Source Attribution of Submicron Organic Aerosols during Wintertime Inversions by Advanced Factor Analysis of Aerosol Mass Spectra

Abstract

Real-time measurements of submicrometer aerosol were performed using an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) during three weeks at an urban background site in Zurich (Switzerland) in January 2006. A hybrid receptor model which incorporates a priori known source composition was applied to the AMS highly time-resolved organic aerosol mass spectra. Three sources and components of submicrometer organic aerosols were identified: the major component was oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA), mostly representing secondary organic aerosol and accounting on average for 52-57% of the particulate organic mass. Radiocarbon (14C) measurements of organic carbon (OC) indicated that approximately 31 and approximately 69% of OOA originated from fossil and nonfossil sources, respectively. OOA estimates were strongly correlated with measured particulate ammonium. Particles from wood combustion (35-40%) and 3-13% traffic-related hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA) accounted for the other half of measured organic matter (OM). Emission ratios of modeled HOA to measured nitrogen oxides (NOx) and OM from wood burning to levoglucosan from filter analyses were found to be consistent with literature values.

General overview: European Integrated project on Aerosol Cloud Climate and Air Quality interactions (EUCAARI) – integrating aerosol research from nano to global scales

“…Aerosols from the urban area of Zürich presented a much higher PAH content, and BaPE concentrations sometimes exceeding the mandatory limit. Besides traffic, residential wood burning was found to be another dominant emission source contributing to the atmospheric aerosol at the Swiss urban location, confirming the results obtained by AMS for Zurich and in general in Central Europe during winter (Lanz et al, 2008.…”

The Multi-Wavelength Absorption Analyzer (MWAA) Model as a Tool for Source and Component Apportionment Based on Aerosol Absorption Properties: Application to Samples Collected in Different Environments

“…Also, in this case, this ratio is higher than what reported for primary wood burning emissions (EC WB /OC WB = 0.16 ± 0.05 was reported in [62], i.e., OC WB /EC WB = 6.3 ± 2.0). Nevertheless, literature works suggest that secondary contribution from wood burning comparable to the primary one can be expected [66,67]. Thus, the approach seems able to associate at least part of the secondary compounds rapidly formed in atmosphere to specific sources.…”

Dominant contribution of oxygenated organic aerosol to haze particles from real-time observation in Singapore during an Indonesian wildfire event in 2015

“…These ions were associated with levoglucosan and other monosaccharide derivatives produced from thermal decomposition of cellulose during the combustion of wood and peat (Bates et al, 1991;Budisulistiorini et al, 2017a;Iinuma et al, 2007;Simoneit et al, 1999). Hence, levoglucosan can be used as a tracer for identifying the BBOA factor from general biomass burning (e.g., Alfarra et al, 2007;Lanz et al, 2008), and PBOA from 5 peat burning (Budisulistiorini et al, 2017a;Iinuma et al, 2007). A good correlation (R 2 ~0.6; Table S4 and Fig.…”