{"id":1166,"date":"2019-01-30T10:33:43","date_gmt":"2019-01-30T10:33:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/in-abstract\/?p=1166"},"modified":"2019-09-02T11:21:31","modified_gmt":"2019-09-02T10:21:31","slug":"secondary-organic-aerosol-reduced-by-mixture-of-atmospheric-vapours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mub.eps.manchester.ac.uk\/in-abstract\/secondary-organic-aerosol-reduced-by-mixture-of-atmospheric-vapours\/","title":{"rendered":"Secondary organic aerosol reduced by mixture of atmospheric vapours"},"content":{"rendered":"

Less particulate matter made when air pollutants are mixed<\/strong><\/p>\n

Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) particles are extremely small and are made from natural and man-made emissions by interactions of sunlight with VOC from trees, plants, cars or industry. Fine particles damage human health, being the major factor in the annual premature death of around 5.5 million people globally, and their influence is the major uncertainty in manmade effects on radiation balance affecting climate.<\/p>\n

Researchers from the University of Manchester, along with collaborators from J\u00fclich and Gothenburg, showed that highly reactive volatile organic compounds (VOC) present in the atmosphere that form a modest amount of aerosol may not increase, and may decrease, SOA. Biogenic VOC such as highly reactive terpenes emitted from plants are important SOA particle precursors. Isoprene dominates terpene emissions globally but its oxidation generally forms a modest mass of particles.<\/p>\n

Using a simulation chamber, isoprene, carbon monoxide and methane were each shown to suppress particle mass yield from monoterpenes in their mixtures. Each \u2018scavenged\u2019 hydroxyl radicals, preventing monoterpene oxidation, with the resulting peroxy radicals scavenging highly oxygenated low-volatility monoterpene products that would form SOA. Global modelling demonstrated that this could happen effectively in the real atmosphere, showing the need to account for interactions between such molecules, as done for ozone modelling.<\/p>\n

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