References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

1680-7324

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-7-2517-2007

On the diurnal variability of particle properties related to light absorbing carbon in Mexico City

Baumgardner

¹ Kok

G. L.

² Raga

G. B.

Centro de Ciencias de la Atmósfera, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Mexico

Droplet Measurement Technologies, Boulder, Colorado, USA

14 05 2007

7 10 2517 2526

This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/2517/2007/acp-7-2517-2007.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/7/2517/2007/acp-7-2517-2007.pdf

The mass of light absorbing carbon (LAC) in individual, internally mixed aerosol particles was measured with the Single Particle Soot Photometer (SP2) in April of 2003 and 2005 and evaluated with respect to concentrations of carbon monoxide (CO), particle bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PPAH) and condensation nuclei (CN). The LAC and CO have matching diurnal trends that are linked to traffic patterns and boundary layer growth. The PPAH reaches a maximum at the same time as CO and LAC but returns rapidly back to nighttime values within three hours of the peak. The number of particles containing LAC ranges between 10% to 40% of all particles between 150 nm and 650 nm and the mass is between 5% and 25% of the total mass in this size range. The average LAC equivalent mass diameter varies between 160 and 230 nm and the thinnest coating of non-light absorbing material is observed during periods of maximum LAC mass. The coating varies between 10 nm and 30 nm during the day, but is a strong function of particle size. The mass absorption cross sections, σabs, derived from the SP2, are 5.0±0.2 m2g−1 and 4.8±0.2 m2g−1, dependent on the optical model used to describe LAC mixtures. The LAC contributes up to 50% of the total light extinction in the size range from 100 nm to 400 nm. The estimated emission rate of LAC is 1200 metric tons per year in Mexico City, based upon the SP2 measurements and correlations between LAC and CO.

References 1

Baumgardner, D., Raga, G. B., Kok, G., Ogren, J., Rosas, I., Baez, A., and Novakov, T.: On the evolution of aerosol properties at a mountain site above Mexico city, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 22 243–22 253, 2000.

Baumgardner, D., Raga, G., Peralta, O., Rosas, I., Castro, T., Kuhlbusch, T., John, A., and Petzold, A.: Diagnosing black carbon trends in large urban areas using carbon monoxide measurements, J. Geophys. Res., 107(D21), 8342, doi:10.1029/2001JD000626, 2002.

Baumgardner, D., Kok, G., and Raga, G.: Warming of the Arctic lower stratosphere by light absorbing particles, Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L06117, doi:10.1029/2003GL018883, 2004.

Barnard, J. C., Kassianov, E. I., Ackerman, T. P., Frey, S., Johnson, K., Zuberi, B., Molina, L. T., Molina, M. J., Gaffney, J. S., and Marley, N. A.: Measurements of black carbon specific absorption in the Mexico City metropolitan area during the MCMA 2003 field campaign, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 1645–1655, 2007

Bohren, C. F. and Huffman, D. R.: Absorption and Scattering of Light by Small Particles, John Wiley, Hoboken, N.J., 1983.

Bond, T. C., Anderson, T. L., and Cambell, D.: Calibration and intercomparison of filter-based measurements of visible light absorption by aerosols, Aerosol Sci. Technol., 30, 582–600, 1999.

Bond, T. C. and Bergstrom, R. W.: Light absorption by carbonaceous particles: An investigative review, Aerosol Sci. Technol., 40, 27–67, 2006.

Bond, T. C., Habib, G., and Bergstrom, R. W.: Limitations in the enhancement of visible light absorption due to mixing state, J. Geophys. Res., 111(D20), D20211, doi:10.1029/2006JD007315, 2006.

Charlson, R. J., Scwartz, S. E., Hales, J. M., Cess, R. D., Coakely, J. A., Hanson, J. E., and Hoffmann, D. J.: Climate forcing by anthropogenic aerosols, Science, 255, 423–430, 1992.

Clarke, A. D., Shinozuka, Y., Kapustin, V. N., et al.: Size distributions and mixtures of dust and black carbon aerosol in Asian outflow: Physiochemistry and optical properties, J. Geophys. Res., 109, D15S09, doi:10.1029/2003JD004378, 2004.

Comisión Ambiental Metropolitana: Inventario de Emisiones de la Zona Metropolitana del Valle de México, Secretaría del Medio Ambiente, Gobierno de México, México, 2004.

Dickerson, R., Kondragunta, S., Stenchikov, G., Civerolo, K., and Doddridge, B.: The impact of aerosols on solar UV radiation and photochemical smog. Science, 278, 827–830, 1997.

Fast, J. and Zhong, S.: Meteorological factors associated with inhomogeneous ozone concentrations within the Mexico City basin, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 18 927–18 946, 1998.

Fuller, K. A., Malm, W. C., and Kreidenweis, S. M.: Effects of mixing on extinction by carbonaceous particles, J. Geophy. Res., 104, 15 941–15 954, 1999.

Gao, R. S., Schwarz, J. P., Kelly, K. K., Fahey, D. W., Watts, L. A., Thompson, T. L., Spackman, J. R., Slowik, J. G., Cross, E. S., Han, J.-H., Davidovits, P., Onasch, T. B., and Worsnop, D. R.: A novel method for estimating light-scattering properties of soot aerosols using a modified single-particle soot photometer, Aerosol Sci. Technol., 41, 125–135, 2007.

Ghan, S. J. and Penner, J. E.: Smoke, effects on climate, in: Encyclopedia of Earth System Science, Vol 4, edited by: Nierenberg, W. A., Academic Press, San Diego, CA., 191–198, 1992.

Hobbs, P. V.: Aerosol-Cloud-Climate Interactions, Academic Press, Inc., New York, 480 pp., 1991.

Jacobson, M.: Studying the effects of aerosols on vertical photolysis rate coefficient and temperature profiles over an urban airshed, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 10 593–10 604, 1998.

Jiang, M., Marr, L. C., Dunlea, E. J., Herndon, S. C., Jayne, J. T., Kolb, C. E., Knighton, W. B., Rogers, T. M., Zavala, M., Molina, L. T., and Molina, M.: Vehicle fleet emissions of black carbon, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, and other pollutants measured by a mobile laboratory in Mexico City, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 3377–3387, 2005.

Johnson, K. S., Zuberi, B., Molina, L. T., Molina, M. J., Iedema, M. J., Cowin, J. P., Gaspar, J. D., Wang, C., and Laskin, A.: Processing of soot in an urban environment: case study from the Mexico City Metropolitan Area, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 3033–3043, 2005.

Kondo, Y., Komazaki, Y., Miyazaki, Y., Moteki, N., Takegawa, N., Kodama, D., Deguchi, S., Nogami, M., Fukuda, M., Miyakawa, T., Morino, Y., Koike, M., Sakurai, H., and Ehara, K.: Temporal Variations of Elemental Carbon in Tokyo, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D12205, doi:10.1029/2005JD006257, 2006.

Liousse, C., Cachier, H., and Jennings, S. G.: Optical and thermal measurements of black carbon aerosol content in different environments: variation of the specific attenuation cross section, Atmos. Environ. Part A, 27, 1203–1211, 1993.

Marr, L. C., Dzepina, K., Jimenez, J. L., Reisen, F., Bethel, H. L., Arey, J., Gaffney, J. S., Marley, N. A., Molina, L. T., and Molina, M. J.: Sources and transformations of particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in Mexico City, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 1733–1745, 2006.

Matter, U., Siegmann, H. C., and Burtscher, H.: Dynamic field measurements of submicron particles from diesel engines, Environ. Sci. Technol., 33, 1946–1952, 1999.

Mikhailov, E. F., Vlasenko, S. S., Podgorny, I. A., Ramanathan, V., and Corrigan, C. E.: Optical Properties of Soot-Water Drop Agglomerates: An Experimental Study, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D07209, doi:10.1029/2005JD006389, 2006.

Moteki, N. and Kondo, Y.: Effects of mixing state on black carbon measurement by Laser-Induced Incandescence, Aerosol Sci. Technol., 41, 398–417, 2007.

Novakov, T.: BC in the atmosphere, in: Particulate carbon: Atmospheric Life Cycle, edited by: Wolff, G. T. and Klimisch, R. L., Plenum Press, New York, 19–37, 1982.

Peralta, O., Baumgardner, D., and Raga, G. B.: Spectrothermography of Carbonaceous particles, J. Atmos. Chem., published online, doi:10.1007/s10874-007-9070-1, 2007.

Petzold, A., Kopp, C., and Niessner, R.: The dependence of the specific attenuation cross-section on black carbon mass fraction and particle size, Atmos. Environ., 31, 661–672, 1997.

Pöschl, U.: Aerosol particle analysis: Challenges and progress, Anal. Bioanal. Chem., 375, 30–32, 2002.

PROAIRE:. Programa para mejorar la calidad del aire en el valle de México: 1995–2000, Departamento del Distrito Federal; Gobierno del Estado México; Secretaría de Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca y Secretaria de Salud, 1st ed., pp 244, Mexico, 1999.

Raga, G. B., Kok, G. L., Baumgardner, D., and Rosas, I.: Some aspects of boundary layer evolution in Mexico City, Atmos. Environ., 33, 5013–5021, 1999.

Raga, G. B. and Raga, A.: On the formation of elevated ozone peak in Mexico City, Atmos. Environ., 34, 4097–4102, 2000.

Raga, G. B., Baumgardner, D., Peralta, O., and Saavedra, M. I.: Carbon content of size fractionated particles in Mexico City, European Aerosol Conference, 1–5 September 2003, Madrid, S477–S478, 2003.

Schuster, G. L., Dubovik, O., Holben, B. N., and Clothiaux, E. E.: Inferring black carbon content and specific absorption from AERONET retrievals, J. Geophys. Res.-Atmos., 101, 10–17, doi:10.1029/2004JD004548, 2005.

Schwarz, J. P., Gao, R. S., Fahey, D. W., Thomson, D. S., Watts, L. A., Wilson, J. C., Reeves, J. M., Baumgardner, D. G., Kok, G. L., Chung, S., Schulz, M., Hendricks, J., Lauer, A., Kärcher, B., Slowik, J. G., Rosenlof, K. H., Thompson, T. L., Langford, A. O., Lowenstein, M., and Aikin, K. C.: Single-particle measurements of mid latitude black carbon and light-scattering aerosols from the boundary layer to the lower stratosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D16207, doi:10.1029/2006JD007076, 2006.

Seinfeld, J. H. and Pandis, S. N.: Atmospheric chemistry and physics, John Wiley and Sons, N.Y., 1326 pp, 1998.

Slowik, J. G., Cross, E., Han, J., Davidovits, P., Onasch, T. B., Jayne, J. T., Williams, L. R., Canagaratna, M. R., Worsnop, D. R., Chakrabarty, R. K., Arnott, W. P., Schwarz, J. P., Gao, R. S., Fahey, D. W., and Kok, G. L.: Intercomparison of instruments measuring black carbon content and optical properties of soot particles, Aerosol. Sci. Technol., 41, 295–314, 2007.

Stephens, M., Turner, N., and Sandberg, J.: Particle identification by Laser Induced Incandescence in a solid state laser cavity, Appl. Opt., 42, 3726–3736, 2003.

Twitty, J. T. and Weinman, J. A.: Radiative properties of carbonaceous aerosols, J. Appl. Met., 10, 725–731, 1971.

Volz, F. E.: Infrared refractive index of atmospheric aerosol substances, Appl. Opt., 11, 755–759, 1972.

Whiteman, C. D., Zhong, S., Bian, X., Fast, J. D., and Doran, J. C.: Boundary layer evolution and regional-scale diurnal circulations over the Mexico Basin and Mexican Plateau, J. Geophys. Res., 105, 10 081–10 102, 2000.