The measurements of aerosol particles with a filter inlet for gases and aerosols (FIGAERO) together with a chemical ionisation mass spectrometer (CIMS) yield the overall chemical composition of the particle phase. In addition, the thermal desorption profiles obtained for each detected ion composition contain information about the volatility of the detected compounds, which is an important property for understanding many physical properties like gas-particle partitioning. We coupled this thermal desorption method with isothermal evaporation prior to the sample collection to investigate the chemical composition changes during isothermal particle evaporation and particulate-water-driven chemical reactions in alpha-pinene secondary organic aerosol (SOA) of three different oxidative states. The thermal desorption profiles of all detected elemental compositions were then analysed with positive matrix factorisation (PMF) to identify the drivers of the chemical composition changes observed during isothermal evaporation. The keys to this analysis were to use the error matrix as a tool to weight the parts of the data carrying most information (i.e. the peak area of each thermogram) and to run PMF on a combined data set of multiple thermograms from different experiments to enable a direct comparison of the individual factors between separate measurements. The PMF was able to identify instrument background factors and separate them from the part of the data containing particle desorption information. Additionally, PMF allowed us to separate the direct desorption of compounds detected at a specific elemental composition from other signals with the same composition that stem from the thermal decomposition of thermally instable compounds with lower volatility. For each SOA type, 7-9 factors were needed to explain the observed thermogram behaviour. The contribution of the factors depended on the prior isothermal evaporation. Decreased contributions from the factors with the lowest desorption temperatures were observed with increasing isothermal evaporation time. Thus, the factors identified by PMF could be interpreted as volatility classes. The composition changes in the particles due to isothermal evaporation could be attributed to the removal of volatile factors with very little change in the desorption profiles of the individual factors (i.e. in the respective temperatures of peak desorption, T-max). When aqueous-phase reactions took place, PMF was able to identify a new factor that directly identified the ions affected by the chemical processes. We conducted a PMF analysis of the FIGAERO-CIMS thermal desorption data for the first time using laboratory-generated SOA particles. But this method can be applied to, for example, ambient FIGAERO-CIMS measurements as well. There, the PMF analysis of the thermal desorption data identifies organic aerosol (OA) sources (such as biomass burning or oxidation of different precursors) and types, e.g. hydrocarbon-like (HOA) or oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA). This information could also be obtained with the traditional approach, namely the PMF analysis of the mass spectra data integrated for each thermogram. But only our method can also obtain the volatility information for each OA source and type. Additionally, we can identify the contribution of thermal decomposition to the overall signal.

Chemical composition, size distributions, and degree of oligomerization of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from alpha-pinene (C10H16) ozonolysis were investigated for low-temperature conditions (223 K). Two types of experiments were performed using two simulation chambers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology: the Aerosol Preparation and Characterization (APC) chamber, and the Aerosol Interaction and Dynamics in the Atmosphere (AIDA) chamber. Experiment type 1 simulated SOA formation at upper tropospheric conditions: SOA was generated in the AIDA chamber directly at 223K at 61% relative humidity (RH; experiment termed cold humid, CH) and for comparison at 6% RH (experiment termed cold dry, CD) conditions. Experiment type 2 simulated SOA uplifting: SOA was formed in the APC chamber at room temperature (296 K) and < 1% RH (experiment termed warm dry, WD) or 21% RH (experiment termed warm humid, WH) conditions, and then partially transferred to the AIDA chamber kept at 223 K, and 61% RH (WDtoCH) or 30% RH (WHtoCH), respectively. Precursor concentrations varied between 0.7 and 2.2 ppm alpha-pinene, and between 2.3 and 1.8 ppm ozone for type 1 and type 2 experiments, respectively. Among other instrumentation, a chemical ionization mass spectrometer (CIMS) coupled to a filter inlet for gases and aerosols (FIGAERO), deploying I as reagent ion, was used for SOA chemical composition analysis.

For type 1 experiments with lower alpha-pinene concentrations and cold SOA formation temperature (223 K), smaller particles of 100-300 nm vacuum aerodynamic diameter (d(va)/and higher mass fractions (> 40 %) of adducts (molecules with more than 10 carbon atoms) of alpha-pinene oxidation products were observed. For type 2 experiments with higher alpha-pinene concentrations and warm SOA formation temperature (296 K), larger particles (similar to 500 nm d(va)/with smaller mass fractions of adducts (< 35 %) were produced.

We also observed differences (up to 20 degrees C) in maximum desorption temperature (T-max/of individual compounds desorbing from the particles deposited on the FIGAERO Teflon filter for different experiments, indicating that T-max is not purely a function of a compound's vapor pressure or volatility, but is also influenced by diffusion limitations within the particles (particle viscosity), interactions between particles deposited on the filter (particle matrix), and/or particle mass on the filter. Highest T max were observed for SOA under dry conditions and with higher adduct mass fraction; lowest T-max were observed for SOA under humid conditions and with lower adduct mass fraction. The observations indicate that particle viscosity may be influenced by intra-and inter-molecular hydrogen bonding between oligomers, and particle water uptake, even under such low-temperature conditions.

Our results suggest that particle physicochemical properties such as viscosity and oligomer content mutually influence each other, and that variation in T-max of particle desorptions may have implications for particle viscosity and particle matrix effects. The differences in particle physicochemical properties observed between our different experiments demonstrate the importance of taking experimental conditions into consideration when interpreting data from laboratory studies or using them as input in climate models.

A major fraction of atmospheric aerosol particles, which affect both air quality and climate, form from gaseous precursors in the atmosphere. Highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs), formed by oxidation of biogenic volatile organic compounds, are known to participate in particle formation and growth. However, it is not well understood how they interact with atmospheric pollutants, such as nitrogen oxides (NOx) and sulfur oxides (SOx) from fossil fuel combustion, as well as ammonia (NH3) from livestock and fertilizers. Here, we show how NOx suppresses particle formation, while HOMs, sulfuric acid, and NH3 have a synergistic enhancing effect on particle formation. We postulate a novel mechanism, involving HOMs, sulfuric acid, and ammonia, which is able to closely reproduce observations of particle formation and growth in daytime boreal forest and similar environments. The findings elucidate the complex interactions between biogenic and anthropogenic vapors in the atmospheric aerosol system.

The formation of new atmospheric particles involves an initial step forming stable clusters less than a nanometre in size (<similar to 1 nm), followed by growth into quasi-stable aerosol particles a few nanometres (similar to 1-10 nm) and larger (>similar to 10 nm). Although at times, the same species can be responsible for both processes, it is thought that more generally each step comprises differing chemical contributors. Here, we present a novel analysis of measurements from a unique multi-station ground-based observing system which reveals new insights into continental-scale patterns associated with new particle formation. Statistical cluster analysis of this unique 2-year multi-station dataset comprising size distribution and chemical composition reveals that across Europe, there are different major seasonal trends depending on geographical location, concomitant with diversity in nucleating species while it seems that the growth phase is dominated by organic aerosol formation. The diversity and seasonality of these events requires an advanced observing system to elucidate the key processes and species driving particle formation, along with detecting continental scale changes in aerosol formation into the future.