Artículos de revistas
A simplified description of the evolution of organic aerosol composition in the atmosphere
Fecha
2010Registro en:
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, v.37, 2010
0094-8276
10.1029/2010GL042737
Autor
HEALD, C. L.
KROLL, J. H.
JIMENEZ, J. L.
DOCHERTY, K. S.
DECARLO, P. F.
AIKEN, A. C.
CHEN, Q.
MARTIN, S. T.
FARMER, D. K.
Artaxo Netto, Paulo Eduardo
Institución
Resumen
Organic aerosol (OA) in the atmosphere consists of a multitude of organic species which are either directly emitted or the products of a variety of chemical reactions. This complexity challenges our ability to explicitly characterize the chemical composition of these particles. We find that the bulk composition of OA from a variety of environments (laboratory and field) occupies a narrow range in the space of a Van Krevelen diagram (H: C versus O:C), characterized by a slope of similar to-1. The data show that atmospheric aging, involving processes such as volatilization, oxidation, mixing of air masses or condensation of further products, is consistent with movement along this line, producing a more oxidized aerosol. This finding has implications for our understanding of the evolution of atmospheric OA and representation of these processes in models. Citation: Heald, C. L., J. H. Kroll, J. L. Jimenez, K. S. Docherty, P. F. DeCarlo, A. C. Aiken, Q. Chen, S. T. Martin, D. K. Farmer, and P. Artaxo (2010), A simplified description of the evolution of organic aerosol composition in the atmosphere, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L08803, doi: 10.1029/2010GL042737.