Ambient Observations of Organic Nitrogen Compounds in Submicrometer Aerosols in New York Using High Resolution Aerosol Mass Spectrometry

Abstract:

Organic nitrogen (ON) compounds, which include amines, nitriles, organic nitrates, amides, and N-containing aromatic heterocycles, are an important class of compounds ubiquitously detected in atmospheric particles and fog and cloud droplets. Previous studies indicate that these compounds can make up a significant fraction (20–80%) of the total nitrogen (N) content in atmospheric condensed phases and play important roles in new particle formation and growth and affecting the optical and hygroscopicity of aerosols. In this study, we report the observation of ON compounds in submicrometer particles (PM₁) at two locations in New York based on measurements using Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). One study was conducted as part of the US Department of Energy funded Aerosol Lifecyle – Intensive Operation Period (ALC-IOP) campaign at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL, 40.871˚N, 72.89˚W) in summer, 2011 and the other was conducted at the Queen’s College (QC) in New York City (NYC) in summer, 2009. We observed a notable amount of N-containing organic fragment ions, C_xH_yN_p⁺ and C_xH_yO_zN_p⁺, in the AMS spectra of organic aerosols at both locations and found that they were mainly associated with amino functional groups. Compared with results from lab experiments, the C₃H₈N⁺ at m/z = 58 was primarily attributed to trimethylamine. In addition, a significant amount of organonitrates was observed at BNL. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis of the high resolution mass spectra (HRMS) of organic aerosols identified a unique nitrogen-enriched OA (NOA) factor with elevated nitrogen-to-carbon (N/C) at both BNL and QC. Analysis of the size distributions, volatility profiles, and correlations with external tracer indicates that acid-base reactions of amino compounds with sulfate and acidic gas were mainly responsible for the formation of amine salts. Photochemical production was also observed to play a role in the formation of NOA. Bivariate polar plots of NOA concentrations at both locations indicate that the amine salts were mainly from areas to the south of NYC. In addition, the NOA factor suddenly disappeared after Aug 1^st during the BNL study, which suggests that it was mainly associated with anthropogenic activities.