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www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/11/2655/2011/
doi:10.5194/acpd-11-2655-2011
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Organic functional groups in aerosol particles from burning and non-burning forest emissions at a high-elevation mountain site
1Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
2Environment Canada, Science and Technology Branch, Toronto, ON, Canada
Abstract. Ambient particles collected on teflon filters at the Peak of Whistler Mountain, British Columbia (2182 m a.s.l.) during spring and summer 2009 were measured by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for organic functional groups (OFG). The project mean and standard deviation of organic aerosol mass concentrations (OM) for all samples was 3.2±3.3 (μg m−3). The OM was dominated by regional forest sources, burning, and non-burning that occurred mostly during June–September. On average, organic hydroxyl, alkane, carboxylic acid, ketone, and amine, groups represented 31%±11%, 34%±9%, 23%±6%, 6%±7%, and 6%±3% of OM, respectively. Ketone groups were associated with the forest aerosols and represented up to 27% of the OM in these aerosols. Additional measurements of aerosol mass fragments, size, and number concentrations were used to separate fossil-fuel combustion and burning and non-burning forest sources of the measured organic aerosol. The OM concentrations observed at Whistler Peak during this campaign were higher than those measured during a shorter period in the spring of 2008 at a site in Whistler valley, over one km lower than the peak location. The 2009 campaign was largely influenced by the wildfire emissions that were absent during the 2008 campaign.
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Notice on Discussion StatusCitation: Takahama, S., Schwartz, R. E., Russell, L. M., Macdonald, A. M., Sharma, S., and Leaitch, W. R.: Organic functional groups in aerosol particles from burning and non-burning forest emissions at a high-elevation mountain site, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 11, 2655-2696, doi:10.5194/acpd-11-2655-2011, 2011. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
