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Elemental composition of organic aerosol: The gap between ambient and laboratory measurements
Author(s) -
Chen Qi,
Heald Colette L.,
Jimenez Jose L.,
Canagaratna Manjula R.,
Zhang Qi,
He LingYan,
Huang XiaoFeng,
CampuzanoJost Pedro,
Palm Brett B.,
Poulain Laurent,
Kuwata Mikinori,
Martin Scot T.,
Abbatt Jonathan P. D.,
Lee Alex K.Y.,
Liggio John
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2015gl063693
Subject(s) - aerosol , carbon fibers , environmental science , total organic carbon , environmental chemistry , atmospheric sciences , chemistry , meteorology , materials science , geology , physics , composite number , composite material
A large data set including surface, aircraft, and laboratory observations of the atomic oxygen‐to‐carbon (O:C) and hydrogen‐to‐carbon (H:C) ratios of organic aerosol (OA) is synthesized and corrected using a recently reported method. The whole data set indicates a wide range of OA oxidation and a trajectory in the Van Krevelen diagram, characterized by a slope of −0.6, with variation across campaigns. We show that laboratory OA including both source and aged types explains some of the key differences in OA observed across different environments. However, the laboratory data typically fall below the mean line defined by ambient observations, and little laboratory data extend to the highest O:C ratios commonly observed in remote conditions. OA having both high O:C and high H:C are required to bridge the gaps. Aqueous‐phase oxidation may produce such OA, but experiments under realistic ambient conditions are needed to constrain the relative importance of this pathway.