Abstract
The equilibrium between nitric acid gas (HNO3(g)) and ammonium nitrate aerosol (NH4NO3(p)) in ambient air was studied based on the monitoring data obtained using a five-stage filter-pack system, in which the fine aerosol and the coarse aerosol were separately collected; this made it possible to evaluate the actual situation of the equilibrium more accurately. The partition between HNO3(g) and coarse particulate nitrate (c-NO3-(p)), as well as that between HNO3(g) and fine particulate nitrate (f-NO3-(p)), could be evaluated individually thanks to the classification separation of the aerosol by size. The c-particle proportion c-NO3-(p)/(c-NO3-(p) + HNO3(g)) between HNO3(g) and c-NO3-(p) had a weak negative correlation (r = -0.46, p<0.001) with air temperature; in contrast, the f-particle proportion f-NO3-(p)/(f-NO3-(p) + HNO3(g)) between HNO3(g) and f-NO3-(p) had a moderate negative correlation (r = -0.80, p<0.001) with air temperature in total; furthermore, the f-particle proportion had an interesting and discriminative dependence on air temperature which could be divided into two regions by an air temperature around 15°C. The condition of high air temperature accompanied by high relative humidity frequently resulted in the deliquescent state of NH4NO3(p), providing the disconnect from the theoretical prediction for the products of [NH3(g)] and [HNO3(g)] ([NH3(g)][HNO3(g)]) by Seinfeld and Pandis (1998).
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Sho Oniwa : Sample collection, Chemical analysis, Statistical analysis, Visualization, Writing of draft manuscript
Momoko Abe : Sample collection, Chemical analysis
Masahide Aikawa : Design, Conceptualization, Organization and Supervision of the study, Writing of the final manuscript
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Oniwa, S., Abe, M. & Aikawa, M. Significant parameter for controlling the partition of ambient nitrate species between HNO3(g) and NH4NO3(p). Environ Monit Assess 195, 1134 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11751-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-11751-3