Characterization of Black Carbon-Containing Aerosol Particles via Soot Particle Aerosol Mass Spectrometry (SP-AMS)

We present measurements of the size-resolved chemical composition of refractory black carbon (rBC) and associated coating species via an ARI soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SP AMS). Mass spectral features, size distributions and results from positive matrix factorization (PMF) analyses are presented from several field deployments, spanning a wide array of different rBC sources such traffic-related particulate, biomass burning, urban aerosols with varying degree of aging. For near-roadway conditions, the average size distribution of the traffic related PM is dominated by a rBC mode at ~100 nm in vacuum aerodynamic diameter, Dva (rBC mass fraction ~ 50%) and rBC is mostly associated with hydrocarbon like organic aerosol (HOA). Urban aerosols have a more variable rBC size distributions with Dva varying from ~100 nm (fresh rBC emissions) to ~450 nm (typical of more processed rBC-containing air masses). The coating composition is also observed to vary with aerosol age. For instance, in the air masses sampled offshore the Los Angeles basin during the CalNex 2010 campaign, the relative abundance of OOA (oxygenated organic aerosol) relative to HOA coating increased with the degree of oxygenation of the aerosol. In California, nitrate represented a non-negligible fraction of coating material on rBC particles. Finally, we discuss the properties of biomass burning and long range transport air masses sampled during the 2012 ClearfLo campaign that took place at a rural site southeast of London. All the data presented here are combined with results from the chemical composition information and PMF analyses obtained from co-located HR-ToF aerosol mass spectrometers.