Emission, oxidation, and secondary organic aerosol formation of volatile organic compounds as observed at Chebogue Point, Nova Scotia

We report the detection of a class of related oxygenated compounds by proton-transfer-reaction mass-spectrometry (PTR-MS) that have rarely or never been observed as a group using in situ instrumentation. Measurements were made as part of the International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation (ICARTT) 2004 in Chebogue Point, Nova Scotia. The detected class of compounds discussed here includes acetic acid, formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, tentatively identified formic acid and hydroxyacetone, and unidentified compounds detected at mass to charge ratios 85, 87, 99, 101, 113, 115, and 129. Typical concentrations were 800, 2500, 450, 700, 85, 25, 50, 50, 60, 35, 20, and 25 ppt, respectively. The uniqueness of this class of compounds is illustrated by showing they were poorly related to trace gases found in the US outflow, local pollution, primary biogenic emissions and other oxygenated compounds such as acetone, methanol, and MEK measured by other in situ instrumentation. On the other hand these oxidized volatile organic compounds were related to chemical species in aerosols and their abundance was high during nucleation events. Thus they likely are gas phase species that are formed in parallel to biogenic secondary organic aerosol production. We clearly show these compounds do not originate from local sources. We also show these compounds match the oxidation products of isoprene observed in smog chamber studies, and we therefore suggest they must be mainly produced by oxidation of biogenic precursor compounds.