Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Rana, Archita
• Sarkar, Sayantan

Titel

The role of nitroaromatic compounds (NACs) in constraining BrC absorption in the Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP)

Ist Teil von

• The Science of the total environment, 2024-03, Vol.917, p.170523-170523, Article 170523

Ort / Verlag

Netherlands: Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2024

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Access via ScienceDirect (Elsevier)

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• We present here the first measurements of nitroaromatic compounds (NACs) including nitrophenols (NPs), nitrocatechols (NCs) and nitrosalicylic acids (NSAs) from the Indian subcontinent and their role in constraining brown carbon (BrC) absorption. NACs at a rural receptor site in the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) (annual average: 185 ± 94 ng m−3) was dominated by NSAs (135 ± 77 ng m−3), followed by NPs (29 ± 11 ng m−3) and NCs (17 ± 16 ng m−3), with notable enrichments during nighttime and during the biomass burning seasons. An equilibrium absorption partitioning model estimated that >90 % of NSAs and NCs were in the particle-phase, suggesting lower degradation rates via oxidation and photolysis potentially due to year-round high relative humidity. While the contribution of NACs to organic aerosol mass was only 0.42 ± 0.23 %, their contribution to BrC absorption in the 300–450 nm range was higher by an order of magnitude (8 ± 4 %), with NCs and NSAs contributing almost equally in the low-visible (400–450 nm) range as at 365 nm. Despite having mass concentrations lower than NPs by factors of ∼2, contribution of NCs to BrC absorption at λ ≥ 400 nm was comparable to that by NPs, indicating the importance of the absorption efficiency of chromophores. The receptor model positive matrix factorization (PMF) quantified three major NAC sources: fossil fuel combustion (49 ± 15 %; annual average), secondary formation (40 ± 12 %), and biomass burning (11 ± 9 %), with variable contributions on seasonal and day-night bases. In summary, the study uncovered the significant role of NACs in constraining BrC absorption in the IGP, which stresses the importance for molecular-level characterization of BrC chromophores. [Display omitted] •Seasonal and day-night variation of nitroaromatics studied in the Indo-Gangetic Plain•Nitrocatechols and nitrosalicylic acids were mostly in the particle-phase.•Nitroaromatics contributed 8 ± 4 % to brown carbon absorption at 300–450 nm.•Nitrocatechols and nitrosalicylic acids dominated absorption at higher wavelengths.•Fossil fuel combustion (49 %), secondary formation (40 %), and biomass burning (11 %) were major sources.