UC Irvine

The role of anthropogenic NO_x emissions in secondary organic aerosol (SOA) production is not fully understood but is important for understanding the contribution of emissions to air quality. Here, we examine the role of organic nitrates (RONO₂) in SOA formation over the Korean Peninsula during the Korea-United States Air Quality field study in Spring 2016 as a model for RONO₂ aerosol in cities worldwide. We use aircraft-based measurements of the particle phase and total (gas + particle) RONO₂ to explore RONO₂ phase partitioning. These measurements show that, on average, one-fourth of RONO₂ are in the condensed phase, and we estimate that ≈15% of the organic aerosol (OA) mass can be attributed to RONO₂. Furthermore, we observe that the fraction of RONO₂ in the condensed phase increases with OA concentration, evidencing that equilibrium absorptive partitioning controls the RONO₂ phase distribution. Lastly, we model RONO₂ chemistry and phase partitioning in the Community Multiscale Air Quality modeling system. We find that known chemistry can account for one-third of the observed RONO₂, but there is a large missing source of semivolatile, anthropogenically derived RONO₂. We propose that this missing source may result from the oxidation of semi- and intermediate-volatility organic compounds and/or from anthropogenic molecules that undergo autoxidation or multiple generations of OH-initiated oxidation.