Multicomponent new particle formation from sulfuric acid, ammonia, and biogenic vapors.
Katrianne LehtipaloChao YanLubna DadaFederico BianchiMao XiaoRobert WagnerDominik StolzenburgLauri R AhonenAntonio AmorimAndrea BaccariniPaulus S BauerBernhard BaumgartnerAnton BergenAnne-Kathrin BernhammerMartin BreitenlechnerSophia BrilkeAngela BuchholzStephany Buenrostro MazonDexian ChenXuemeng ChenAntónio DiasJosef DommenDanielle C DraperJonathan DuplissyMikael EhnHenning FinkenzellerLukas FischerCarla FregeClaudia FuchsOlga GarmashHamish GordonJani HakalaXu-Cheng HeLiine HeikkinenMartin HeinritziJohanna C HelmVictoria HofbauerChristopher R HoyleTuija JokinenJuha KangasluomaVeli-Matti KerminenChanghyuk KimJasper KirkbyJenni KontkanenAndreas KürtenMichael J LawlerHuajun MaiSerge MathotRoy L MauldinUgo MolteniLeonid NichmanWei NieTuomo NieminenAndrea OjdanicAntti OnnelaMonica PassanantiTuukka PetäjäFelix PielVeronika PospisilovaLauriane L J QuéléverMatti P RissanenClémence RoseNina SarnelaSimon SchallhartSimone SchuchmannKamalika SenguptaMario SimonMikko SipiläChristian TauberAntónio ToméJasmin TröstlOlli VäisänenAlexander L VogelRainer VolkamerAndrea C WagnerMingyi WangLena WeitzDaniela WimmerPenglin YeArttu YlisirniöQiaozhi ZhaKenneth S CarslawJoachim CurtiusNeil M DonahueRichard C FlaganArmin HanselIlona RiipinenAnnele VirtanenPaul M WinklerUrs BaltenspergerMarkku KulmalaDouglas R WorsnopPublished in: Science advances (2018)
A major fraction of atmospheric aerosol particles, which affect both air quality and climate, form from gaseous precursors in the atmosphere. Highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs), formed by oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds, are known to participate in particle formation and growth. However, it is not well understood how they interact with atmospheric pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and sulfur oxides (SO x ) from fossil fuel combustion, as well as ammonia (NH3) from livestock and fertilizers. Here, we show how NO x suppresses particle formation, while HOMs, sulfuric acid, and NH3 have a synergistic enhancing effect on particle formation. We postulate a novel mechanism, involving HOMs, sulfuric acid, and ammonia, which is able to closely reproduce observations of particle formation and growth in daytime boreal forest and similar environments. The findings elucidate the complex interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic vapors in the atmospheric aerosol system.