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Correlation of secondary organic aerosol with odd oxygen in Mexico City
Author(s) -
Herndon Scott C.,
Onasch Timothy B.,
Wood Ezra C.,
Kroll Jesse H.,
Canagaratna Manjula R.,
Jayne John T.,
Zavala Miguel A.,
Knighton W. Berk,
Mazzoleni Claudio,
Dubey Manvendra K.,
Ulbrich Ingrid M.,
Jimenez Jose L.,
Seila Robert,
de Gouw Joost A.,
de Foy Benjamin,
Fast Jerome,
Molina Luisa T.,
Kolb Charles E.,
Worsnop Douglas R.
Publication year - 2008
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 - 10.1029/2008gl034058
Subject(s) - aerosol , metropolitan area , plume , ozone , oxygen , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , environmental chemistry , gas phase , chemistry , meteorology , physics , geography , organic chemistry , archaeology
Photochemically processed urban emissions were characterized at a mountain top location, free from local sources, within the Mexico City Metropolitan Area. Analysis of the Mexico City emission plume demonstrates a strong correlation between secondary organic aerosol and odd oxygen (O 3 + NO 2 ). The measured oxygenated‐organic aerosol correlates with odd oxygen measurements with an apparent slope of (104–180) μ g m −3 ppmv −1 (STP) and r 2 > 0.9. The dependence of the observed proportionality on the gas‐phase hydrocarbon profile is discussed. The observationally‐based correlation between oxygenated organic aerosol mass and odd oxygen may provide insight into poorly understood secondary organic aerosol production mechanisms by leveraging knowledge of gas‐phase ozone production chemistry. These results suggest that global and regional models may be able to use the observed proportionality to estimate SOA as a co‐product of modeled O 3 production until more complete models of SOA formation become available.