Light extinction by secondary organic aerosol: an intercomparison of three broadband cavity spectrometers

Typeset version

 

TY  - JOUR
  - Varma, R. M.; Ball, S. M.; Brauers, T.; Dorn, H. P.; Heitmann, U.; Jones, R. L.; Platt, U.; Pöhler, D.; Ruth, A. A.; Shillings, A. J. L.; Thieser, J.; Wahner, A.; Venables, D. S.
  - 2013
  - November
  - Atmospheric Measurement Techniques
  - Light extinction by secondary organic aerosol: an intercomparison of three broadband cavity spectrometers
  - Published
  - WOS: 34 ()
  - aerosol extinction measurement broadband optical cavity CEAS
  - 6
  - 3115
  - 3130
  - Broadband optical cavity spectrometers are maturing as a technology for trace-gas detection, but only recently have they been used to retrieve the extinction coefficient of aerosols. Sensitive broadband extinction measurements allow explicit separation of gas and particle phase spectral contributions, as well as continuous spectral measurements of aerosol extinction in favourable cases. In this work, we report an intercomparison study of the aerosol extinction coefficients measured by three such instruments: a broadband cavity ring-down spectrometer (BBCRDS), a cavity-enhanced differential optical absorption spectrometer (CE-DOAS), and an incoherent broadband cavity-enhanced absorption spectrometer (IBBCEAS). Experiments were carried out in the SAPHIR atmospheric simulation chamber as part of the NO3Comp campaign to compare the measurement capabilities of NO3 and N2O5 instrumentation. Aerosol extinction coefficients between 655 and 690 nm are reported for secondary organic aerosols (SOA) formed by the NO3 oxidation of β-pinene under dry and humid conditions. Despite different measurement approaches and spectral analysis procedures, the three instruments retrieved aerosol extinction coefficients that were in close agreement. The refractive index of SOA formed from the β-pinene + NO3 reaction was 1.61, and was not measurably affected by the chamber humidity or by aging of the aerosol over several hours. This refractive index is significantly larger than SOA refractive indices observed in other studies of OH and ozone-initiated terpene oxidations, and may be caused by the large proportion of organic nitrates in the particle phase. In an experiment involving ammonium sulfate particles, the aerosol extinction coefficients as measured by IBBCEAS were found to be in reasonable agreement with those calculated using the Mie theory. The results of the study demonstrate the potential of broadband cavity spectrometers for determining the optical properties of aerosols.
  - 1867-8548
  - www.atmos-meas-tech.net/6/3115/2013/
  - 10.5194/amt-6-3115-2013
  - Environmental Protection Agency
DA  - 2013/11
ER  - 
@article{V225804362,
   = {Varma, R. M. and  Ball, S. M. and  Brauers, T. and  Dorn, H. P. and  Heitmann, U. and  Jones, R. L. and  Platt, U. and  Pöhler, D. and  Ruth, A. A. and  Shillings, A. J. L. and  Thieser, J. and  Wahner, A. and  Venables, D. S.},
   = {2013},
   = {November},
   = {Atmospheric Measurement Techniques},
   = {Light extinction by secondary organic aerosol: an intercomparison of three broadband cavity spectrometers},
   = {Published},
   = {WOS: 34 ()},
   = {aerosol extinction measurement broadband optical cavity CEAS},
   = {6},
  pages = {3115--3130},
   = {{Broadband optical cavity spectrometers are maturing as a technology for trace-gas detection, but only recently have they been used to retrieve the extinction coefficient of aerosols. Sensitive broadband extinction measurements allow explicit separation of gas and particle phase spectral contributions, as well as continuous spectral measurements of aerosol extinction in favourable cases. In this work, we report an intercomparison study of the aerosol extinction coefficients measured by three such instruments: a broadband cavity ring-down spectrometer (BBCRDS), a cavity-enhanced differential optical absorption spectrometer (CE-DOAS), and an incoherent broadband cavity-enhanced absorption spectrometer (IBBCEAS). Experiments were carried out in the SAPHIR atmospheric simulation chamber as part of the NO3Comp campaign to compare the measurement capabilities of NO3 and N2O5 instrumentation. Aerosol extinction coefficients between 655 and 690 nm are reported for secondary organic aerosols (SOA) formed by the NO3 oxidation of β-pinene under dry and humid conditions. Despite different measurement approaches and spectral analysis procedures, the three instruments retrieved aerosol extinction coefficients that were in close agreement. The refractive index of SOA formed from the β-pinene + NO3 reaction was 1.61, and was not measurably affected by the chamber humidity or by aging of the aerosol over several hours. This refractive index is significantly larger than SOA refractive indices observed in other studies of OH and ozone-initiated terpene oxidations, and may be caused by the large proportion of organic nitrates in the particle phase. In an experiment involving ammonium sulfate particles, the aerosol extinction coefficients as measured by IBBCEAS were found to be in reasonable agreement with those calculated using the Mie theory. The results of the study demonstrate the potential of broadband cavity spectrometers for determining the optical properties of aerosols.}},
  issn = {1867-8548},
   = {www.atmos-meas-tech.net/6/3115/2013/},
   = {10.5194/amt-6-3115-2013},
   = {Environmental Protection Agency},
  source = {IRIS}
}
AUTHORSVarma, R. M.; Ball, S. M.; Brauers, T.; Dorn, H. P.; Heitmann, U.; Jones, R. L.; Platt, U.; Pöhler, D.; Ruth, A. A.; Shillings, A. J. L.; Thieser, J.; Wahner, A.; Venables, D. S.
YEAR2013
MONTHNovember
JOURNAL_CODEAtmospheric Measurement Techniques
TITLELight extinction by secondary organic aerosol: an intercomparison of three broadband cavity spectrometers
STATUSPublished
TIMES_CITEDWOS: 34 ()
SEARCH_KEYWORDaerosol extinction measurement broadband optical cavity CEAS
VOLUME6
ISSUE
START_PAGE3115
END_PAGE3130
ABSTRACTBroadband optical cavity spectrometers are maturing as a technology for trace-gas detection, but only recently have they been used to retrieve the extinction coefficient of aerosols. Sensitive broadband extinction measurements allow explicit separation of gas and particle phase spectral contributions, as well as continuous spectral measurements of aerosol extinction in favourable cases. In this work, we report an intercomparison study of the aerosol extinction coefficients measured by three such instruments: a broadband cavity ring-down spectrometer (BBCRDS), a cavity-enhanced differential optical absorption spectrometer (CE-DOAS), and an incoherent broadband cavity-enhanced absorption spectrometer (IBBCEAS). Experiments were carried out in the SAPHIR atmospheric simulation chamber as part of the NO3Comp campaign to compare the measurement capabilities of NO3 and N2O5 instrumentation. Aerosol extinction coefficients between 655 and 690 nm are reported for secondary organic aerosols (SOA) formed by the NO3 oxidation of β-pinene under dry and humid conditions. Despite different measurement approaches and spectral analysis procedures, the three instruments retrieved aerosol extinction coefficients that were in close agreement. The refractive index of SOA formed from the β-pinene + NO3 reaction was 1.61, and was not measurably affected by the chamber humidity or by aging of the aerosol over several hours. This refractive index is significantly larger than SOA refractive indices observed in other studies of OH and ozone-initiated terpene oxidations, and may be caused by the large proportion of organic nitrates in the particle phase. In an experiment involving ammonium sulfate particles, the aerosol extinction coefficients as measured by IBBCEAS were found to be in reasonable agreement with those calculated using the Mie theory. The results of the study demonstrate the potential of broadband cavity spectrometers for determining the optical properties of aerosols.
PUBLISHER_LOCATION
ISBN_ISSN1867-8548
EDITION
URLwww.atmos-meas-tech.net/6/3115/2013/
DOI_LINK10.5194/amt-6-3115-2013
FUNDING_BODYEnvironmental Protection Agency
GRANT_DETAILS