Fast in-situ measurements of glyoxal (CHOCHO) and nitrous acid (HONO) in northern Chinese plane during CAREBEIJING - NCP2014

The Northern China Plain has experienced visibility degradation and detrimental health impacts due to aerosol and photochemical pollution. To examine these air quality issues, CAREBEIJING-NCP2014 (Care Beijing - Northern China Plain 2014) was held in WangDu, Hebei province, China from 6 June to 15 July 2014. We deployed our newly developed instrument, ACES (Airborne Cavity Enhanced Spectrometer), for high time resolution in-situ measurement of glyoxal (CHOCHO), nitrous acid (HONO) and other trace gases (NO2, H2O) to investigate mechanisms of oxidation processes and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation. The in situ measurements of CHOCHO provide observational constraints on secondary organic aerosol formation and oxidation processes, since this molecule has been proposed to play a crucial role in forming aerosol due to its high water solubility, isomerization, and abundant production from the oxidation of many different volatile organic compounds (VOCs). A box model analysis incorporating secondary glyoxal sources from VOC oxidation and sinks to OH reaction, photolysis and heterogeneous uptake will be used to determine a budget and potential for SOA formation. This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21190052), the Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDB05010500) and the U.S. National Science Foundation Atmospheric (AGS-1405805).