Insights into the chemistry of new particle formation and growth events in Pittsburgh based on aerosol mass spectrometry. Zhang, Q., Stanier, C., O., Canagaratna, M., R., Jayne, J., T., Worsnop, D., R., Pandis, S., N., & Jimenez, J., L. Environ. Sci. Technol., 38:4797-4809, 2004.
abstract   bibtex   
New particle formation and growth events have been observed in several urban areas and are of concern due to their potential negative effects on human health. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the chemistry of ultrafine particles during the growth phase of the frequently observed nucleation events in Pittsburgh (similar to100 events per year) and therefore infer the mechanisms of new particle growth in the urban troposphere. An Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) and two SMPS systems were deployed at the U.S. EPA Pittsburgh Supersite during September 2002. Significant nucleation events were observed in 3 out of the 16 days of this deployment, including one of the 10 strongest nucleation events observed in Pittsburgh over a period of 15 months. These events appear to be representative of the climatology of new particle formation and growth in the Pittsburgh region. Distinctive growth of sulfate, ammonium, organics, and nitrate in the ultrafine mode(33-60nm in a vacuum aerodynamic diameter or similar to18-33 nm in physical diameter) was observed during each of these three events, with sulfate always being the first (and the fastest) species to increase. Ultrafine ammonium usually increased 10-40 min later than sulfate, causing the ultrafine mode particles to be more acidic during the initial stages of the nucleation events. Significant increase of ultrafine organics often happened after 11:00 a.m., when photochemistry is more intense. This observation coupled with a parallel increase of ultrafine m/z 44, a mass fragment generally representative of oxygenated organic compounds, indicates that secondary organic species contribute significantly to the growth of particles at a relatively later time of the event. Among all these four species, nitrate was always a minor component of the ultrafine particles and contributed the least to the new particle growth. C1 Univ Colorado, Cooperat Inst Res Environm Sci, Boulder, CO 80309 USA. Univ Colorado, Dept Chem & Biochem, Boulder, CO 80309 USA. Carnegie Mellon Univ, Dept Chem Engn, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA. Aerodyne Res Inc, Billerica, MA 01821 USA.
@article{
 title = {Insights into the chemistry of new particle formation and growth events in Pittsburgh based on aerosol mass spectrometry},
 type = {article},
 year = {2004},
 identifiers = {[object Object]},
 pages = {4797-4809},
 volume = {38},
 id = {664f84b1-be71-3b2c-a68b-341ed754d5c9},
 created = {2014-10-08T16:28:18.000Z},
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 profile_id = {363623ef-1990-38f1-b354-f5cdaa6548b2},
 group_id = {02267cec-5558-3876-9cfc-78d056bad5b9},
 last_modified = {2017-03-14T17:32:24.802Z},
 read = {false},
 starred = {false},
 authored = {false},
 confirmed = {true},
 hidden = {false},
 citation_key = {Zhang:EST:2004a},
 source_type = {article},
 private_publication = {false},
 abstract = {New particle formation and growth events have been
observed in several urban areas and are of concern due to their
potential negative effects on human health. The main purpose of
this study was to investigate the chemistry of ultrafine particles
during the growth phase of the frequently observed nucleation
events in Pittsburgh (similar to100 events per year) and therefore
infer the mechanisms of new particle growth in the urban
troposphere. An Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) and two
SMPS systems were deployed at the U.S. EPA Pittsburgh Supersite
during September 2002. Significant nucleation events were observed
in 3 out of the 16 days of this deployment, including one of the 10
strongest nucleation events observed in Pittsburgh over a period of
15 months. These events appear to be representative of the
climatology of new particle formation and growth in the Pittsburgh
region. Distinctive growth of sulfate, ammonium, organics, and
nitrate in the ultrafine mode(33-60nm in a vacuum aerodynamic
diameter or similar to18-33 nm in physical diameter) was observed
during each of these three events, with sulfate always being the
first (and the fastest) species to increase. Ultrafine ammonium
usually increased 10-40 min later than sulfate, causing the
ultrafine mode particles to be more acidic during the initial
stages of the nucleation events. Significant increase of ultrafine
organics often happened after 11:00 a.m., when photochemistry is
more intense. This observation coupled with a parallel increase of
ultrafine m/z 44, a mass fragment generally representative of
oxygenated organic compounds, indicates that secondary organic
species contribute significantly to the growth of particles at a
relatively later time of the event. Among all these four species,
nitrate was always a minor component of the ultrafine particles and
contributed the least to the new particle growth. C1 Univ Colorado,
Cooperat Inst Res Environm Sci, Boulder, CO 80309 USA. Univ
Colorado, Dept Chem & Biochem, Boulder, CO 80309 USA. Carnegie
Mellon Univ, Dept Chem Engn, Pittsburgh, PA 15213 USA. Aerodyne Res
Inc, Billerica, MA 01821 USA.
},
 bibtype = {article},
 author = {Zhang, Q and Stanier, C O and Canagaratna, M R and Jayne, J T and Worsnop, D R and Pandis, S N and Jimenez, J L},
 journal = {Environ. Sci. Technol.}
}

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