Insights on Sources, Growth, and Phase Partitioning of Atmospheric Particles from Hourly Measurements of Organic Marker Compounds

Atmospheric aerosols have adverse affects on human health and have direct and indirect affects on the global radiation balance. In order to implement particle concentration control strategies, we must first understand particle origins. Atmospheric aerosols have both primary sources such as combustion processes and secondary sources such as photochemically driven gas to particle phase partitioning. By monitoring changes in the molecular composition of the organic fraction of atmospheric aerosols, these various sources can be differentiated. Thermal desorption Aerosol Gas chromatography (TAG) is a new in-situ instrument capable of identifying and quantifying organic aerosol chemical composition with one hour time resolution. TAG is fully automated, offering around the clock measurements to determine diurnal, weekly, and seasonal patterns in organic aerosol composition, hence, determining aerosol sources and transformation processes. We report results from ambient measurements made in Southern California during the summer and fall of 2005 as part of the Study of Organic Aerosol at Riverside (SOAR). We use hourly measurements of over 300 individual organic compounds to define both primary and secondary particle sources. The particle sources defined include primary anthropogenic sources such as vehicle emissions, meat cooking, biomass burning, pesticide use, herbicide use, along with primary biogenic sources such as plant emissions and plant waxes. We also explore secondary particle sources (i.e. SOA) formed as a result of the oxidation of biogenic and anthropogenic precursor gases. Comparisons are made between TAG-defined sources and aerosol sources defined using Aerosol Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (ATOFMS) and Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) data. In addition to source apportionment results, we present seasonal changes in ambient phase partitioning of organic compounds as a function of carbon number for multiple compound classes.