Abstract
The impact of relative humidity (RH) on organic new particle formation (NPF) from ozonolysis of monoterpenes remains an area of active debate. Previous reports provide contradictory results indicating both depression and enhancement of NPF under conditions of moderate RH, while others do not indicate a potential impact. Only several reports have suggested that the effect may depend on absolute mixing ratio of the precursor volatile organic compound (VOC, ppbv). Herein we report on the impact of RH on NPF from dark ozonolysis of α- and β-pinene at mixing ratios ranging from 0.2 to 80 ppbv. We show that RH enhances NPF (by a factor of eight) at the lowest α-pinene mixing ratio, with a very strong dependence on α-pinene mixing ratio from 4 to 22 ppbv. At higher mixing ratios, the effect of RH plateaus, with resulting modest decreases in NPF. In the case of α- and β-pinene, NPF is enhanced at low mixing ratios due to a combination of chemistry, accelerated kinetics, and reduced partitioning of semi-volatile oxidation products to the particulate phase. Reduced partitioning would limit particle growth, permitting increased gas-phase concentrations of semi- and low-volatility products, which could favor NPF.
Funder
National Science Foundation
Subject
Atmospheric Science,Environmental Science (miscellaneous)
Cited by
1 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献