Final report for "Characterization of Fine Particulate Matter (PM) and secondary PM Precursor Gases in the Mexico City Metropolitan Area"

Abstract

The objectives of this funded project were (a) to further analyze the data collected by our group and collaborators in Mexico City during the MCMA-2003 field campaign, with the goal of further our understanding of aerosol sources and processes; and (b) to deploy several advanced instruments, including the newly developed high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) and thermal-denuder (TD), during the MILAGRO/MAX-Mex/MCMA-2006 field campaign, and to analyze those data (together with the 2003 data) to provide additional insights on the formation and transformation of aerosols in the Mexico City area. These goals were addressed in collaboration with our project partners, MIT/Molina Center, and Aerodyne Research. Overall this project was very successful, resulting on 22+ journal papers including six “highly cited papers” and three papers that are the most cited in their respective journals (out of several thousand papers) since the year in which they were published. Multiple discoveries, such as the the underestimation of SOA in urban areas even for short photochemical ages, the demonstration that urban POA is of similar or higher volatility than urban SOA, and the first analysis of organic aerosol elemental composition in real-time have been recently published. Several dozen presentations at major US and internationalmore » conferences and seminars also acknowledged this grant.« less