Isotopic Tracing: Advanced Understanding of Sources and Atmospheric Processes of Aerosol and Its Gaseous Precursors

Dear Colleagues,

Pervasive particulate pollution has become a problem that exerts an adverse effect on air quality, regional and global climates, ecological environment, and human health. Studies have shown that high levels of secondary inorganic aerosols (i.e., sulfate, ammonium, and nitrate) and secondary organic aerosols from anthropogenic and natural precursors hold crucial roles during the air pollution period. It is therefore necessary to elucidate their atmospheric transformation to gain some success in mitigating air pollution.

Recent developments in state-of-art mass spectrometry technologies of stable isotope and radioisotope analysis have been widely applied in new scientific investigations of environmental and atmospheric science. The stable isotope and radioisotope (δ³⁴S, Δ³³S, Δ³⁶S, ³⁵S; δ¹⁸O, Δ¹⁷O; δ¹⁵N; δ¹³C, ¹⁴C; ²⁰⁶Pb, ²⁰⁷Pb, ²⁰⁸Pb; and Δ¹⁹⁹Hg, Δ²⁰⁰Hg, Δ²⁰¹Hg, δ²⁰²Hg; etc.) have been established as promising proxies for tracing their emission sources (industry, vehicle exhaust, agriculture, biomass burning, fossil fuel combustion, etc.) and even specific chemical process controlling their atmospheric fate. Multi-isotopic tools will significantly improve the understanding of these processes. In addition, the isotopic constraint on the chemical mechanism can also make an advanced simulation of secondary components and future narrow the discrepancy between observed and simulated data. However, the sparse dataset of original isotope signatures of their sources and isotopic fractionation factors during homogeneous and heterogeneous chemical processes pose a great challenge to their interpretation regarding source apportionment and atmospheric processes. The unraveling of chemical mechanisms needs the incorporation of field observation, lab studies and modeling.

In this Special Issue, we welcome the latest original research and review papers on all aspects of the development of isotopic technique and its advanced understanding regarding sources and atmospheric processes of aerosols and their gaseous precursors.

Dr. Lianfang Wei
Dr. Libin Wu
Dr. Mei-Yi Fan
Dr. Jingjing Meng
Dr. Haiyan Ni
Guest Editors

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 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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.

• air pollution
• isotopic tracer
• trace gas
• atmospheric process
• source apportionment
• Secondary Inorganic Aerosol (SIA)
• Primary Organic Aerosol (POA)
• Secondary Organic Aerosol (SOA)