Hygroscopic and volatile properties of marine aerosol observed at Cape Grim during the P2P campaign

Abstract

Simultaneous measurement of particle hygroscopic and volatile properties was performed using a VH-TDMA on both Aitken and accumulation mode particles. In addition, deliquescence measurements at different thermodenuder temperatures were also performed. The measurements were part of the P2P campaign which took place in February 2006 at the Cape Grim monitoring station in Tasmania, Australia. During baseline conditions, there was often a volatilisation step that occurred below 125°C in the volatility scans, where up to 25% of the volume is lost. Analysis of the changes in growth as this took place indicates that different substances are responsible for this volatilisation on different days ? ammonium nitrate, sulfuric acid, or a volatile non-hygroscopic organic. The major volatilisation in all cases occurred in the temperature range ∼140?200°C, which is taken to indicate the presence of ammonium sulfate or ammonium bisulfate. A degree of growth suppression is generally evident before this volatilisation, which indicates that a non-hygroscopic material with a similar volatility to ammonium sulfate/bisulfate may be present, which cannot be distinguished in the volatility scans. Organic matter was typically present at around ∼20?40% for these particles. When Aitken and accumulation mode particles were measured on the same day, it was found that the organic content of the smaller particles tended to be higher than the larger particles by roughly 20 percentage points. © CSIRO 2007.