Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) accounts for a significant fraction of ambient tropospheric aerosol and a detailed knowledge of the formation, properties and transformation of SOA is therefore required to evaluate its impact on atmospheric processes, climate and human health. The chemical and physical processes associated with SOA formation are complex and varied, and, despite considerable progress in recent years, a quantitative and predictive understanding of SOA formation does not exist and therefore represents a major research challenge in atmospheric science. This review begins with an update on the current state of knowledge on the global SOA budget and is followed by an overview of the atmospheric degradation mechanisms for SOA precursors, gas-particle partitioning theory and the analytical techniques used to determine the chemical composition of SOA. A survey of recent laboratory, field and modeling studies is also presented. The following topical and emerging issues are highlighted and discussed in detail: molecular characterization of biogenic SOA constituents, condensed phase reactions and oligomerization, the interaction of atmospheric organic components with sulfuric acid, the chemical and photochemical processing of organics in the atmospheric aqueous phase, aerosol formation from real plant emissions, interaction of atmospheric organic components with water, thermodynamics and mixtures in atmospheric models. Finally, the major challenges ahead in laboratory, field and modeling studies of SOA are discussed and recommendations for future research directions are proposed.

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The formation, properties and impact of secondary organic aerosol: current and emerging issues

The present paper reviews existing knowledge with regard to Organic Aerosol (OA) of importance for global climate modelling and defines critical gaps needed to reduce the involved uncertainties. All pieces required for the representation of OA in a global climate model are sketched out with special attention to Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA): The emission estimates of primary carbonaceous particles and SOA precursor gases are summarized. The up-to-date understanding of the chemical formation and transformation of condensable organic material is outlined. Knowledge on the hygroscopicity of OA and measurements of optical properties of the organic aerosol constituents are summarized. The mechanisms of interactions of OA with clouds and dry and wet removal processes parameterisations in global models are outlined. This information is synthesized to provide a continuous analysis of the flow from the emitted material to the atmosphere up to the point of the climate impact of the produced organic aerosol. The sources of uncertainties at each step of this process are highlighted as areas that require further studies.

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Organic aerosol and global climate modelling: a review

. Progress has been made over the past decade in predicting secondary organic aerosol (SOA) mass in the atmosphere using vapor pressure-driven partitioning, which implies that SOA compounds are formed in the gas phase and then partition to an organic phase (gasSOA). However, discrepancies in predicting organic aerosol oxidation state, size and product (molecular mass) distribution, relative humidity (RH) dependence, color, and vertical profile suggest that additional SOA sources and aging processes may be important. The formation of SOA in cloud and aerosol water (aqSOA) is not considered in these models even though water is an abundant medium for atmospheric chemistry and such chemistry can form dicarboxylic acids and "humic-like substances" (oligomers, high-molecular-weight compounds), i.e. compounds that do not have any gas phase sources but comprise a significant fraction of the total SOA mass. There is direct evidence from field observations and laboratory studies that organic aerosol is formed in cloud and aerosol water, contributing substantial mass to the droplet mode. This review summarizes the current knowledge on aqueous phase organic reactions and combines evidence that points to a significant role of aqSOA formation in the atmosphere. Model studies are discussed that explore the importance of aqSOA formation and suggestions for model improvements are made based on the comprehensive set of laboratory data presented here. A first comparison is made between aqSOA and gasSOA yields and mass predictions for selected conditions. These simulations suggest that aqSOA might contribute almost as much mass as gasSOA to the SOA budget, with highest contributions from biogenic emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) in the presence of anthropogenic pollutants (i.e. NOx) at high relative humidity and cloudiness. Gaps in the current understanding of aqSOA processes are discussed and further studies (laboratory, field, model) are outlined to complement current data sets.

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Secondary organic aerosol formation in cloud droplets and aqueous particles (aqSOA): a review of laboratory, field and model studies

The tropospheric chemistry of sea salt: a molecular-level view of the chemistry of NaCl and NaBr.

Methanol has been recognised as an important constituent of the background atmosphere, but little is known about its overall cycle in the biosphere/atmosphere system A model is proposed for the production and emission to the atmosphere of methanol by flowering plants based on plant structure and metabolic properties, particularly the demethylation of pectin in the primary cell walls This model provides a framework to extend seven sets of measurements of methanol emission rates to the global terrestrial biosphere A global rate of release of methanol from plants to the atmosphere of 100 Tg y−1 is calculated A separate model of the global cycle of methanol is constructed involving emissions from plant growth and decay, atmospheric and oceanic chemical production, biomass burning and industrial production Removal processes occur through hydroxyl radical attack in the atmosphere, in clouds and oceans, and wet and dry deposition The model successfully reproduces the methanol concentrations in the continental boundary-layer and the free atmosphere, including the inter-hemispheric gradient in the free atmosphere The model demonstrates a new concept in global biogeochemistry, the coupling of plant cell growth with the global atmospheric concentration of methanol The model indicates that the ocean provides a storage reservoir capable of holding at least 66 times more methanol than the atmosphere The ocean surface layer reservoir essentially buffers the atmospheric concentration of methanol, providing a physically based smoothing mechanism with a time constant of the order of one year

The Production of Methanol by Flowering Plants and the Global Cycle of Methanol

A Chemical Aqueous Phase Radical Mechanism (CAPRAM) for modelling tropospheric multiphase chemistry is described. CAPRAM contains (1) a detailed treatment of the oxidation of organic compounds with one and two carbon atoms, (2) an explicit description of S(IV)-oxidation by radicals and iron(III), as well as by peroxides and ozone, (3) the reactions of OH, NO 3 ,C l 2 , Br 2 ,a nd CO 3 radicals, as well as reactions of the transition metal ions (TMI) iron, manganese and copper. A modelling study using a simple box model was performed for three different tropospheric conditions (marine, rural and urban) using CAPRAM coupled to the RADM2-mechanism (Stockwell et al., 1990) for liquid and gas phase chemistry, respectively. In the main calculations the droplets are assumed as monodispersed with a radius of 1m and a liquid water content of 0.3 g m 3 .I n the coupled mechanism the phase transfer of 34 substances is treated by the resistance model of Schwartz (1989). Results are presented for the concentration levels of the radicals in both phases under variation of cloud duration and droplet radius. The effects of the multiphase processes are shown in the loss fluxes of the radicals OH, NO 3 and HO2 into the cloud droplets. From calculations under urban conditions considering gas phase chemistry only the OH maximum concentration level is found to be 5:5 10 6 cm 3 . In the presence of the aqueous phase (r D 1 m, LWC D 0: 3g m 3 ) the phase transfer constitutes the most important sink (58%) reducing the OH level to 1:0 10 6 cm 3 . The significance of the phase transfer during night time is more important for the NO3 radical (90%). Its concentration level in the gas phase (1:9 10 9 cm 3 ) is reduced to 1:4 10 6 cm 3 with liquid water present. In the case of the HO2 radical the phase transfer from the gas phase is nearly the only sink (99.8%). The concentration levels calculated in the absence and presence of the liquid phase again differ by three orders of magnitude, 6 10 8 cm 3 and 4:9 10 5 cm 3 , respectively. Effects of smaller duration of cloud occurrence and of droplet size variation are assessed. Furthermore, in the present study a detailed description of a radical oxidation chain for sulfur is presented. The most important reaction chain is the oxidation of (hydrogen) sulphite by OH and the subsequent conversion of SO 3 to SO 5 followed by the interaction with TMI (notably Fe 2C )a nd chloride to produce sulphate. After 36 h of simulation ((H2O2U0 D 1 ppb; (SO2U0 D 10 ppb) the direct oxidation pathway from sulfur(IV) by H2O2 and ozone contributes only to 8% (2:9 10 10 M s 1 ) of the total loss flux of S(IV) (3 :7 10 9 Ms 1 ).

P. Nowacki

Papers

CAPRAM2.3: A chemical aqueous phase radical mechanism for tropospheric chemistry

A chemical aqueous phase radical mechanism for tropospheric chemistry