A study finds that secondary organic aerosols, which are significant components of air pollution that were previously thought to be generated by atmospheric volatile organic compound oxidation, can form rapidly through oxidation of primary organic aerosols in high relative humidity in a Beijing winter; the results may explain why secondary organic aerosol concentrations decreased between 2013 and 2018 even though volatile organic compound levels did not, according to the authors.
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Article #20-22179: "Aqueous production of secondary organic aerosol from fossil-fuel emissions in winter Beijing haze," by Junfeng Wang, Jianhuai Ye, et al.
MEDIA CONTACTS: Xinlei Ge, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, CHINA; email: < caxinra@163.com >; Junfeng Wang, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA: email: < wangjunfeng@seas.harvard.edu >
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences