Abstract
Abstract. Chemical effects on the size-resolved hygroscopicity of urban aerosols were examined based on the Korea–US Air Quality Study (KORUS-AQ, 2020) field campaign data. The information on size-resolved hygroscopicity and the chemical composition of aerosols were obtained by a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) and a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS), respectively. Good correspondence was shown between measured and estimated κ values calculated from the combination of bulk chemical composition data and oxidation parameters of organic aerosols (f44 and O∕C). These results imply that chemical composition is closely associated with aerosol hygroscopicity. However, the correlation between measured and estimated κ values degraded as particle size decreased, implying that size-resolved chemical composition data are required for more detailed hygroscopicity analysis. In addition to size-resolved chemical data, the m∕z tracer method was applied for size-resolved organic factors. Specifically, m∕z 57 and 44 were used as AMS spectral markers for hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA) and oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA), respectively. These size-resolved chemical composition data were found to be critical in explaining size-dependent hygroscopicity, as well as the diurnal variation in κ for small particles, i.e., low κ in the morning and high κ in the afternoon. Additionally, aerosol mixing state information was associated with the size-resolved chemical composition data. That is to say that the relationship between the number fraction of each hygroscopicity mode and the volume fraction of different chemical composition was investigated. For example, the HOA volume fraction comprised about 60 % of the variation in less hygroscopic (LH) mode number fractions for externally mixed aerosols.
Highlights
Aerosol hygroscopicity, an ability of aerosols to absorb water vapor, describes an interaction between water vapor and particles under subsaturated and supersaturated conditions and determines the critical supersaturation for cloud droplet activation (McFiggans et al, 2006; Swietlicki et al, 2008)
This study investigated the chemical effects on size-resolved hygroscopicity of urban aerosols based on the KORUS-AQ field campaign data
Among three organic factors (HOA, SV-oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA), and LV-OOA) analyzed by positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis, OOA accounted for 66.4 %
Summary
An ability of aerosols to absorb water vapor, describes an interaction between water vapor and particles under subsaturated and supersaturated conditions and determines the critical supersaturation for cloud droplet activation (McFiggans et al, 2006; Swietlicki et al, 2008). In marine environments, including Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, and Arctic oceans, atmospheric particles had a higher GF than in other environments and mostly showed a monomodal pattern of GF distribution (Berg et al, 1998; Maßling et al, 2003; Massling et al, 2007; Swietlicki et al, 2000; Tomlinson et al, 2007; Zhou et al, 2001) In rural sites, both aged and freshly formed particles were observed, and mixing state patterns tended to be different depending on location. According to several previous studies, the oxidation level of organics is the main factor that affects the water uptake ability of the organic fraction in aerosols Despite these efforts, knowledge on aerosol hygroscopicity is still limited and subject to significant uncertainties due to difficulties in the identification and quantification of numerous organic compounds in ambient aerosols and their hygroscopic properties.
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