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Factors controlling the evaporation of secondary organic aerosol from α‐pinene ozonolysis
Author(s) -
YliJuuti Taina,
Pajunoja Aki,
Tikkanen OlliPekka,
Buchholz Angela,
Faiola Celia,
Väisänen Olli,
Hao Liqing,
Kari Eetu,
Peräkylä Otso,
Garmash Olga,
Shiraiwa Manabu,
Ehn Mikael,
Lehtinen Kari,
Virtanen Annele
Publication year - 2017
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 - 10.1002/2016gl072364
Subject(s) - aerosol , evaporation , ozonolysis , atmosphere (unit) , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , humidity , volatility (finance) , particle (ecology) , relative humidity , diffusion , pinene , meteorology , chemistry , thermodynamics , geology , organic chemistry , physics , financial economics , economics , oceanography
Secondary organic aerosols (SOA) forms a major fraction of organic aerosols in the atmosphere. Knowledge of SOA properties that affect their dynamics in the atmosphere is needed for improving climate models. By combining experimental and modeling techniques, we investigated the factors controlling SOA evaporation under different humidity conditions. Our experiments support the conclusion of particle phase diffusivity limiting the evaporation under dry conditions. Viscosity of particles at dry conditions was estimated to increase several orders of magnitude during evaporation, up to 10 9 Pa s. However, at atmospherically relevant relative humidity and time scales, our results show that diffusion limitations may have a minor effect on evaporation of the studied α‐pinene SOA particles. Based on previous studies and our model simulations, we suggest that, in warm environments dominated by biogenic emissions, the major uncertainty in models describing the SOA particle evaporation is related to the volatility of SOA constituents.