Project Description and Overview: Objectives: Determining the overall impact of atmospheric aerosols on radiative balance requires knowledge of the relative amounts of scattering and absorbing aerosols, their distributions, and their chemical and optical properties. This proposal was a continuation of measurements of aerosol scattering and absorption begun in Mexico City in 2003 in collaboration with MCMA 2003 and continuing in the Atmospheric Science Program field study, Megacity Aerosol Experiment-Mexico City, (MAX-Mex) during March of 2006 aimed at determining the variability of aerosol optical properties. A suite of instrumentation was deployed in MAX-Mex at site TO, located in the northern part of the Mexico City Metropolitan Area, (MCMA), for the characterization of the aerosol optical properties in the field. Measurements were made of the following aerosol properties: (1) aerosol absorption as a function of wavelength, measured at two minute intervals with a 7-wavelength Aethalometer (2) aerosol scattering as a function of wavelength, measured at one minute intervals with a 3-wavelength nephelometer; 3) aerosol scattering as a function of relative humidity (RH), measured at one minute intervals with 2 single-wavelength nephelometers operated under dry (10% RH) and wet (80% RH) conditions; and 4) collection of size-fractionated aerosol samples on quartz fiber filters at 12 hour intervals (day/night) for further laboratory characterization. Aerosol filter samples were also collected at site Tl (located north of MCMA) for comparison with those collected in the city center. Preliminary results from in situ measurements have indicated an enhanced UV absorption in the afternoon over that expected from black carbon (BC) aerosols alone. These results are directly applicable to both modeling of aerosol radiative forcing and satellite optical depth retrieval algorithms. Both of these applications assume that the aerosol absorption is due only to BC with a wavelength dependence of A, " whereas results obtained in MAX-Mex show that the aerosol wavelength exponent varies over Mexico City from-0.7 to-1.5. All of the data collected in the field from the measurement sets 1-3 have been made available to the ASP community via the MILAGRO data site housed at NCAR. The laboratory characterization of aerosol samples collected in the ASP MAX-Mex field study compared results from Mexico City to samples collected at other sites, including Chicago, Little Rock, and Mt. Bachelor, OR. The project focused on obtaining complete spectral characterization of aerosols-especially their absorption characteristics as they relate to basic chemical functional groups. Particular attention was given to organics and from biogenic derived organic compounds. This included determinations of the UV-Visible-NIR characteristics of the aerosol absorption as reported as Angstrom Absorption Exponents. Correlation of these results with IR band observations of carboxylic acid, and carboxylate groups were conducted, along with past correlations with carbon...

Abstract. An Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) was deployed at the CENICA Supersite, during the Mexico City Metropolitan Area field study (MCMA-2003) from 31 March-4 May 2003 to investigate particle concentrations, sources, and processes. The AMS provides real time information on mass concentration and composition of the non-refractory species in particulate matter less than 1 µm (NR-PM1) with high time and size-resolution. In order to account for the refractory material in the aerosol, we also present estimates of Black Carbon (BC) using an aethalometer and an estimate of the aerosol soil component obtained from Proton-Induced X-ray Emission Spectrometry (PIXE) analysis of impactor substrates. Comparisons of AMS + BC + soil mass concentration with other collocated particle instruments (a LASAIR Optical Particle Counter, a PM2.5 Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance (TEOM), and a PM2.5 DustTrak Aerosol Monitor) show that the AMS + BC + soil mass concentration is consistent with the total PM2.5 mass concentration during MCMA-2003 within the combined uncertainties. In Mexico City, the organic fraction of the estimated PM2.5 at CENICA represents, on average, 54.6% (standard deviation σ=10%) of the mass, with the rest consisting of inorganic compounds (mainly ammonium nitrate and sulfate/ammonium salts), BC, and soil. Inorganic compounds represent 27.5% of PM2.5 (σ=10%); BC mass concentration is about 11% (σ=4%); while soil represents about 6.9% (σ=4%). Size distributions are presented for the AMS species; they show an accumulation mode that contains mainly oxygenated organic and secondary inorganic compounds. The organic size distributions also contain a small organic particle mode that is likely indicative of fresh traffic emissions; small particle modes exist for the inorganic species as well. Evidence suggests that the organic and inorganic species are not always internally mixed, especially in the small modes. The aerosol seems to be neutralized most of the time; however, there were some periods when there was not enough ammonium to completely neutralize the nitrate, chloride and sulfate present. The diurnal cycle and size distributions of nitrate suggest local photochemical production. On the other hand, sulfate appears to be produced on a regional scale. There are indications of new particle formation and growth events when concentrations of SO2 were high. Although the sources of chloride are not clear, this species seems to condense as ammonium chloride early in the morning and to evaporate as the temperature increases and RH decreases. The total and speciated mass concentrations and diurnal cycles measured during MCMA-2003 are similar to measurements during a previous field campaign at a nearby location.

Abstract. Data from a recent field campaign in Mexico City are used to evaluate the performance of the EPA Federal Reference Method for monitoring the ambient concentrations of NO 2 . Measurements of NO 2 from standard chemiluminescence monitors equipped with molybdenum oxide converters are compared with those from Tunable Infrared Laser Differential Absorption Spectroscopy (TILDAS) and Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS) instruments. A significant interference in the chemiluminescence measurement is shown to account for up to 50% of ambient NO 2 concentration during afternoon hours. As expected, this interference correlates well with non-NO x reactive nitrogen species (NO z ) as well as with ambient O 3 concentrations, indicating a photochemical source for the interfering species. A combination of ambient gas phase nitric acid and alkyl and multifunctional alkyl nitrates is deduced to be the primary cause of the interference. Observations at four locations at varying proximities to emission sources indicate that the percentage contribution of HNO 3 to the interference decreases with time as the air parcel ages. Alkyl and multifunctional alkyl nitrate concentrations are calculated to reach concenCorrespondence to: E. J. Dunlea (edward.dunlea@colorado.edu) trations as high as several ppb inside the city, on par with the highest values previously observed in other urban locations. Averaged over the MCMA-2003 field campaign, the chemiluminescence monitor interference resulted in an average measured NO 2 concentration up to 22% greater than that from co-located spectroscopic measurements. Thus, this interference has the potential to initiate regulatory action in areas that are close to non-attainment and may mislead atmospheric photochemical models used to assess control strategies for photochemical oxidants.

Abstract. Simulated primary organic aerosols (POA), as well as other particulates and trace gases, in the vicinity of Mexico City are evaluated using measurements collected during the 2006 Megacity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations (MILAGRO) field campaigns. Since the emission inventories, transport, and turbulent mixing will directly affect predictions of total organic matter and consequently total particulate matter, our objective is to assess the uncertainties in predicted POA before testing and evaluating the performance of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) treatments. Carbon monoxide (CO) is well simulated on most days both over the city and downwind, indicating that transport and mixing processes were usually consistent with the meteorological conditions observed during MILAGRO. PreCorrespondence to: J. D. Fast (jerome.fast@pnl.gov) dicted and observed elemental carbon (EC) in the city was similar, but larger errors occurred at remote locations since the overall CO/EC emission ratios in the national emission inventory were lower than in the metropolitan emission inventory. Components of organic aerosols derived from Positive Matrix Factorization of data from several Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer instruments deployed both at ground sites and on research aircraft are used to evaluate the model. Modeled POA was consistently lower than the measured organic matter at the ground sites, which is consistent with the expectation that SOA should be a large fraction of the total organic matter mass. A much better agreement was found when modeled POA was compared with the sum of "primary anthropogenic" and "biomass burning" components derived from Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) on most days, especially at the surface sites, suggesting that the overall magnitude of primary organic particulates released was reasonable. However, simulated POA Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 6192 J. Fast et al.: Evaluating simulated primary anthropogenic and biomass burning organic aerosols from anthropogenic sources was often lower than "primary anthropogenic" components derived from PMF, consistent with two recent reports that these emissions are underestimated. The modeled POA was greater than the total observed organic matter when the aircraft flew directly downwind of large fires, suggesting that biomass burning emission estimates from some large fires may be too high.

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