Comprehensive Characterization of Atmospheric Organic Carbon using Multiple High-Resolution Mass Spectrometric Instruments

Abstract:

Accurate modeling of major atmospheric chemical processes (oxidant cycling, aerosol formation, etc.) requires understanding the identity, chemistry, and lifecycle (emission, reaction, and deposition) of atmospheric organic species. Such an understanding is generally limited by the wide diversity in chemical structure, properties, and reactivity of atmospheric organics, posing major challenges in detection and quantification. However the last several years have seen the development of several new techniques for the measurement of a wide range of carbon-containing compounds, including low-volatility, oxidized species that have traditionally been difficult to measure. Many of these new techniques are based on high-resolution mass spectrometry, enabling the unambiguous identification of individual ions, and hence the elemental ratios and carbon oxidation state of the organic species; most also provide information on volatility and/or carbon number distributions of the molecular species. While a single instrument can generally measure only species of a particular class (occupying a localized region of “chemical space”), here we show that the combined measurements from multiple instruments can provide a comprehensive picture of the chemical composition of the entire organic mixture. From these combined measurements, the organic species can be described not only in terms of organic carbon mass but also in terms of distributions of key ensemble properties (such as oxidation state and volatility), and thus can be used to populate and constrain the various reduced-dimensionality chemical spaces that have been put forth as frameworks for describing atmospheric organic chemistry. We apply this general measurement approach both to field data, providing information on ambient organic species, and to laboratory (chamber) studies, providing insight into the chemical transformations that organic species undergo upon atmospheric oxidation.