Measurement of Highly Oxygenated Organic Compounds at the Rambouillet forest during the ACROSS Campaign

Global population increase has placed pressure on available resources and has resulted in the emission of a variety of trace gases into the troposphere that includes volatile organic compounds (VOCs). This class of molecules plays major roles in the formation of secondary products such as secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and tropospheric ozone, which adversely affect Earth’s climate and human health. Research has continued to reveal more details of complex atmospheric degradation processes involving VOCs of both anthropogenic and biogenic origins, but relatively few have been directly studied including the possible impacts of mixing of air masses of anthropogenic and biogenic origins. The ACROSS (Atmospheric ChemistRy Of the Suburban foreSt) project aims to improve our knowledge of atmospheric chemical processes that occur in such mixed air masses and their impact on air quality. The experimental strategy of ACROSS is based on ground-based and airborne observations during an international, large-scale, comprehensive, multi-platform, multi-site field campaign that took place in the summer of 2022 in the greater Paris and suburban forested areas.

As VOCs are processed in the atmosphere, secondary compounds are produced including highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) that are a subset of low volatility organic compounds characterized by their contribution to formation and ageing of SOA. Nitrate ion chemical ionization (CI), coupled with an Atmospheric Pressure Interface−Time-Of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (API-TOF-MS) is an online analytical technique that detects and quantifies gas-phase HOMs (and other compounds) with high sensitivity and mass resolution in the atmosphere or laboratory systems. This instrument provides measurements that help to fill the observational gap between the aerosol and gas phases.

The instrument was deployed at the top of a 40 m tower (above the canopy) in the Rambouillet forest site during the ACROSS field campaign to measure and identify HOMs formed mainly under two different composition regimes: biogenic emissions only, and biogenic air/urban air mixtures. The data collected by the instrument will be presented and used to enhance understanding of the chemical formation pathways of HOMs and their contribution to the composition of aerosols.