K.; Ansmann, A.; Spindler, G.; Tegen, I.; Wehner, B.; Nowak, A.; Reimer, E.; Mattis, I.; Müller, K.; Brüggemann, E.; Gnauk, T.; Herrmann, H.; Wiedensohler, A.; Althausen, D.; Schladitz, A.; Tuch, T.; Löschau, G.On 24 March 2007, an extraordinary dust plume was observed in the Central European troposphere. Satellite observations revealed its origins in a dust storm in Southern Ukraine, where large amounts of soil were resuspended from dried-out farmlands at wind gusts up to 30 m s−1. Along the pathway of the plume, maximum particulate matter (PM10) mass concentrations between 200 and 1400 μg m−3 occurred in Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Poland, and Germany. Over Germany, the dust plume was characterised by a volume extinction coefficient up to 400 Mm−1 and a particle optical depth of 0.71 at wavelength 0.532 μm. In-situ size distribution measurements as well as the wavelength dependence of light extinction from lidar and Sun photometer measurements confirmed the presence of a coarse particle mode with diameters around 2–3 μm. Chemical particle analyses suggested a fraction of 75% crustal material in daily average PM10 and up to 85% in the coarser fraction PM10–2.5. Based on the particle characteristics as well as a lack of increased CO and CO2 levels, a significant impact of biomass burning was ruled out. The reasons for the high particle concentrations in the dust plume were twofold: First, dust was transported very rapidly into Central Europe in a boundary layer jet under dry conditions. Second, the dust plume was confined to a relatively stable boundary layer of 1.4–1.8 km height, and could therefore neither expand nor dilute efficiently. Our findings illustrate the capacity of combined in situ and remote sensing measurements to characterise large-scale dust plumes with a variety of aerosol parameters. Although such plumes from Southern Eurasia seem to occur rather infrequently in Central Europe, its unexpected features highlights the need to improve the description of dust emission, transport and transformation processes needs, particularly when facing the possible effects of further anthropogenic desertification and climate change.
- ItemHygroscopic behavior of atmospherically relevant water-soluble carboxylic salts and their influence on the water uptake of ammonium sulfate(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2011) Wu, Z.J.; Nowak, A.; Poulain, L.; Herrmann, H.; Wiedensohler, A.The hygroscopic behavior of atmospherically relevant water-soluble carboxylic salts and their effects on ammonium sulfate were investigated using a hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (H-TDMA). No hygroscopic growth is observed for disodium oxalate, while ammonium oxalate shows slight growth (growth factor = 1.05 at 90%). The growth factors at 90% RH for sodium acetate, disodium malonate, disodium succinate, disodium tartrate, diammonium tartrate, sodium pyruvate, disodium maleate, and humic acid sodium salt are 1.79, 1.78, 1.69, 1.54, 1.29, 1.70, 1.78, and 1.19, respectively. The hygroscopic growth of mixtures of organic salts with ammonium sulfate, which are prepared as surrogates of atmospheric aerosols, was determined. A clear shift in deliquescence relative humidity to lower RH with increasing organic mass fraction was observed for these mixtures. Above 80% RH, the contribution to water uptake by the organic salts was close to that of ammonium sulfate for the majority of investigated compounds. The observed hygroscopic growth of the mixed particles at RH above the deliquescence relative humidity of ammonium sulfate agreed well with that predicted using the Zdanovskii-Stokes-Robinson (ZSR) mixing rule. Mixtures of ammonium sulfate with organic salts are more hygroscopic than mixtures with organic acids, indicating that neutralization by gas-phase ammonia and/or association with cations of dicarbonxylic acids may enhance the hygroscopicity of the atmospheric particles.
- ItemACTRIS ACSM intercomparison - Part 1: Reproducibility of concentration and fragment results from 13 individual Quadrupole Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitors (Q-ACSM) and consistency with co-located instruments(München : European Geopyhsical Union, 2015) Crenn, V.; Sciare, J.; Croteau, P.L.; Verlhac, S.; Fröhlich, R.; Belis, C.A.; Aas, W.; Äijälä, M.; Alastuey, A.; Artiñano, B.; Baisnée, D.; Bonnaire, N.; Bressi, M.; Canagaratna, M.; Canonaco, F.; Carbone, C.; Cavalli, F.; Coz, E.; Cubison, M.J.; Esser-Gietl, J.K.; Green, D.C.; Gros, V.; Heikkinen, L.; Herrmann, H.; Lunder, C.; Minguillón, M.C.; Močnik, G.; O'Dowd, C.D.; Ovadnevaite, J.; Petit, J.-E.; Petralia, E.; Poulain, L.; Priestman, M.; Riffault, V.; Ripoll, A.; Sarda-Estève, R.; Slowik, J.G.; Setyan, A.; Wiedensohler, A.; Baltensperger, U.; Prévôt, A.S.H.; Jayne, J.T.; Favez, O.As part of the European ACTRIS project, the first large Quadrupole Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (Q-ACSM) intercomparison study was conducted in the region of Paris for 3 weeks during the late-fall – early-winter period (November–December 2013). The first week was dedicated to the tuning and calibration of each instrument, whereas the second and third were dedicated to side-by-side comparison in ambient conditions with co-located instruments providing independent information on submicron aerosol optical, physical, and chemical properties. Near real-time measurements of the major chemical species (organic matter, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and chloride) in the non-refractory submicron aerosols (NR-PM1) were obtained here from 13 Q-ACSM. The results show that these instruments can produce highly comparable and robust measurements of the NR-PM1 total mass and its major components. Taking the median of the 13 Q-ACSM as a reference for this study, strong correlations (r2 > 0.9) were observed systematically for each individual Q-ACSM across all chemical families except for chloride for which three Q-ACSMs showing weak correlations partly due to the very low concentrations during the study. Reproducibility expanded uncertainties of Q-ACSM concentration measurements were determined using appropriate methodologies defined by the International Standard Organization (ISO 17025, 1999) and were found to be 9, 15, 19, 28, and 36 % for NR-PM1, nitrate, organic matter, sulfate, and ammonium, respectively. However, discrepancies were observed in the relative concentrations of the constituent mass fragments for each chemical component. In particular, significant differences were observed for the organic fragment at mass-to-charge ratio 44, which is a key parameter describing the oxidation state of organic aerosol. Following this first major intercomparison exercise of a large number of Q-ACSMs, detailed intercomparison results are presented, along with a discussion of some recommendations about best calibration practices, standardized data processing, and data treatment.