February 22, 2012 
SPLAT helps pinpoint pollution particles to enhance smog predictions
RICHLAND, Wash. - Airborne gases settle in smog particles from which they cannot escape, according to research published Feb. 21 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The results could explain why pollution computer models underestimate organic aerosols - the major component of smog particles and the least understood component in climate change calculations.
The study, led by University of California, Irvine air chemist Barbara Finlayson-Pitts, combined alpha-pinene, a common ingredient in household cleaners such as Pine Sol and outdoor emissions, with oxides of nitrogen and ozone to mimic smog buildup. Atmospheric chemist Alla Zelenyuk at the D.O.E.'s Pacific Northwest National Lab evaluated millions of the artificial smog particles one-by-one using a one-of-a-kind, 900-pound instrument known as SPLAT (a single particle laser ablation time-of-flight mass spectrometer).
SPLAT lives at EMSL, DOE's Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab at PNNL. The researchers also employed a 26-foot-long "aerosol flow tube" at the AirUCI unit.
"Being able to study individual particles gives us so much detail about how pollution evolves," said Zelenyuk. "Incorporating what we found about these particles into computer models will help in modeling pollution and climate as well."
Read the entire release from the University of California, Irvine here.
Reference: Véronique Perraud, Emily A. Bruns, Michael J. Ezell, Stanley N. Johnson, Yong Yua, M. Lizabeth Alexander, Alla Zelenyuk, Dan Imre, Wayne L. Chang, Donald Dabdub, James F. Pankow, and Barbara J. Finlayson-Pitts, 2012. Nonequilibrium atmospheric secondary organic aerosol formation and growth, Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A February 21, 2012, doi: 10.1073/pnas.1119909109
Tags: Environment, Fundamental Science, Climate Change, Atmospheric Science
EMSL, the Environmental Molecular Sciences Lab, is a national scientific user facility sponsored by the D.O.E.'s Office of Science. Located at Pacific Northwest National Lab in Richland, Wash., EMSL offers an open, collaborative environment for scientific discovery to researchers around the world. Its integrated computational and experimental resources enable researchers to realize important scientific insights and create new technologies. Follow EMSL on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Interdisciplinary teams at Pacific Northwest National Lab address many of America's most pressing issues in energy, the environment and national security through advances in basic and applied science. PNNL employs 4,700 staff, has an yearly budget of nearly $1.1 billion, and has been managed for the D.O.E. by Ohio-based Battelle since the laboratory's inception in 1965. For more, visit the PNNL's News Center, or follow PNNL on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
