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Novel Application of Machine Learning Techniques for Rapid Source Apportionment of Aerosol Mass Spectrometer Datasets

Journal Article · · ACS Earth and Space Chemistry
 [1];  [1];  [1];  [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [4];  [6];  [1];  [1];  [7];  [1]
  1. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
  3. Peking Univ., Beijing (China)
  4. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA (United States)
  5. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
  6. City Univ. of Hong Kong, Kowloon (Hong Kong)
  7. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)

In this work, we apply machine learning approaches sparse multinomial logistic regression to classify aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) unit mass resolution (UMR) data followed by an ensemble regression technique for source apportionment of organic aerosols (OA). The classifier was trained on 60 well characterized laboratory and positive matrix factorization (PMF) deconvolved reference spectra to identify eight OA types. These include four laboratory-derived secondary organic aerosol (SOA) spectra, which include isoprene photooxidation SOA, isoprene epoxydiols (IEPOX) SOA, a monoterpene SOA type that includes a-pinene and ß-pinene SOA, and aromatic SOA from oxidation of naphthalene and m-xylene precursors, as well as PMF deconvolved spectra for three primary organic aerosol (POA) types, namely, hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA), biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA), and cooking OA (COA), and a more oxidized oxygenated OA type (MO-OOA). A 5-fold cross-validation strategy, repeated 10 times, was used to assess the classifier’s performance. The classifier had high classification accuracy for COA, aromatic SOA, and isoprene SOA spectra but incorrectly classified ~9% by number of MO-OOA spectra as BBOA, 12% of BBOA spectra as HOA (and vice versa), and 18% of IEPOX-SOA spectra as aromatic SOA. Next, an ensemble regression model was trained on an artificially generated dataset consisting of mixtures of different OA types to assess its ability to predict fractional mass abundances from classification probabilities of various OA species obtained from the multinomial logistic regression classifier trained on the reference spectra. Ultimately, the proposed approach was applied for source apportionment of aircraft-based AMS measurements of OA UMR spectra during the HI-SCALE field campaign. On two representative days (May 6th and 18th, 2016), the algorithm determined that ~50-60% of OA by mass was MO-OOA, which represented a highly aged organic aerosol mixture from different sources. On both days, BBOA was determined to contribute less than 10% to OA by mass. However, on May 18th, the aromatic SOA fraction was higher compared to that on May 6th. The proposed approach is capable of rapidly analyzing AMS data in real time, making it suitable for applications where rapid source apportionment of AMS OA spectra is desirable.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program; USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); National Institutes of Health; National Science Foundation (NSF); Atmospheric and Geospace Sciences (AGS); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES). Scientific User Facilities Division
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1876702
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-167120
Journal Information:
ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, Journal Name: ACS Earth and Space Chemistry Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 6; ISSN 2472-3452
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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