| 1. |
- Emanuelsson, Eva U., et al.
(författare)
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Parameterization of Thermal Properties of Aging Secondary Organic Aerosol Produced by Photo-Oxidation of Selected Terpene Mixtures
- 2014
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Ingår i: Environmental Science and Technology. - : American Chemical Society (ACS). - 0013-936X .- 1520-5851. ; 48:11, s. 6168-6176
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Formation and evolution of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) from biogenic VOCs influences the Earth's radiative balance. We have examined the photo-oxidation and aging of boreal terpene mixtures in the SAPHIR simulation chamber. Changes in thermal properties and chemical composition, deduced from mass spectrometric measurements, were providing information on the aging of biogenic SOA produced under ambient solar conditions. Effects of precursor mixture, concentration, and photochemical oxidation levels (OH exposure) were evaluated. OH exposure was found to be the major driver in the long term photochemical transformations, i.e., reaction times of several hours up to days, of SOA and its thermal properties, whereas the initial concentrations and terpenoid mixtures had only minor influence. The volatility distributions were parametrized using a sigmoidal function to determine T-VFR0.5 (the temperature yielding a 50% particle volume fraction remaining) and the steepness of the volatility distribution. T-VFR0.5 increased by 0.3 +/- 0.1% (ca. 1 K), while the steepness increased by 0.9 +/- 0.3% per hour of 1 x 10(6) cm(-3) OH exposure. Thus, aging reduces volatility and increases homogeneity of the vapor pressure distribution, presumably because highly volatile fractions become increasingly susceptible to gas phase oxidation, while less volatile fractions are less reactive with gas phase OH.
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| 2. |
- Grundström, Maria, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Influence of atmospheric circulation patterns on urban air quality during the winter
- 2015
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Pollution Research. - 1309-1042. ; 6:2, s. 278-285
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Relationships between urban nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and atmospheric circulation at two spatial scales were studied for Southern Sweden. Lamb Weather Types (LWT) describe the circulation (scale: thousands of kilometers) including non–directional (cyclonic and anticyclonic) and directional types depending on the wind direction. LWTs with low wind speeds (anticyclonic, NW and N) were associated with strongly elevated [NO2], between 46–52% of the daily averages of NO2 exceeded the 60 μg m–3 air quality standard (AQS) when occurring during these LWTs. The lowest fractions of exceedances of NO2 AQS were generally observed for LWTs E, S, SW and W. A larger scale circulation (several thousands of kilometers) was represented by the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) affecting meteorology over middle and high latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere. While a negative NAO index (NAOI) favors stagnant high pressure weather over Northern Europe, a positive NAOI is often associated with windy conditions. High [NO2] was found to be frequent under negative NAOI. Additionally, larger fractions of exceedances of NO2 AQS were observed for the majority of LWTs occurring at negative NAOI. It’s concluded that both LWTs and NAOI had partly independent effects on the urban air quality in a North European city. These circulation indices can be useful tools for air pollution risk assessment and forecasting.
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| 3. |
- Grundström, Maria, 1979, et al.
(författare)
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Variation and co-variation of PM10, particle number concentration, NOx and NO2 in the urban air - Relationships with wind speed, vertical temperature gradient and weather type
- 2015
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Ingår i: Atmospheric Environment. - : Elsevier Ltd. - 1352-2310. ; 120, s. 317-327
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Atmospheric ultrafine particles (UFP; diameter < 0.1 μm) represent a growing global health concern in urban environments and has a strong link to traffic related emissions. UFP is usually the dominating fraction of atmospheric particle number concentrations (PNC) despite being a minor part of total particle mass. The aim of this study was to empirically investigate the relationship between PNC and other air pollutants (NOX, NO2 and PM10) in the urban environment and their dependence on meteorology and weather type, using the Lamb Weather Type (LWT) classification scheme. The study was carried out in Gothenburg, Sweden, at an urban background site during April 2007-May 2008. It was found that daily average [PNC] correlated very well with [NOx] (R2 = 0.73) during inversion days, to a lesser extent with [NO2] (R2 = 0.58) and poorly with [PM10] (R2 = 0.07). Both PNC and NOx had similar response patterns to wind speed and to the strength of temperature inversions. PNC displayed two regimes, one strongly correlated to NOx and a second poorly correlated to NOx which was characterised by high wind speed. For concentration averages based on LWTs, the PNC-[NOx] relationship remained strong (R2 = 0.70) where the windy LWT W deviated noticeably. Exclusion of observations with wind speed >5 ms-1 or ΔT < 0 °C from LWTs produced more uniform and stronger relationships (R2 = 0.90; R2 = 0.93). Low wind speeds and positive vertical temperature gradients were most common during LWTs A, NW, N and NE. These weather types were also associated with the highest daily means of NOx (~30 ppb) and PNC (~10 000 # cm-3). A conclusion from this study is that NOx (but not PM10) is a good proxy for PNC especially during calm and stable conditions and that LWTs A, NW, N and NE are high risk weather types for elevated NOx and PNC. © 2015.
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| 4. |
- Hallquist, Mattias, 1969, et al.
(författare)
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Photochemical smog in China: scientific challenges and implications for air-quality policies
- 2016
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Ingår i: National Science Review. - : Oxford University Press (OUP). - 2095-5138 .- 2053-714X. ; 3:4, s. 401-403
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In large areas of China severe air pollution events pose a significant threat to human health, ecosystems and climate. Current reduction of primary emissions will also affect secondary pollutants such as ozone (O3) and particulate matter (PM), but the magnitude of the effects is uncertain. Major scientific challenges are related to the formation of O3 and secondary particulate matter including Secondary Organic Aerosols (SOA). Large uncertainties also remain regarding the interactions of soot, SOA and O3 under the influence of different SO2, NOX and VOC concentrations. To improve the understanding of these secondary atmospheric interactions in China, scientific areas of central importance for photochemically induced air pollutants have been identified. In addition to the scientific challenges, results from research need to be synthesized across several disciplines and communicated to stakeholders affected by air pollution and to policy makers responsible for developing abatement strategies. Development of these science-policy interactions can benefit from experience gained under the UN ECE Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP)
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| 5. |
- Prakash, Jai, et al.
(författare)
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Characterization, sources, and atmospheric transformation of a few key short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) at a rural super-site in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) of India
- 2022
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Ingår i: Environmental Science: Atmospheres. - : Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC). - 2634-3606. ; 2, s. 517-538
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) region of India faces some of the most severe air pollution problems on Earth that threaten human health, food security, ecosystems, environmental sustainability, and the climate. The aim of this study is to identify and characterize the sources of key short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs) - black carbon (BC), brown carbon (BrC), and ozone (O3) - as well as other pollutants [carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides NOX = NO and NO2], and interlinked atmospheric processes of their formation and transformation at our long-term air pollution monitoring station in a remote rural IGP site, the Indo-Gangetic Plains Centre for Air Research and Education (IGP-CARE). Because of its location, measurements acquired at IGP-CARE provide otherwise new information on the key SLCPs in the IGP region at a remote and rural location. The year-long measurement data at this remote site provided new insights into the variability of SLCP concentration and interlinked atmospheric processes that affect air quality in the rural IGP region. Thirteen episodic events (E1-E13) of elevated BC and BrC concentrations were identified, which can largely be attributed to the local biomass burning activities in the neighboring rural communities. It is suggested that high concentrations of BrC were mostly primary in nature and thought to be co-emitted with BC from biomass burning. Also, secondary pollutant tropospheric O3 showed elevated concentration. O3 peaks were mostly attributed to local ozone formation. Nevertheless, on several occasions, O3 emission was also attributed to regional urban areas. This study's most important finding is that BrC concentrations were relatively high throughout the year with very pronounced diurnal variation with distinct morning and evening peaks in general and a minimum at around noon time; this is hypothesized to be associated with daytime photochemical processes. Analyses using a conditional bivariate probability function (CBPF) and potential source contribution function (PSCF) suggest that regional sources likely affected the local concentrations of SLCPs. These results partly explain the high concentrations and spatial distributions of SLCPs at the local and regional scales at the IGP-CARE site in winter and autumn. In contrast, in the summer and monsoon seasons, strong convection likely favored the dilution of pollutants.
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