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

这项研究是名为SOAS(南方氧化剂和气溶胶研究)的广泛社区实验的组成部分，旨在进一步调查美国东南部大气环境背景下植物排放的光氧化(生物挥发性有机化合物；BVOCs)。整个项目将在计划于2013年夏天在阿拉巴马州进行的合作野外实验期间，研究主要生物成因烯烃及其氧化产物的光化学。该地点被选为来自植被的大量BVOCs与人为(污染)化合物混合并相互作用的区域，协同导致二次有机气溶胶(SOA)的产生。关于SOA，以及人为和生物化合物在农村大气中形成过程中如何相互作用，仍然存在许多问题。例如，一个主要的焦点是确定人为排放是促进还是抑制生物来源的SOA的形成，以及这两种途径发生的程度。这些研究人员开发的一系列先进的质谱学和流动反应器技术是解决这些问题的强大工具。SOA可能会危害大部分亚微米级的气溶胶，因此可能在气候强迫、大气能见度、酸沉降以及对人类健康的影响中发挥重要但鲜为人知的作用。

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.