Articles | Volume 16, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-123-2016
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-123-2016
Research article
 | 
15 Jan 2016
Research article |  | 15 Jan 2016

A two-dimensional volatility basis set – Part 3: Prognostic modeling and NOx dependence

W. K. Chuang and N. M. Donahue

Abstract. When NOx is introduced to organic emissions, aerosol production is sometimes, but not always, reduced. Under certain conditions, these interactions will instead increase aerosol concentrations. We expanded the two-dimensional volatility basis set (2D-VBS) to include the effects of NOx on aerosol formation. This includes the formation of organonitrates, where the addition of a nitrate group contributes to a decrease of 2.5 orders of magnitude in volatility. With this refinement, we model outputs from experimental results, such as the atomic N : C ratio, organonitrate mass, and nitrate fragments in Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) measurements. We also discuss the mathematical methods underlying the implementation of the 2D-VBS and provide the complete code in the Supplement. A developer version is available on Bitbucket, an online community repository.

Short summary
NOx is formed under high-temperature conditions such as combustion. When NOx enters the atmosphere, it alters the chemistry of organic emissions and can form organonitrates. Depending on the conditions, NOx may increase or decrease resulting aerosol concentrations. We expanded the two-dimensional volatility basis set (2D-VBS) to model organonitrates and the effect on aerosol concentrations. We discuss the mathematical framework of the model and include the code in the Supplement.
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