Journal
PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Volume 113, Issue 36, Pages 10013-10018Publisher
NATL ACAD SCIENCES
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1602212113
Keywords
particulate matter; air quality; secondary organic aerosol; biomass burning; aqueous processing
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Funding
- Regione Emilia Romagna, the Supersito project [Decreto Regionale 428/10]
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The mechanisms leading to the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) are an important subject of ongoing research for both air quality and climate. Recent laboratory experiments suggest that reactions taking place in the atmospheric liquid phase represent a potentially significant source of SOA mass. Here, we report direct ambient observations of SOA mass formation from processing of biomass-burning emissions in the aqueous phase. Aqueous SOA (aqSOA) formation is observed both in fog water and in wet aerosol. The aqSOA from biomass burning contributes to the brown carbon (BrC) budget and exhibits light absorption wavelength dependence close to the upper bound of the values observed in laboratory experiments for fresh and processed biomass-burning emissions. We estimate that the aqSOA from residential wood combustion can account for up to 0.1-0.5 Tg of organic aerosol (OA) per y in Europe, equivalent to 4-20% of the total OA emissions. Our findings highlight the importance of aqSOA from anthropogenic emissions on air quality and climate.
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