Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 6 6 2006 10.5194/acpd-6-11681-2006 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/6/11681/2006/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/6/11681/2006/acpd-6-11681-2006.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/6/11681/2006/acpd-6-11681-2006.pdf 11681 11725 2006-11-21 Source apportionment of submicron organic aerosols at an urban site by linear unmixing of aerosol mass spectra V. A. Lanz M. R. Alfarra U. Baltensperger B. Buchmann C. Hueglin A. S. H. Prévôt Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research, Laboratory for Air Pollution and Environmental Technology, 8600 Duebendorf, Switzerland PSI, Paul Scherrer Institute, Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, 5232 Villigen PSI, Switzerland Submicron ambient aerosol was characterized in summer 2005 at an urban background site in Zurich, Switzerland, during a three-week measurement campaign. Highly time-resolved samples of non-refractory aerosol components were analyzed with an Aerodyne aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS). Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was used for the first time for AMS data to identify the main components of the total organic aerosol and their sources. The PMF retrieved factors were compared to measured reference mass spectra and were correlated with tracer species of the aerosol and gas phase measurements from collocated instruments. Six factors were found to explain virtually all variance in the data and could be assigned either to sources or to aerosol components such as oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA). Our analysis suggests that at the measurement site only a small (<10%) fraction of organic PM₁ originates from freshly emitted fossil fuel combustion. Other primary sources identified to be of similar or even higher importance are charbroiling (10–15%) and wood burning (~10%), along with a minor source interpreted to be influenced by food cooking (6%). The fraction of all identified primary sources is considered as primary organic aerosol (POA). This interpretation is supported by calculated ratios of the modelled POA and measured primary pollutants such as elemental carbon (EC), NO_x, and CO, which are in good agreement to literature values. A high fraction (60–69%) of the measured organic aerosol mass is OOA which is interpreted mostly as secondary organic aerosol (SOA). This oxygenated organic aerosol can be separated into a highly aged fraction, OOA I, (40–50%) with low volatility and a mass spectrum similar to fulvic acid, and a more volatile and probably less processed fraction, OOA II (on average 20%). This is the first publication of a multiple component analysis technique to AMS organic spectral data and also the first report of the OOA II component.