In situ measurements of heterogeneous reactions on ambient aerosol particles: Impacts on atmospheric chemistry and climate
Aerosol particles play a critical role in Earth’s energy budget through the absorption and scattering of radiation, and/or through their ability to form clouds and alter cloud lifetime. Heterogeneous and multi-phase reactions alter the climate-relevant properties of aerosol particles and catalyze reaction pathways that are energetically unfavorable in the gas phase. The chemical composition of aerosol particles dictates the kinetics of heterogeneous and multi-phase reactions. To date, the vast majority of molecular level information on heterogenous and multiphase reactions has been determined in laboratory investigations on model aerosol systems. In this project, we developed new techniques to study the reactivity of complex, ambient aerosol particles to determine: 1) how representative laboratory investigations of heterogeneous and multi-phase processes conducted on model, simple systems are of the real atmosphere, and 2) the impact of heterogeneous and multi-phase processes on ambient particle optical properties and their ability to nucleate clouds. Two highlights of this work include: 1) determination of the impact of aerosol chemical mixing state on the rate of N2O5 heterogeneous reaction kinetics, and 2) direct measurement of particle absorption enhancements following the reactive uptake of ammonia (NH3) to ambient aerosol. Both of these studies provide new constraints for laboratory investigations and model studies. This proposal supported the Ph.D. studies of two students and one post-doctoral fellow.
- Research Organization:
- Univ. of Wisconsin, Madison, WI (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0013623
- OSTI ID:
- 1475025
- Report Number(s):
- DOE-UW-13623-1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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