Collaborative Research: The Effects of Anthropogenic-Biogenic Interactions on Secondary Organic Aerosol Formation

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This research is a component of a broad community experiment named SOAS (Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study) designed to further investigate the photo-oxidation of the emissions (biogenic volatile organic compounds; BVOCs) of plants in the context of the atmospheric environment of the South East United States. The overall project will investigate the photochemistry of the dominant biogenic alkenes and their oxidation products, during a collaborative field experiment planned for summer, 2013 in Alabama. This site was chosen as a region where substantial BVOCs from vegetation mix and interact with anthropogenic (pollution) compounds, synergistically resulting in the production of secondary organic aerosols (SOA). Many questions remain regarding SOA, and how anthropogenic and biogenic compounds interact in its formation in rural atmospheres. For example, a major focus is to determine whether anthropogenic emissions enhance or inhibit biogenic SOA formation, as well as the extent to which either pathway takes place. A range of advanced mass spectrometric and flow reactor techniques developed by these researchers are powerful tools with which to address such questions.SOA may compromise a major fraction of submicron sized aerosols, and thus may play important but poorly understood roles in climate forcing, atmospheric visibility, acid deposition, as well as in human health effects.