Kinetics and impacting factors of HO2 uptake onto submicron atmospheric aerosols during the 2019 Air QUAlity Study (AQUAS) in Yokohama, Japan

HO2 uptake kinetics onto ambient aerosols play pivotal roles in tropospheric chemistry but are not fully understood. Field measurements of aerosol chemical and physical properties should be linked to molecular-level kinetics; however, given that the HO2 reactivity of ambient aerosols is low, traditional analytical techniques are unable to achieve this goal. We developed an online approach to precisely investigate the lower-limit values of (i) the HO2 reactivities of ambient gases and aerosols and (ii) HO2 uptake coefficients onto ambient aerosols (gamma) during the 2019 Air QUAlity Study (AQUAS) in Yokohama, Japan. We identified the effects of individual chemical components of ambient aerosols on gamma. The results were verified in laboratory studies on individual chemical components: transition metals play a key role in HO2 uptake processes, and chemical components indirectly influence such processes (i.e., by altering aerosol surface properties or providing active sites), with smaller particles tending to yield higher gamma values than larger particles owing to the limitation of gas-phase diffusion being smaller with micrometer particles and the distribution of depleting species such as transition metal ions being mostly distributed in accumulation mode of aerosol. The modeling of gamma utilized transition metal chemistry derived by previous studies, further confirming our conclusion. However, owing to the high NO concentrations in Yokohama, peroxy radical loss onto submicron aerosols has a negligible impact on O-3 production rate and sensitivity regime.

Automated summary

The HO2 uptake kinetics onto ambient aerosols are crucial in tropospheric chemistry, yet not fully understood. Due to the low reactivity of ambient aerosols, traditional analytical techniques are unable to achieve the necessary precision. This study developed an online approach to investigate the lower-limit values of HO2 reactivities and HO2 uptake coefficients onto ambient aerosols, revealing the key role of transition metals in these processes.