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Atmospheric Chemistry in Urban Environments: Insights into Organic Compounds, Aerosols,...
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Atmospheric Chemistry in Urban Environments: Insights into Organic Compounds, Aerosols, and Haze Formation Mechanisms

A special issue of Atmosphere (ISSN 2073-4433). This special issue belongs to the section "Air Quality".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2025) | Viewed by 1680

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Zirui Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China
Interests: aerosol chemistry; new particle formation; multi-phase reaction; secondary organic aerosol; atmospheric oxidation capacity; receptor model; box model

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Globally, air pollution is responsible for millions of premature deaths, many of which occur in highly polluted urban areas, for which the study of urban atmospheric chemistry poses particular challenges, especially for the atmospherically formed secondary organic aerosols that have been shown to be particularly harmful to human health. However, the characteristics, sources, and formation pathways of these secondary aerosols remain largely unknown, thus hindering effective pollution mitigation. Therefore, improving the understanding of organic aerosols using new observational and modeling techniques is essential for developing strategies to improve urban and regional air quality.

This Special Issue seeks papers that can deepen our understanding of the chemistry and dynamics of organic aerosols in the urban atmosphere through field observations, laboratory studies, and regional/global modeling. New techniques to identify organic compounds and parameterize their formation mechanisms in regional and global models are particularly welcome.

Dr. Zirui Liu
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Atmosphere is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • organic aerosols
  • semi-volatile/intermediate-volatility organic compounds
  • molecular marker
  • source apportionment
  • formation and evolution
  • air quality
  • urban environments

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

15 pages, 1897 KB  
Article
Sources and Reactivity of Ambient VOCs on the Tibetan Plateau: Insights from a Multi-Site Campaign (2012–2014) for Assessing Decadal Change
by Fangkun Wu, Jie Sun, Yinghong Wang and Zirui Liu
Atmosphere 2025, 16(10), 1148; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos16101148 - 30 Sep 2025
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 480
Abstract
Investigating atmospheric volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is critical for understanding their sources, chemical reactivity, and impacts on air quality, climate, and human health, especially in remote regions like the Tibetan Plateau where baseline data remains scarce. In this study, ambient VOCs species were [...] Read more.
Investigating atmospheric volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is critical for understanding their sources, chemical reactivity, and impacts on air quality, climate, and human health, especially in remote regions like the Tibetan Plateau where baseline data remains scarce. In this study, ambient VOCs species were simultaneously measured at four remote background sites on the Tibetan Plateau (Nyingchi, Namtso, Ngari, and Mount Everest) from 2012 to 2014 to investigate their concentration, composition, sources, and chemical reactivity. Weekly integrated samples were collected and analyzed using a Gas Chromatograph-Mass Spectrometer/Flame Ionization Detector (GC-MS/FID) system. The total VOC mixing ratios exhibited site-dependent variability, with the highest levels observed in Nyingchi, followed by Mount Everest, Ngari and Namtso. The VOC composition in those remote sites was dominated by alkanes (25.7–48.5%) and aromatics (11.4–34.7%), followed by halocarbons (19.1–28.1%) and alkenes (11.5–18.5%). A distinct seasonal trend was observed, with higher VOC concentrations in summer and lower levels in spring and autumn. Source analysis based on correlations between specific VOC species suggests that combustion emissions (e.g., biomass burning or residential heating) were a major contributor during winter and spring, while traffic-related emissions influenced summer VOC levels. In addition, long-range transport of pollutants from South Asia also significantly impacted VOC concentrations across the plateau. Furthermore, reactivity assessments indicated that alkenes were the dominant contributors to OH radical loss rates, whereas aromatics were the largest drivers of ozone formation potential (OFP). These findings highlight the complex interplay of local emissions and regional transport in shaping VOC chemistry in this high-altitude background environment, with implications for atmospheric oxidation capacity and secondary pollutant formation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Chemistry in Urban Environments: Insights into Organic Compounds, Aerosols, and Haze Formation Mechanisms)
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12 pages, 3357 KB  
Article
Exploring the Spatial Distribution and Sources of OVOCs in Shenzhen Using an Optimized Source Apportionment Method
by Li He, Cheng-Bo Wei, Guang-He Yu, Li-Ming Cao and Xiao-Feng Huang
Atmosphere 2025, 16(9), 1016; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos16091016 - 28 Aug 2025
Viewed by 760
Abstract
Oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) are key precursors to atmospheric ozone (O3) and secondary organic aerosols (SOA). However, research on the sources of OVOCs is still limited, particularly in terms of multi-point observations at urban sites. This study conducted a one [...] Read more.
Oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) are key precursors to atmospheric ozone (O3) and secondary organic aerosols (SOA). However, research on the sources of OVOCs is still limited, particularly in terms of multi-point observations at urban sites. This study conducted a one month continuous enhanced observation at an urban site (BA) and a suburban site (DP) in December 2024. During the study period, the average total VOCs concentration at the BA site was 29.9 ± 6.5 ppbv, significantly higher than that at the DP site (6.4 ± 1.3 ppbv). To enhance the representation of the biogenic fraction in OVOCs, isoprene was employed as a biogenic tracer; prior to source apportionment, its anthropogenic components were subtracted based on local emission ratio coefficients, thereby providing a more representative basis for biogenic source attribution. The optimized source apportionment results show that the contribution ratio of biogenic sources had decreased significantly, with a particularly noticeable decline at the urban site. Among these, the contribution rates of acetaldehyde and acetone had decreased significantly: by 14.7% and 12.2%, respectively. Based on the improved source apportionment method, the source apportionment of OVOCs at the urban site showed that methanol, acetone, and MEK were primarily dominated by anthropogenic primary sources (accounting for 44.5% to 68.5%), while acetaldehyde was primarily dominated by secondary anthropogenic generation (37.1%), indicating its key role as a photochemical product. In contrast, at the suburban site, the biogenic source contribution to acetaldehyde (37.8%) was significant. This difference highlights the necessity of optimizing biogenic source tracers and conducting OVOC source apportionment studies at multiple locations. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Atmospheric Chemistry in Urban Environments: Insights into Organic Compounds, Aerosols, and Haze Formation Mechanisms)
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