Concentration and Composition of Atmospheric Aerosols from the 1995 SEAVS Experiment and a Review of the Closure between Chemical and Gravimetric Measurements

E. Andrews Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California, USA

P. Saxena Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California, USA

S. Musarra Electric Power Research Institute, Palo Alto, California, USA

L.M. Hildemann Civil Engineering Department, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA

P. Koutrakis School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA

P.H. McMurry Mechanical Engineering Department, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

I. Olmez Nuclear Reactor Laboratory, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA

W.H. White Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, USA

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ABSTRACT

We summarize the results from the various measurements and the inter-sampler comparisons from Southeastern Aerosol and Visibility Study (SEAVS), a study with one of its objectives to test for closure among chemical, gravimetric and optical measurements of atmospheric aerosol particles. Sulfate and organics are the dominant components of the SEAVS fine particles (nominally, particles with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 u,m) but between 28 and 42% (range over various samplers) of the gravimetrically measured total fine particle concentration is unidentified by the chemical measurements. Estimates of water associated with inorganic components and measurement imprecision do not totally explain the observed difference between gravimetric and chemical measurements. We examine the theoretical and empirical basis for assumptions commonly made in the published literature to extrapolate total fine particle concentration on the basis of chemical measurements of ions, carbon and elements.

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Concentration and Composition of Atmospheric Aerosols from the 1995 SEAVS Experiment and a Review of the Closure between Chemical and Gravimetric Measurements

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Concentration and Composition of Atmospheric Aerosols from the 1995 SEAVS Experiment and a Review of the Closure between Chemical and Gravimetric Measurements

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