Identification

Title

Chemical composition of atmospheric nanoparticles formed from nucleation in Tecamac, Mexico: Evidence for an important role for organic species in nanoparticle growth

Abstract

We report Thermal Desorption Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometer (TDCIMS) measurements of the composition of ambient 10-33 nm diameter particles formed from nucleation on 16 March 2006 in Tecamac, Mexico during the Megacity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations (MILAGRO) field study. On this day, nucleated particles contained far more organics than sulfates: average ion molar ratios with measurement uncertainties for nitrate, organics and sulfur species were 6 ± 2%, 84 ± 5%, and 10 ± 1%, respectively. The measured organic species include nitrogen-containing organic compounds, organic acids, and hydroxy organic acids. Independent calculations show that sulfuric acid condensation could have accounted for only 10 ± 2% of the growth that was observed on this day, which is consistent with the TDCIMS measurements of composition. It follows that organic compounds play a dominant role the high growth rates that were observed.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7vd6znd

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2008-02-22T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

An edited version of this paper was published by AGU. Copyright 2008 American Geophysical Union.

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata date

2025-07-17T15:59:37.403303

Metadata language

eng; USA