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“A significant source of isoprene aerosol controlled by acidity”
Citation:
Pye, H., R. Pinder, I. Piletic, A. Karambelas, Y. Xie, S. Capps, Y. Lin, S. Budisulistiorini, J. Surratt, Z. Zhang, A. Gold, D. Luecken, Bill Hutzell, M. Jaoui, J. Offenberg, Tad Kleindienst, M. Lewandowski, AND E. Edney. “A significant source of isoprene aerosol controlled by acidity”. Presented at Presentation at the Annual CMAS Conference, Chapel Hill, NC, October 28 - 30, 2013.
Impact/Purpose:
The National Exposure Research Laboratory (NERL) Atmospheric Modeling and Analysis Division (AMAD) conducts research in support of EPA mission to protect human health and the environment. AMAD research program is engaged in developing and evaluating predictive atmospheric models on all spatial and temporal scales for forecasting the air quality and for assessing changes in air quality and air pollutant exposures, as affected by changes in ecosystem management and regulatory decisions. AMAD is responsible for providing a sound scientific and technical basis for regulatory policies based on air quality models to improve ambient air quality. The models developed by AMAD are being used by EPA, NOAA, and the air pollution community in understanding and forecasting not only the magnitude of the air pollution problem, but also in developing emission control policies and regulations for air quality improvements.
Description:
“A significant source of isoprene aerosol controlled by acidity” by Pye et al.Abstract: Isoprene is a significant contributor to organic aerosol in the southeastern United States where biogenic hydrocarbons mix with anthropogenic emissions. In this work, CMAQ provides explicit predictions of known isoprene-derived aerosol species (2-methyltetrols, 2-methyglyceric acid, and organosulfates) over the United States for the first time. Isoprene aerosol predictions are directly evaluated against ambient data sets quantifying the concentrations of 2-methyltetrols and 2-methylglyceric acid. The new framework includes a mechanistic dependence of isoprene aerosol on acidity and NOx levels. We demonstrate that these pathways more accurately represent the concentration of isoprene-derived aerosol species and respond differently to changes in SOx and NOx emissions than an Odum 2-product model.