Chemical Composition and Sources of Particles in the Atmosphere

Dear Colleagues,

The atmosphere of Earth is rich in aerosols. Their presence has a strong impact on air quality, human health, and the climate, which has been reported for several decades. Since the early 1960s, instruments have been available to characterize the aerosol in detail. With the development of measurement techniques in recent years, the contribution of aerosols from different chemical compositions has started to be recognized, yet it is still far from clear. For example, there are thousands of organic molecular compounds in particles that cannot be distinguished by one instrument. Recent breakthroughs for recognizing highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs), organic nitrates (ONs), organic sulfates (OSs), and amines have helped to understand their chemical and physical properties, facilitating  the elucidation of their environmental impact. The aerosols in the atmosphere can be derived from primary emissions, which are a direct transfer of particles to the air. Primary emissions include natural activity, such as sea spray drifts, volcanic eruptions, as well as forest or brush burnings, blowing dust or soils, and pollen spread, which were the main source of aerosol in the pre-industrial period. Since the industrial revolution began in the 18th century, the influence of human activity on aerosols greatly changed the chemical composition in urban and suburban areas; the predominant anthropogenic-derived primary sources of aerosols include vehicles exhausts, industrial emission, coal burning, biomass burning, and cooking, etc., which substantially contribute black carbon, nitrate, sulfate, and organic aerosols to the ambient air, thus, changing the air quality and atmospheric impact of aerosols. Aerosols in the atmosphere can also be produced from secondary chemical processes. The secondary formation mechanism of aerosols is very complex due to their complicated precursors and formation pathways, which has become a rapidly developing field in recent decades. In general, the fraction of different chemical components and the source contributions to aerosols in the atmosphere varied at different times and locations. A better characterization of aerosol chemical composition and source is key to elucidating their atmospheric fate, mitigating climate change, and protecting human health. For this Special Issue, the topics of interest include but are not limited to:

• Chemical and physical properties of aerosols
• Chemical components and their mass fraction in aerosols
• Different source contribution to aerosols
• Formation and evolution mechanism of aerosols
• The environmental impact of different components of aerosols.

Dr. Shan Huang
Dr. Wei Wei Hu
Guest Editors

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