It has been claimed for more than a century that atmospheric new particle formation is primarily influenced by the presence of sulfuric acid. However, the activation process of sulfuric acid related clusters into detectable particles is still an unresolved topic. In this study we focus on the PARADE campaign measurements conducted during August/September 2011 at Mt Kleiner Feldberg in central Germany. During this campaign a set of radicals, organic and inorganic compounds and oxidants and aerosol properties were measured or calculated. We compared a range of organic and inorganic nucleation theories, evaluating their ability to simulate measured particle formation rates at 3 nm in diameter (J(3)) for a variety of different conditions. Nucleation mechanisms involving only sulfuric acid tentatively captured the observed noon-time daily maximum in J(3), but displayed an increasing difference to J(3) measurements during the rest of the diurnal cycle. Including large organic radicals, i.e. organic peroxy radicals (RO2) deriving from monoterpenes and their oxidation products, in the nucleation mechanism improved the correlation between observed and simulated J(3). This supports a recently proposed empirical relationship for new particle formation that has been used in global models. However, the best match between theory and measurements for the site of interest was found for an activation process based on large organic peroxy radicals and stabilised Criegee intermediates (sCI). This novel laboratory-derived algorithm simulated the daily pattern and intensity of J(3) observed in the ambient data. In this algorithm organic derived radicals are involved in activation and growth and link the formation rate of smallest aerosol particles with OH during daytime and NO3 during night-time. Because the RO2 lifetime is controlled by HO2 and NO we conclude that peroxy radicals and NO seem to play an important role for ambient radical chemistry not only with respect to oxidation capacity but also for the activation process of new particle formation. This is supposed to have significant impact of atmospheric radical species on aerosol chemistry and should be taken into account when studying the impact of new particles in climate feedback cycles.

Hydroxyl radicals (OH) are the most important reagent for the oxidation of trace gases in the atmosphere. OH concentrations measured during recent field campaigns in isoprene-rich environments were unexpectedly large. A number of studies showed that unimolecular reactions of organic peroxy radicals (RO2) formed in the initial reaction step of isoprene with OH play an important role for the OH budget in the atmosphere at low mixing ratios of nitrogen monoxide (NO) of less than 100 pptv. It has also been suggested that similar reactions potentially play an important role for RO2 from other compounds. Here, we investigate the oxidation of methacrolein (MACR), one major oxidation product of isoprene, by OH in experiments in the simulation chamber SAPHIR under controlled atmospheric conditions. The experiments show that measured OH concentrations are approximately 50% larger than calculated by the Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) for conditions of the experiments (NO mixing ratio of 90 pptv). The analysis of the OH budget reveals an OH source that is not accounted for in MCM, which is correlated with the production rate of RO2 radicals from MACR. In order to balance the measured OH destruction rate, 0.77 OH radicals (1σ error: ± 0.31) need to be additionally reformed from each reaction of OH with MACR. The strong correlation of the missing OH source with the production of RO2 radicals is consistent with the concept of OH formation from unimolecular isomerization and decomposition reactions of RO2. The comparison of observations with model calculations gives a lower limit of 0.03 s−1 for the reaction rate constant if the OH source is attributed to an isomerization reaction of MACR-1-OH-2-OO and MACR-2-OH-2-OO formed in the MACR + OH reaction as suggested in the literature (Crounse et al., 2012). This fast isomerization reaction would be a competitor to the reaction of this RO2 species with a minimum of 150 pptv NO. The isomerization reaction would be the dominant reaction pathway for this specific RO2 radical in forested regions, where NO mixing ratios are typically much smaller.

Two gas-phase formaldehyde (HCHO) measurement techniques, a modified commercial wet-chemical instrument based on Hantzsch fluorimetry and a custom-built instrument based on fiber laser-induced fluorescence (FILIF), were deployed at the atmospheric simulation chamber SAPHIR (Simulation of Atmospheric PHotochemistry In a large Reaction Chamber) to compare the instruments' performances under a range of conditions. Thermolysis of para-HCHO and ozonolysis of 1-butene were used as HCHO sources, allowing for calculations of theoretical HCHO mixing ratios. Calculated HCHO mixing ratios are compared to measurements, and the two measurements are also compared. Experiments were repeated under dry and humid conditions (RH < 2% and RH > 60 %) to investigate the possibility of a water artifact in the FILIF measurements. The ozonolysis of 1-butene also allowed for the investigation of an ozone artifact seen in some Hantzsch measurements in previous intercomparisons. Results show that under all conditions the two techniques are well correlated (R-2 >= 0.997), and linear regression statistics show measurements agree with within stated uncertainty (15% FILIF + 5% Hantzsch). No water or ozone artifacts are identified. While a slight curvature is observed in some Hantzsch vs. FILIF regressions, the potential for variable instrument sensitivity cannot be attributed to a single instrument at this time. Measurements at low concentrations highlight the need for a secondary method for testing the purity of air used in instrument zeroing and the need for further FILIF White cell outgassing experiments

HCHO and CHOCHO are important trace gases in the atmosphere, serving as tracers of VOC oxidations. In the past decade, high concentrations of HCHO and CHOCHO have been observed for the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region in southern China. In this study, we performed box model simulations of HCHO and CHOCHO at a semi-rural site in the PRD, focusing on understanding their sources and sinks and factors influencing the CHOCHO to HCHO ratio (RGF). The model was constrained by the simultaneous measurements of trace gases and radicals. Isoprene oxidation by OH radicals is the major pathway forming HCHO, followed by degradations of alkenes, aromatics, and alkanes. The production of CHOCHO is dominated by isoprene and aromatic degradation; contributions from other NMHCs are of minor importance. Compared to the measurement results, the model predicts significant higher HCHO and CHOCHO concentrations. Sensitivity studies suggest that fresh emissions of precursor VOCs, uptake of HCHO and CHOCHO by aerosols, fast vertical transport, and uncertainties in the treatment of dry deposition all have the potential to contribute significantly to this discrepancy. Our study indicates that, in addition to chemical considerations (i.e., VOC composition, OH and NOx levels), atmospheric physical processes (e.g., transport, dilution, deposition) make it difficult to use the CHOCHO to HCHO ratio as an indicator for the origin of air mass composition.

Gaseous nitrous acid (HONO) is an important precursor of tropospheric hydroxyl radicals (OH). OH is responsible for atmospheric self-cleansing and controls the concentrations of greenhouse gases like methane and ozone. Due to lack of measurements, vertical distributions of HONO and its sources in the troposphere remain unclear. Here, we present a set of observations of HONO and its budget made onboard a Zeppelin airship. In a sunlit layer separated from Earth's surface processes by temperature inversion, we found high HONO concentrations providing evidence for a strong gas-phase source of HONO consuming nitrogen oxides and potentially hydrogen oxide radicals. The observed properties of this production process suggest that the generally assumed impact of HONO on the abundance of OH in the troposphere is substantially overestimated.

Nighttime HOx chemistry was investigated in two ground-based field campaigns (PRIDE-PRD2006 and CAREBEIJING2006) in summer 2006 in China by comparison of measured and modeled concentration data of OH and HO2. The measurement sites were located in a rural environment in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) under urban influence and in a suburban area close to Beijing, respectively. In both locations, significant nighttime concentrations of radicals were observed under conditions with high total OH reactivities of about 40-50 s(-1) in PRD and 25 s(-1) near Beijing. For OH, the nocturnal concentrations were within the range of (0.5-3) x 10(6) cm(-3), implying a significant nighttime oxidation rate of pollutants on the order of several ppb per hour. The measured nighttime concentration of HO2 was about (0.2-5) x 10(8) cm(-3), containing a significant, model-estimated contribution from RO2 as an interference. A chemical box model based on an established chemical mechanism is capable of reproducing the measured nighttime values of the measured peroxy radicals and k(OH), but underestimates in both field campaigns the observed OH by about 1 order of magnitude. Sensitivity studies with the box model demonstrate that the OH discrepancy between measured and modeled nighttime OH can be resolved, if an additional ROx production process (about 1 ppb h(-1)) and additional recycling (RO2 -> HO2 -> OH) with an efficiency equivalent to 1 ppb NO is assumed. The additional recycling mechanism was also needed to reproduce the OH observations at the same locations during daytime for conditions with NO mixing ratios below 1 ppb. This could be an indication that the same missing process operates at day and night. In principle, the required primary ROx source can be explained by ozonolysis of terpenoids, which react faster with ozone than with OH in the nighttime atmosphere. However, the amount of these highly reactive biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) would require a strong local source, for which there is no direct evidence. A more likely explanation for an additional ROx source is the vertical downward transport of radical reservoir species in the stable nocturnal boundary layer. Using a simplified one-dimensional two-box model, it can be shown that ground-based NO emissions could generate a large vertical gradient causing a downward flux of peroxy acetic nitrate (PAN) and peroxymethacryloyl nitrate (MPAN). The downward transport and the following thermal decomposition of these compounds can produce up to 0.3 ppb h(-1) radicals in the atmospheric layer near the ground. Although this rate is not sufficient to explain the complete OH discrepancy, it indicates the potentially important role of vertical transport in the lower nighttime atmosphere.

Current photochemical models developed to simulate the atmospheric degradation of aromatic hydrocarbons tend to underestimate OH radical concentrations. In order to analyse OH budgets, we performed experiments with benzene, toluene, p-xylene and 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene in the atmosphere simulation chamber SAPHIR. Experiments were conducted under low-NO conditions (typically 0.1–0.2 ppb) and high-NO conditions (typically 7–8 ppb), and starting concentrations of 6–250 ppb of aromatics, dependent on OH rate constants. For the OH budget analysis a steady-state approach was applied in which OH production and destruction rates (POH and DOH) have to be equal. The POH were determined from measurements of HO2, NO, HONO, and O3 concentrations, considering OH formation by photolysis and recycling from HO2. The DOH were calculated from measurements of the OH concentrations and total OH reactivities. The OH budgets were determined from DOH/POH ratios. The accuracy and reproducibility of the approach were assessed in several experiments using CO as a reference compound where an average ratio DOH/POH = 1.13 ± 0.19 was obtained. In experiments with aromatics, these ratios ranged within 1.1–1.6 under low-NO conditions and 0.9–1.2 under high-NO conditions. The results indicate that OH budgets during photo-oxidation experiments with aromatics are balanced within experimental accuracies. Inclusion of a further, recently proposed OH production via HO2 + RO2 reactions led to improvements under low-NO conditions but the differences were small and insignificant within the experimental errors.

The removal of trace gases from the troposphere is, in most cases, initialized by reactions with hydroxyl radicals, and the products of these reactions are eventually deposited on the Earth's surface. The concentration of these hydroxyl radicals is therefore a measure of atmospheric self-cleansing. In theory, hydroxyl-radical concentrations can be enhanced by the recycling of some of the reaction products. The only known efficient recycling process involves nitrogen oxide and leads to production of ozone, yet observations in regions with high hydrocarbon and low nitrogen oxide concentrations show substantially elevated hydroxyl-radical concentrations, up to ten times higher than expected. If we normalize observed hydroxyl-radical concentrations to the maximum achievable in model calculations with variable nitrogen oxide concentrations, this photochemical coordinate system uncovers a common feature in almost all of these observations: even in the presence of inadequate amounts of nitrogen oxides, hydroxyl-radical concentrations are enhanced to the theoretical maximum obtainable at very much higher nitrogen oxide concentrations. This means that this important part of the self-cleansing capability of the atmosphere is working at maximum efficiency even in regions with a high burden of biogenic hydrocarbons and low nitrogen oxide concentration. Since these processes do not involve nitrogen oxides, tropospheric ozone production is greatly reduced compared with the expectation from current theory.