Parameterized Yields of Semivolatile Products from Isoprene Oxidation under Different NO x Levels: Impacts of Chemical Aging and Wall-Loss of Reactive Gases.

Abstract

We developed a parametrizable box model to empirically derive the yields of semivolatile products from VOC oxidation using chamber measurements, while explicitly accounting for the multigenerational chemical aging processes (such as the gas-phase fragmentation and functionalization and aerosol-phase oligomerization and photolysis) under different NO x levels and the loss of particles and gases to chamber walls. Using the oxidation of isoprene as an example, we showed that the assumptions regarding the NO x-sensitive, multigenerational aging processes of VOC oxidation products have large impacts on the parametrized product yields and SOA formation. We derived sets of semivolatile product yields from isoprene oxidation under different NO x levels. However, we stress that these product yields must be used in conjunction with the corresponding multigenerational aging schemes in chemical transport models. As more mechanistic insights regarding SOA formation from VOC oxidation emerge, our box model can be expanded to include more explicit chemical aging processes and help ultimately bridge the gap between the process-based understanding of SOA formation from VOC oxidation and the bulk-yield parametrizations used in chemical transport models.