Impacts of Chemical Degradation on the Global Budget of Atmospheric Levoglucosan and Its Use As a Biomass Burning Tracer

Levoglucosan has been widely used to quantitatively assess biomass burning's contribution to ambient aerosols, but previous such assessments have not accounted for levoglucosan's degradation in the atmosphere. We develop the first global simulation of atmospheric levoglucosan, explicitly accounting for its chemical degradation, to evaluate the impacts on levoglucosan's use in quantitative aerosol source apportionment. Levoglucosan is emitted into the atmosphere from the burning of plant matter in open fires (1.7 Tg yr^-1) and as biofuels (2.1 Tg yr^-1). Sinks of atmospheric levoglucosan include aqueous-phase oxidation (2.9 Tg yr^-1), heterogeneous oxidation (0.16 Tg yr^-1), gas-phase oxidation (1.4 × 10^-4 Tg yr^-1), and dry and wet deposition (0.27 and 0.43 Tg yr ^-1). The global atmospheric burden of levoglucosan is 19 Gg with a lifetime of 1.8 days. Observations show a sharp decline in levoglucosan's concentrations and its relative abundance to organic carbon aerosol (OC) and particulate K⁺ from near-source to remote sites. We show that such features can only be reproduced when levoglucosan's chemical degradation is included in the model. Using model results, we develop statistical parametrizations to account for the atmospheric degradation in levoglucosan measurements, improving their use for quantitative aerosol source apportionment.

Hygroscopic behavior of water-soluble matter in marine aerosols over the East China Sea

In this study, we investigated hygroscopic properties of water-soluble matter (WSM) in marine aerosols over the East China Sea, which were collected during a Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) sharing cruise in 2014. Hygroscopic growth factors (g) of WSM were measured by a hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (H-TDMA) with an initial dry particle mobility diameter of 100nm. The observed g at 90% relative humidity (RH), g(90%)_WSM, defined as the ratio of the particle diameter at 90% RH to that at RH<5% (initial dry diameter), ranged from 1.67 to 2.41 (mean±std: 1.99±0.23). The g values were lower than that of seawater (2.1) but comparable with those reported for marine aerosols (1.79-2.08). The H-TDMA retrieved hygroscopicity parameter of WSM, κ_WSM, ranged from 0.46 to 1.56 (0.88±0.35). The observed g(90%)_WSM during the daytime ranged from 1.67 to 2.40 (1.95±0.21) versus 1.71 to 2.41 (2.03±0.26) during the nighttime. κ_WSM was 0.81±0.32 in the daytime and 0.95±0.40 in the nighttime. The day/night differences of g(90%)_WSM and κ_WSM indicated that nighttime marine aerosols were more hygroscopic than those in daytime, which was likely related to enhanced heterogeneous reaction of ammonium nitrate in nighttime and the higher Cl^-/Na⁺ molar ratios obtained (0.80) in nighttime than those (0.47) in daytime. Inorganic ions accounted for 72-99% of WSM with SO₄^2- being the dominant species, contributing to 47% of the total inorganic ion mass. The declined g(90%) comparing with sea water was likely due to the transport of anthropogenic aerosols, chemical aging of dust particles, the contribution of biomass burning products, and the aerosol hygroscopic growth inhibition of organics.

Hygroscopic growth of water-soluble matter extracted from remote marine aerosols over the western North Pacific: Influence of pollutants transported from East Asia

We examined the hygroscopic properties of water-soluble matter (WSM) nebulized from water extracts of total suspended particles (TSP) collected at Chichijima Island in the western North Pacific during January to September 2003. The hygroscopic growth factor g(RH) of the aerosol particles was measured using a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) with an initial dry particle diameter of 100nm and relative humidity (RH) of 5-95%. The measured growth factor at 90% RH, g(90%), ranged from 1.51 to 2.14 (mean: 1.76±0.15), significantly lower than that of sea salts (2.1), probably owing to the heterogeneous reactions associated with chloride depletion in sea-salt particles and water-soluble organic matter (WSOM). The g(90%) maximized in summer and minimized in spring. The decrease in spring was most likely explained by the formation of less hygroscopic salts or particles via organometallic reactions during the long-range transport of Asian dust. Cl(-) and Na(+) dominate the mass fractions of WSM, followed by nss-SO4(2-) and WSOM. Based on regression analysis, we confirmed that g(90%) at Chichijima Island largely increased due to the dominant sea spray; however, atmospheric processes associated with chloride depletion in sea salts and WSOM often suppressed g(90%). Furthermore, we explored the deviation (average: 18%) between the measured and predicted g(90%) by comparing measured and model growth factors. The present study demonstrates that long-range atmospheric transport of anthropogenic pollutants (SO2, NOx, organics, etc.) and the interactions with sea-salt particles often suppress the hygroscopic growth of marine aerosols over the western North Pacific, affecting the remote background conditions. The present study also suggests that the HCl liberation leads to the formation of less hygroscopic aerosols over the western North Pacific during long-range transport.

Hygroscopic growth of particles nebulized from water-soluble extracts of PM2.5 aerosols over the Bay of Bengal: Influence of heterogeneity in air masses and formation pathways

Hygroscopic properties of water-soluble matter (WSM) extracted from fine-mode aerosols (PM2.5) in the marine atmospheric boundary layer of the Bay of Bengal (BoB) have been investigated during a cruise from 27th December 2008 to 30th January 2009. Hygroscopic growth factors were measured on particles generated from the WSM using an H-TDMA system with an initial dry size of 100 nm in the range of 5-95% relative humidity (RH). The measured hygroscopic growth of WSM at 90% RH, g(90%)WSM, were ranged from 1.11 to 1.74 (mean: 1.43 ± 0.19) over the northern BoB and 1.12 to 1.38 (mean: 1.25 ± 0.09) over the southern BoB. A key finding is that distinct hygroscopic growth factors are associated with the air masses from the Indo-Gangetic plains (IGP), which are clearly distinguishable from those associated with air masses from Southeast Asia (SEA). We found higher (lower) g(90%)WSM over the northern (southern) BoB, which were associated with an IGP (SEA) air masses, probably due the formation of high hygroscopic salts such as (NH4)2SO4. On the other hand, biomass burning influenced SEA air masses confer the low hygroscopic salts such as K2SO4, MgSO4, and organic salts over the southern BoB. Interestingly, mass fractions of water-soluble organic matter (WSOM) showed negative and positive correlations with g(90%)WSM over the northern and southern BoB, respectively, suggesting that the mixing state of organic and inorganic fractions could play a major role on the g(90%)WSM over the BoB. Further, WSOM/SO4(2-) mass ratios suggest that SO4(2-) dominates the g(90%)WSM over the northern BoB whereas WSOM fractions were important over the southern BoB. The present study also suggests that aging process could significantly alter the hygroscopic growth of aerosol particles over the BoB, especially over the southern BoB.

Long-term (2001-2012) observation of the modeled hygroscopic growth factor of remote marine TSP aerosols over the western North Pacific: impact of long-range transport of pollutants and their mixing states

In order to assess the seasonal and annual variability of long-range transported anthropogenic pollutants from East Asia and their effect on the hygroscopicity and precipitation process over the western North Pacific, we conducted long-term calculations of bulk hygroscopicity, g(90%)ZSR, based on the ZSR model using chemical composition data from 2001-2012 at Chichijima Island. We found that sea-salts (Na(+) and Cl(-)) are the major mass fraction (65%) of the total water-soluble matter followed by SO4(2-) (20%) and WSOM (6%). The seasonal variation of g(90%)ZSR was high in summer to autumn and low in winter to spring months, probably due to the influence of the long-range transport of anthropogenic SO4(2-), dust, and organics from East Asia and their interaction with sea-salts through heterogeneous reactions. On the other hand, annual variations of g(90%)ZSR showed a decrease from 2001 to 2006 and then an increase from 2007 to 2012. Interestingly, the annual variations in SO4(2-) mass fractions showed an increase from 2001 to 2006 and then a decrease from 2007 to 2012, demonstrating that SO4(2-) seriously suppresses the hygroscopic growth of sea-salt particles over the western North Pacific. This is further supported by the strong negative correlation between SO4(2-) and g(90%)ZSR. Based on the MODIS satellite data, the present study demonstrates that long-range transported anthropogenic pollutants from East Asia to the North Pacific can act as efficient cloud condensation nuclei but significantly suppress the precipitation by reducing the size of cloud droplets over the western North Pacific.