ALBERT

Description: Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation has been investigated as a function of temperature and humidity for the ozone-initiated reaction of the two monoterpenes α-pinene (243–313 K) and limonene (253–313 K) using the 84.5 m3 aerosol chamber AIDA. This paper gives an overview of the measurements done and presents parameters specifically useful for aerosol yield calculations. The ozonolysis reaction, selected oxidation products and subsequent aerosol formation were followed using several analytical techniques for both gas and condensed phase characterisation. The effective densities of the SOA were determined by comparing mass and volume size distributions to (1.25±0.10) g cm−3 for α-pinene and (1.3±0.2) g cm−3 for limonene. The detailed aerosol dynamics code COSIMA-SOA proved to be essential for a comprehensive evaluation of the experimental results and for providing parameterisations directly applicable within atmospheric models. The COSIMA-assisted analysis succeeded to reproduce the observed time evolutions of SOA total mass, number and size distributions by adjusting the following properties of two oxidation product proxies: individual yield parameters (αi), partitioning coefficients (Ki), vapour pressures (pi) and effective accommodation coefficients (γi). For these properties temperature dependences were derived and parameterised. Vapour pressures and partitioning coefficients followed classical Clausius-Clapeyron temperature dependences. From this relationship enthalpies of vaporisation were derived for the two more and less volatile product proxies of α-pinene: (59±8) kJ mol−1 and (24±9) kJ mol−1, and limonene: (55±14) kJ mol−1 and (25±12) kJ mol−1. The more volatile proxy components had a notably low enthalpy of vaporisation while the less volatile proxy components gave enthalpies of vaporisation comparable with those of typical products from α-pinene oxidation, e.g. pinonaldehyde and pinonic acid.

Description: By emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) which on oxidation form secondary organic aerosols (SOA) the vegetation is coupled to atmosphere and climate. New particle formation from tree emissions was investigated in a new setup: a plant chamber coupled to a reaction chamber for oxidizing the plant emissions and for forming SOA. The boreal tree species birch, pine, and spruce were studied and α-pinene was used as reference compound. Under the experimental conditions OH radicals were essential for inducing new particle formation, although O3 (≤80 ppb) was always present and a part of the monoterpenes and the sesquiterpenes reacted already with ozone before OH was generated. Formation rates of 3 nm particles were linearly related to the carbon mixing ratios of the VOC, as were the maximum observed volume and the condensational growth rates. The threshold of new particle formation was lower for the tree emissions than for α-pinene. It was lowest for birch with the largest fraction of oxygenated VOC (OVOC) suggesting that OVOC may play a pivotal role in new particle formation. Incremental mass yields were ≈5% for pine, spruce and α-pinene, and ≈10% for birch. α-Pinene was a good model compound to describe the yield and the growth of SOA particles from coniferous emissions. The mass fractional yields agreed well with observations for boreal forests. Despite our somewhat enhanced VOC and OH concentrations our results may thus be up-scaled to eco-system level. Using the mass fractional yields observed for the tree emissions and weighting them with the abundance of the respective trees in boreal forests we calculate SOA mass concentrations which agree within 6% with field observations. For a future VOC increase of 50% we predict a particle mass increase due to SOA of 19% assuming today's mass contribution of pre-existing aerosol.

Description: The ozonolysis of α-pinene has been investigated under dry and humid conditions in the temperature range of 243–303 K. The results provided new insight into the role of water and temperature in the degradation mechanism of α-pinene and in the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA). The SOA yields were higher at humid conditions than at dry conditions. The water induced gain was largest for the lowest temperatures investigated (243 and 253 K). The increase in the SOA yields was dominated by water (and temperature) effects on the organic product distribution, whilst physical uptake of water was negligible. This will be demonstrated for the example of pinonaldehyde (PA) which was formed as a major product in the humid experiments with total molar yields of 0.30±0.06 at 303 K and 0.15±0.03 at 243 K. In the dry experiments the molar yields of PA were only 0.07±0.02 at 303 K and 0.02±0.02 at 253 K. The observed partitioning of PA as a function of the SOA mass present at 303 K limited the effective vapour pressure of pure PA pPA0 to the range of 0.01–0.001 Pa, 3–4 orders of magnitude lower than literature values. The corresponding mass partitioning coefficient was determined to KPA=0.005±0.004 m3 μg−1 and the total mass yield αPAtotal=0.37±0.08. At 303 K PA preferably stayed in the gas-phase, whereas at 253 K and 243 K it exclusively partitioned into the particulate phase. PA could thus account at least for half of the water induced gain in SOA mass at 253 K. The corresponding effect was negligible at 303 K because the PA preferably remained in the gas-phase. The yield of OH radicals, which were produced in the ozonolysis, was indirectly determined by means of the yield of cyclohexanone formed in the reaction of OH radicals with cyclohexane. OH yields of the α-pinene ozonolysis were determined to 0.67±0.17 for humid and 0.54±0.13 for dry conditions at 303 K, indicating a water dependent path of OH radical formation. For 253 and 243 K OH yields could be estimated to 0.5 with no significant difference between the dry and humid experiments. This is the first clear indication for OH radical formation by α-pinene ozonolysis at such low temperatures.

Description: High molecular weight (300–650 Da) naturally charged negative ions have previously been observed at a boreal forest site in Hyytiälä, Finland. The long-term measurements conducted in this work showed that these ions are observed practically every night between spring and autumn in Hyytiälä. The ambient mass spectral patterns could be reproduced in striking detail during additional measurements of α-pinene (C10H16) oxidation at low-OH conditions in the Jülich Plant Atmosphere Chamber (JPAC). The ions were identified as clusters of the nitrate ion (NO3−) and α-pinene oxidation products reaching oxygen to carbon ratios of 0.7–1.3, while retaining most of the initial ten carbon atoms. Attributing the ions to clusters instead of single molecules was based on additional observations of the same extremely oxidized organics in clusters with HSO4− (Hyytiälä) and C3F5O2− (JPAC). The most abundant products in the ion spectra were identified as C10H14O7, C10H14O9, C10H16O9, and C10H14O11. The mechanism responsible for forming these molecules is still not clear, but the initial reaction is most likely ozone attack at the double bond, as the ions are mainly observed under dark conditions. β-pinene also formed highly oxidized products under the same conditions, but less efficiently, and mainly C9 compounds which were not observed in Hyytiälä, where β-pinene on average is 4–5 times less abundant than α-pinene. Further, to explain the high O/C together with the relatively high H/C, we propose that geminal diols and/or hydroperoxide groups may be important. We estimate that the night-time concentration of the sum of the neutral extremely oxidized products is on the order of 0.1–1 ppt (~106–107 molec cm−3). This is in a similar range as the amount of gaseous H2SO4 in Hyytiälä during day-time. As these highly oxidized organics are roughly 3 times heavier, likely with extremely low vapor pressures, their role in the initial steps of new aerosol particle formation and growth may be important and needs to be explored in more detail in the future.

Description: Emission of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOC) which on oxidation form secondary organic aerosols (SOA) can couple the vegetation with the atmosphere and climate. Particle formation from tree emissions was investigated in a new setup: a plant chamber coupled to a reaction chamber for oxidizing the plant emissions and for forming SOA. Emissions from the boreal tree species birch, pine, and spruce were studied. In addition, α-pinene was used as reference compound. Under the employed experimental conditions, OH radicals were essential for inducing new particle formation, although O3 (≤80 ppb) was always present and a fraction of the monoterpenes and the sesquiterpenes reacted with ozone before OH was generated. Formation rates of 3 nm particles were linearly related to the VOC carbon mixing ratios, as were the maximum observed volume and the condensational growth rates. For all trees, the threshold of new particle formation was lower than for α-pinene. It was lowest for birch which emitted the largest fraction of oxygenated VOC (OVOC), suggesting that OVOC may play a role in the nucleation process. Incremental mass yields were ≈5% for pine, spruce and α-pinene, and ≈10% for birch. α-Pinene was a good model compound to describe the yield and the growth of SOA particles from coniferous emissions. The mass fractional yields agreed well with observations for boreal forests. Despite the somewhat enhanced VOC and OH concentrations our results may be up-scaled to eco-system level. Using the mass fractional yields observed for the tree emissions and weighting them with the abundance of the respective trees in boreal forests SOA mass concentration calculations agree within 6% with field observations. For a future VOC increase of 50% we predict a particle mass increase due to SOA of 19% assuming today's mass contribution of pre-existing aerosol and oxidant levels.

Description: The Mediterranean region is expected to experience substantial climatic change in the next 50 years. But, possible effects of climate change on biogenic volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions as well as on the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) produced from these VOC are yet unexplored. To address such issues, the effects of temperature on the VOC emissions of Mediterranean Holm Oak and small Mediterranean stand of Wild Pistacio, Aleppo Pine, and Palestine Oak have been studied in the Jülich plant aerosol atmosphere chamber. For Holm Oak the optical and microphysical properties of the resulting SOA were investigated. Monoterpenes dominated the VOC emissions from Holm Oak (97.5%) and Mediterranean stand (97%). Higher temperatures enhanced the overall VOC emission but with different ratios of the emitted species. The amount of SOA increased linearly with the emission strength with a fractional mass yield of 6.0±0.6%, independent of the detailed emission pattern. The investigated particles were highly scattering with no absorption abilities. Their average hygroscopic growth factor of 1.13±0.03 at 90% RH with a critical diameter of droplet activation was 100±4 nm at a supersaturation of 0.4%. All microphysical properties did not depend on the detailed emission pattern, in accordance with an invariant O/C ratio (0.57(+0.03/−0.1)) of the SOA observed by high resolution aerosol mass spectrometry. The increase of Holm oak emissions with temperature (≈20% per degree) was stronger than e.g. for Boreal tree species (≈10% per degree). The SOA yield for Mediterranean trees determined here is similar as for Boreal trees. Increasing mean temperature in Mediterranean areas could thus have a stronger impact on BVOC emissions and SOA formation than in areas with Boreal forests.

Description: Observations of aerosol chemical composition in Cabauw, the Netherlands, are presented for two intensive measurement periods in May 2008 and March 2009. Sub-micron aerosol chemical composition was measured by an Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) and is compared to observations from aerosol size distribution measurements as well as composition measurements with a Monitor for AeRosol and GAses (MARGA) based instrument and a Thermal-Desorption Proton-Transfer-Reaction Mass-Spectrometer (TD-PTR-MS). An overview of the data is presented and the data quality is discussed. In May 2008 enhanced pollution was observed with organics contributing 40% to the PM1 mass. In contrast the observed average mass loading was lower in March 2009 and a dominance of ammonium nitrate (42%) was observed. The semi-volatile nature of ammonium nitrate is evident in the diurnal cycles with maximum concentrations observed in the morning hours in May 2008 and little diurnal variation observed in March 2009. Size dependent composition data from AMS measurements are presented and show a dominance of organics in the size range below 200 nm. A higher O:C ratio of the organics is observed for May 2008 than for March 2009. Together with the time series of individual tracer ions this shows the dominance of OOA over HOA in May 2008.

Description: Atmospheric aerosols impact climate by scattering and absorbing solar radiation and by acting as ice and cloud condensation nuclei. Biogenic secondary organic aerosols (BSOAs) comprise an important component of atmospheric aerosols. Biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) emitted by vegetation are the source of BSOAs. Pathogens and insect attacks, heat waves and droughts can induce stress to plants that may impact their BVOC emissions, and hence the yield and type of formed BSOAs, and possibly their climatic effects. This raises questions of whether stress-induced changes in BSOA formation may attenuate or amplify effects of climate change. In this study we assess the potential impact of stress-induced BVOC emissions on BSOA formation for tree species typical for mixed deciduous and Boreal Eurasian forests. We studied the photochemical BSOA formation for plants infested by aphids in a laboratory setup under well-controlled conditions and applied in addition heat and drought stress. The results indicate that stress conditions substantially modify BSOA formation and yield. Stress-induced emissions of sesquiterpenes, methyl salicylate, and C17-BVOCs increase BSOA yields. Mixtures including these compounds exhibit BSOA yields between 17 and 33%, significantly higher than mixtures containing mainly monoterpenes (4–6% yield). Green leaf volatiles suppress SOA formation, presumably by scavenging OH, similar to isoprene. By classifying emission types, stressors and BSOA formation potential, we discuss possible climatic feedbacks regarding aerosol effects. We conclude that stress situations for plants due to climate change should be considered in climate–vegetation feedback mechanisms.

Description: Atmospheric mineral aerosols contain CaCO3 as a reactive component. A novel method to produce CaCO3 aerosol was developed by spraying Ca(HCO3)2 solution, which was generated from a CaCO3 suspension and CO2. By aerosol mass spectrometry the freshly sprayed and dried aerosol was characterized to consist of pure Ca(HCO3)2 which under annealing in a tube furnace transformed into CaCO3. Transmission Electron Microscopy demonstrated that the particles produced were spherical. The method was able to generate aerosol of sufficient concentration and proper size for the study of physiochemical properties and investigations of heterogeneous reactions of mineral aerosol. The dried Ca(HCO3)2 particles were somewhat more hygroscopic than CaCO3 particles. However, during humidification a restructuring took place and ∼2/3 of the Ca(HCO3)2 was transformed to CaCO3. The mixed Ca(HCO3)2/CaCO3(s) particles were insoluble with a growth factor of 1.03 at 95% (hygroscopicity parameter κ=0.011±0.007) relative humidity. This compares to a corresponding growth factor of 1.01 for CaCO3(s) (κ=0.0016±0.0004). Mass spectrometric composition analysis, restructuring, and insolubility of the mixed particles suggested that solid Ca(HCO3)2(s) was observed. This would be in contrast to the current belief that Ca(HCO3)2(s) is thermodynamically instable. The CCN activity of Ca(HCO3)2(s) aerosol (κ≈0.15) is remarkably higher than that of CaCO3 aerosol (κ=0.0019±0.0007) and less than that of Ca(NO3)2. The noticeable but limited solubility of Ca(HCO3)2 of ≈0.01 mol/l explains limited hygroscopic growth and good CCN activity. Experiments in the Large Jülich Aerosol Chamber indicated that Ca(HCO3)2(s) could exist for several hours under dry atmospheric conditions. However, it was likely buried in a protective layer of CaCO3(s). We conclude that Ca(HCO3)2 may be formed in the atmosphere in cloud droplets of activated mineral dust by reaction of CaCO3 with CO2 and H2O. The presence of Ca(HCO3)2 and as a consequence an enhanced CCN activity may alter the influence of mineral aerosol on global climate.