Cloud forming potential of oligomers relevant to secondary organic aerosols uri icon

abstract

  • 2014. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. The hygroscopic growth factor (HGF) and cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) activity are measured for surrogates that mimic atmospherically relevant oligomers, including glyoxal trimer dihydrate, methyl glyoxal trimer dihydrate, sucrose, methyl glyoxal mixtures with sulfuric acid and glycolic acid, and 2,4-hexandienal mixtures with sulfuric acid and glycolic acid. For the single-component aerosols, the measured HGF ranges from 1.3 to 1.4 at a relative humidity of 90%, and the hygroscopicity parameter () is in the range of 0.06 to 0.19 on the basis of the measured CCN activity and 0.13 to 0.22 on the basis of the measured HGF, compared to the calculated values of 0.08 to 0.16. Large differences exist in the values derived using the measured HGF and CCN data for the multi-component aerosols. Our results reveal that, in contrast to the oxidation process, oligomerization decreases particle hygroscopicity and CCN activity and provides guidance for analyzing the organic species in ambient aerosols. Key Points First measurements of cloud-forming potential for key polymers/oligomersPolymerization/oligomerization decreases hygroscopicity and CCN activityProvide guidance for analyzing ambient organic aerosols

published proceedings

  • GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS

altmetric score

  • 0.25

author list (cited authors)

  • Xu, W., Guo, S., Gomez-Hernandez, M., Zamora, M. L., Secrest, J., Marrero-Ortiz, W., ... Zhang, R.

citation count

  • 20

complete list of authors

  • Xu, Wen||Guo, Song||Gomez-Hernandez, Mario||Zamora, Misti L||Secrest, Jeremiah||Marrero-Ortiz, Wilmarie||Zhang, Annie L||Collins, Don R||Zhang, Renyi

publication date

  • September 2014