Organic compounds play a key role in biosphere-atmosphere exchange, anthropogenic emissions, and the reactive chemistry responsible for ozone and particulate matter production. Coming from diverse sources and constituting thousands of individual compounds, with varying oxidation mechanisms, the organic composition of the troposphere is complex. With their wide range of lifetimes and volatilities, these species partition between gas and particle phases and make up a substantial fraction of fine particulate matter. Organics are also a major source of atmospheric reactivity, with implications for the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere. Some individual organic compounds are of interest due to their toxicity or use as specific source tracers. Because of organics’ role in secondary pollutant formation and reactivity, this chemistry is highly relevant to air quality from urban to remote regions. Finally, while global budgets of organic species are central to understanding tropospheric oxidative chemistry and aerosol budgets, they remain poorly constrained.

This session invites contributions about tropospheric organics on local, regional and global scales, from theoretical studies, laboratory experiments, field measurements, modeling studies, satellite studies, and including measurement technique development. The emphasis of this session is on gas-phase organics, including aerosol precursors and semi-volatile species.