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Missed Evaporation from Atmospherically Relevant Inorganic Mixtures Confounds Experimental Aerosol Studies

Rissler, Jenny LU ; Preger, Calle LU orcid ; Eriksson, Axel C. LU orcid ; Lin, Jack J. ; Prisle, Nønne L. and Svenningsson, Birgitta LU (2023) In Environmental Science and Technology 57(7). p.2706-2714
Abstract

Sea salt aerosol particles are highly abundant in the atmosphere and play important roles in the global radiative balance. After influence from continental air, they are typically composed of Na+, Cl-, NH4+, and SO42- and organics. Analogous particle systems are often studied in laboratory settings by atomizing and drying particles from a solution. Here, we present evidence that such laboratory studies may be consistently biased in that they neglect losses of solutes to the gas phase. We present experimental evidence from a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer and an aerosol mass spectrometer, further supported by thermodynamic modeling. We show that, at... (More)

Sea salt aerosol particles are highly abundant in the atmosphere and play important roles in the global radiative balance. After influence from continental air, they are typically composed of Na+, Cl-, NH4+, and SO42- and organics. Analogous particle systems are often studied in laboratory settings by atomizing and drying particles from a solution. Here, we present evidence that such laboratory studies may be consistently biased in that they neglect losses of solutes to the gas phase. We present experimental evidence from a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer and an aerosol mass spectrometer, further supported by thermodynamic modeling. We show that, at normally prevailing laboratory aerosol mass concentrations, for mixtures of NaCl and (NH4)2SO4, a significant portion of the Cl- and NH4+ ions are lost to the gas phase, in some cases, leaving mainly Na2SO4 in the dry particles. Not considering losses of solutes to the gas phase during experimental studies will likely result in misinterpretation of the data. One example of such data is that from particle water uptake experiments. This may bias the explanatory models constructed from the data and introduce errors inte predictions made by air quality or climate models.

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author
; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
hygroscopicity, thermodynamics, inorganic aerosol mixtures, sea salt, sea spray
in
Environmental Science and Technology
volume
57
issue
7
pages
9 pages
publisher
The American Chemical Society (ACS)
external identifiers
  • scopus:85148002467
  • pmid:36758144
ISSN
0013-936X
DOI
10.1021/acs.est.2c06545
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
bbf164c5-9a5a-436c-b46b-94aaddfda771
date added to LUP
2023-03-08 14:56:31
date last changed
2024-06-13 13:25:32
@article{bbf164c5-9a5a-436c-b46b-94aaddfda771,
  abstract     = {{<p>Sea salt aerosol particles are highly abundant in the atmosphere and play important roles in the global radiative balance. After influence from continental air, they are typically composed of Na<sup>+</sup>, Cl<sup>-</sup>, NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup>, and SO<sub>4</sub><sup>2-</sup> and organics. Analogous particle systems are often studied in laboratory settings by atomizing and drying particles from a solution. Here, we present evidence that such laboratory studies may be consistently biased in that they neglect losses of solutes to the gas phase. We present experimental evidence from a hygroscopic tandem differential mobility analyzer and an aerosol mass spectrometer, further supported by thermodynamic modeling. We show that, at normally prevailing laboratory aerosol mass concentrations, for mixtures of NaCl and (NH<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>, a significant portion of the Cl<sup>-</sup> and NH<sub>4</sub><sup>+</sup> ions are lost to the gas phase, in some cases, leaving mainly Na<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> in the dry particles. Not considering losses of solutes to the gas phase during experimental studies will likely result in misinterpretation of the data. One example of such data is that from particle water uptake experiments. This may bias the explanatory models constructed from the data and introduce errors inte predictions made by air quality or climate models.</p>}},
  author       = {{Rissler, Jenny and Preger, Calle and Eriksson, Axel C. and Lin, Jack J. and Prisle, Nønne L. and Svenningsson, Birgitta}},
  issn         = {{0013-936X}},
  keywords     = {{hygroscopicity, thermodynamics; inorganic aerosol mixtures; sea salt; sea spray}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{7}},
  pages        = {{2706--2714}},
  publisher    = {{The American Chemical Society (ACS)}},
  series       = {{Environmental Science and Technology}},
  title        = {{Missed Evaporation from Atmospherically Relevant Inorganic Mixtures Confounds Experimental Aerosol Studies}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.2c06545}},
  doi          = {{10.1021/acs.est.2c06545}},
  volume       = {{57}},
  year         = {{2023}},
}