On using an aerosol thermodynamic model to calculate aerosol acidity of coarse particles

Abstract

Thermodynamic modeling is still the most widely used method to characterize aerosol acidity, a critical physicochemical property of atmospheric aerosols. However, it remains unclear whether gas-aerosol partitioning should be incorporated when thermodynamic models are employed to estimate the acidity of coarse particles. In this work, field measurements were conducted at a coastal city in northern China across three seasons, and covered wide ranges of temperature, relative humidity and NH3 concentrations. We examined the performance of different modes of ISORROPIA-II (a widely used aerosol thermodynamic model) in estimating aerosol acidity of coarse and fine particles. The M0 mode, which incorporates gas-phase data and runs the model in the forward mode, provided reasonable estimation of aerosol acidity for coarse and fine particles. Compared to M0, the M1 mode, which runs the model in the forward mode but does not include gas-phase data, may capture the general trend of aerosol acidity but underestimates pH for both coarse and fine particles; M2, which runs the model in the reverse mode, results in large errors in estimated aerosol pH for both coarse and fine particles and should not be used for aerosol acidity calculations. However, M1 significantly underestimates liquid water contents for both fine and coarse particles, while M2 provides reliable estimation of liquid water contents. In summary, our work highlights the importance of incorporating gas-aerosol partitioning when estimating coarse particle acidity, and thus may help improve our understanding of acidity of coarse particles.