Articles | Volume 25, issue 20
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13975-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13975-2025
Research article
 | 
28 Oct 2025
Research article |  | 28 Oct 2025

The sources and diurnal variations of submicron aerosols in a coastal–rural environment near Houston, US

Jing Li, Jiaoshi Zhang, Xianda Gong, Steven Spielman, Chongai Kuang, Ashish Singh, Maria A. Zawadowicz, Lu Xu, and Jian Wang

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Using measurements at a rural coastal site, we quantified aerosols in representative air masses and identified major sources of organics in the Houston area. Our results show cooking aerosol is likely overestimated by earlier studies. Additionally, diurnal variation of highly oxidized organics is mostly driven by air mass changes instead of photochemistry. This study highlights the impacts of emissions, atmospheric chemistry, and meteorology on aerosol properties in the coastal–rural environment.
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