Articles | Volume 25, issue 11
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5773-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5773-2025
Research article
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12 Jun 2025
Research article | Highlight paper |  | 12 Jun 2025

Implications of reduced-complexity aerosol thermodynamics on organic aerosol mass concentration and composition over North America

Camilo Serrano Damha, Kyle Gorkowski, and Andreas Zuend

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Cited articles

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It is widely accepted that secondary organic aerosols formed from the atmospheric processing of biogenic and anthropogenic VOCs represent a major component of particulate matter globally, affecting air quality, meteorology and climate, but predictive skill in atmospheric models remains poor. It has previously been theorised that water vapour may assist organic molecules forming particulates by condensing together, but until now this process has not generally been implemented in models. This paper demonstrates that by including this process using a new efficient parameterisation in the popular GEOS-CHEM global chemistry model, the effects on predicted aerosol formation can be substantial, so this effect warrants consideration going forward.
Short summary
We implemented the BAT-VBS (Binary Activity Thermodynamics volatility basis set) aerosol thermodynamics model in the GEOS-Chem chemical transport model to efficiently account for organic aerosol water uptake, nonideal mixing, and impacts on the gas–particle partitioning of semi-volatile organics. Compared to GEOS-Chem's complex (dry) scheme, we show that the BAT-VBS model can predict substantial enhancements in organic aerosol mass concentration at moderate-to-high relative humidity.
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