As part of the Houston Triangle Experiment, a suite of instruments including an Aerodyne Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (c-ToF AMS) and an Ionicon Proton Transfer Mass Spectrometer (PTR-MS) were deployed at the TCEQ Aldine site between September 15 and September 28, 2006. The Aldine monitoring station is located in the Harrison County, northwest of the Houston Ship Channel, latitude 29°54'04” north, longitude 95°19'34” west, and elevation 18 m. It was chosen primarily to observe aerosol and volatile organic compound (VOC) transport from the Houston Ship Channel from the southeast as well as to capture biogenic VOC emission from the north and investigate its effect on aerosol formation. The PTR-MS and AMS were co-located and deployed to characterize emissions of VOCs and submicron non-refractory particulate chemical composition and size distribution respectively. The latter could be formed as a result of partition between gas and particulate phase.

In this paper, we will discuss the initial results from the AMS and PTR-MS at Aldine. Average particulate chemical composition at Aldine during the campaign showed strong contribution from the organics 66%, sulfate 18%, nitrate 6%, ammonium 9%, and chloride 1%, which posted strong resemblance of the chemical make-up of aerosols to the other two sites in the Houston Triangle, namely Deer Park and Bayland Park. Analysis of the hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA) and oxygen-like organic aerosol (OOA), conceptually indicating primary and secondary organic aerosols, utilizing the newly developed statistical method by ARI will be presented. Correlation between aerosol species and trace gases will be discussed. The effect of meteorological conditions will also be discussed in the above analyses.