References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

1680-7324

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-8-3761-2008

On the volatility and production mechanisms of newly formed nitrate and water soluble organic aerosol in Mexico City

Hennigan

C. J.

¹ Sullivan

A. P.

² ⁵ Fountoukis

C. I.

³ Nenes

² ³ Hecobian

² Vargas

² Peltier

R. E.

² ⁶ Case Hanks

A. T.

² Huey

L. G.

² Lefer

B. L.

⁴ Russell

A. G.

¹ Weber

R. J.

School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0340, USA

School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0340, USA

School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332-0340, USA

Geosciences Department, University of Houston, Houston, TX, 77204-5007, USA

now at: Colorado State University, Ft. Collins, Colorado, USA

now at: New York University, School of Medicine, USA

16 07 2008

8 14 3761 3768

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.

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Measurements of atmospheric gases and fine particle chemistry were made in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) at a site ~30 km down wind of the city center. Ammonium nitrate (NH4NO3) dominated the inorganic aerosol fraction and showed a distinct diurnal signature characterized by rapid morning production and a rapid mid-day concentration decrease. Between the hours of 08:00–12:45, particulate water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) concentrations increased and decreased in a manner consistent with that of NO3−, and the two were highly correlated (R2=0.88) during this time. A box model was used to analyze these behaviors and showed that, for both NO3− and WSOC, the concentration increase was caused primarily (~75–85%) by secondary formation, with a smaller contribution (~15–25%) from the entrainment of air from the free troposphere. For NO3−, a majority (~60%) of the midday concentration decrease was caused by dilution from boundary layer expansion, though a significant fraction (~40%) of the NO3− loss was due to particle evaporation. The WSOC concentration decrease was due largely to dilution (~75%), but volatilization did have a meaningful impact (~25%) on the decrease, as well. The results provide an estimate of ambient SOA evaporation losses and suggest that a significant fraction (~35%) of the fresh MCMA secondary organic aerosol (SOA) measured at the surface volatilized.

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