Global Survey of Submicron Aerosol Acidity (pH)

Aerosol acidity (H⁺, often expressed as “pH” defined in various ways) is an important property that influences uptake and partitioning of gases, and homogeneous and surface aqueous reactions of key inorganic and organic compounds. As there is currently no rapid method to measure ambient aerosol acidity, a thermodynamic model, constrained by both inorganic aerosol species (e.g., NH₄, NO₃, SO₄, Cl) and at least one inorganic gas (HNO₃, NH₃, or HCl), are currently understood to lead to the most reliable estimates of aerosol acidity. In this study, we calculated submicron (less than PM₁) aerosol pH from the NASA ATom, “pole-to-pole,” flights that covers both the Pacific and Atlantic ocean basins. The E-AIM thermodynamic model was used with measurements by an Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol-mass-spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) of inorganic aerosol species, along with inorganic gas measurements from other mass spectrometers and ion chromatography. We compare the results with those for the NASA KORUS-AQ, SEAC⁴RS, DC3, and ARCTAS campaigns, as well as several ground-based campaigns and recently-published studies. This provides an opportunity to compare the aerosol acidity in urban, rural, and remote regions, by season, and between the boundary layer and free troposphere. In addition, we compare the submicron aerosol acidity from these various localities with results from global models, such as GEOS-Chem, in order to investigate the ability of the global models to simulate aerosol acidity, and the processes it affects, such as nitrate, ammonium, and MSA partitioning.