Water-Soluble Organic Aerosol material and the light-absorption characteristics of aqueous extracts measured over the Southeastern United States

Abstract. Light absorption of fine particle (PM_2.5) aqueous extracts between wavelengths of 200 and 800 nm were investigated from two data sets: 24-h Federal Reference Method (FRM) filter extracts from 15 Southeastern US monitoring sites over the year of 2007 (900 filters), and online measurements from a Particle-Into-Liquid Sampler deployed from July to mid-August 2009 in Atlanta, Georgia. Three main sources of soluble chromophores were identified: biomass burning, mobile source emissions, and compounds linked to secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation. Absorption spectra of aerosol solutions from filter extracts were similar for different sources. Angstrom exponents were ~7±1 for biomass burning and non-biomass burning-impacted 24-h filter samples (delineated by a levoglucosan concentration of 50 ng m⁻³) at both rural and urban sites. The absorption coefficient from measurements averaged between wavelength 360 and 370 nm (Abs₃₆₅, in units m⁻¹) was used as a measure of overall brown carbon light absorption. Biomass-burning-impacted samples were highest during winter months and Abs₃₆₅ was correlated with levoglucosan at all sites. During periods of little biomass burning in summer, light absorbing compounds were still ubiquitous and correlated with fine particle Water-Soluble Organic Carbon (WSOC), but comprised a much smaller fraction of the WSOC, where Abs₃₆₅/WSOC (i.e., mass absorption efficiency) was typically ~3 times higher in biomass burning-impacted samples. Factor analysis attributed 50% of the yearly average Abs₃₆₅ to biomass burning sources. Brown carbon from primary urban emissions (mobile sources) was also observed and accounted for ~10% of the regional yearly average Abs₃₆₅. Summertime diurnal profiles of Abs₃₆₅ and WSOC showed that morning to midday increases in WSOC from photochemical production were associated with a decrease in Abs₃₆₅/WSOC. After noon, this ratio substantially increased, indicating that either some fraction of the non-light absorbing fresh SOA was rapidly (within hours) converted to chromophores heterogeneously, or that SOA from gas-particle partitioning later in the day was more light-absorbing. Factor analysis on the 24-h integrated filter data associated ~20 to 30% of Abs₃₆₅ over 2007 with a secondary source that was highest in summer and also the main source for oxalate, suggesting that aqueous phase reactions may account for the light-absorbing fraction of WSOC observed throughout the Southeastern US in summer.