Authors
Rainer Volkamer, Jose L Jimenez, Federico San Martini, Katja Dzepina, Qi Zhang, Dara Salcedo, Luisa T Molina, Douglas R Worsnop, Mario J Molina
Publication date
2006/9
Journal
Geophysical Research Letters
Volume
33
Issue
17
Description
The atmospheric chemistry of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in urban areas results in the formation of ‘photochemical smog’, including secondary organic aerosol (SOA). State‐of‐the‐art SOA models parameterize the results of simulation chamber experiments that bracket the conditions found in the polluted urban atmosphere. Here we show that in the real urban atmosphere reactive anthropogenic VOCs (AVOCs) produce much larger amounts of SOA than these models predict, even shortly after sunrise. Contrary to current belief, a significant fraction of the excess SOA is formed from first‐generation AVOC oxidation products. Global models deem AVOCs a very minor contributor to SOA compared to biogenic VOCs (BVOCs). If our results are extrapolated to other urban areas, AVOCs could be responsible for additional 3–25 Tg yr−1 SOA production globally, and cause up to −0.1 W m−2 additional top‐of‐the …
Total citations
Scholar articles
Secondary organic aerosol formation from anthropogenic air pollution: Rapid and higher than expected
R Volkamer, JL Jimenez, F San Martini, K Dzepina… - Geophysical Research Letters, 2006