Insights into the nature of secondary organic aerosol in Mexico City during the MILAGRO experiment 2006

This study targets understanding the secondary sources of organic aerosol in Mexico City during the Megacities Impact on Regional and Global Environment (MIRAGE) 2006 field campaign. Ambient PM2.5 was collected daily at urban and peripheral locations. Particle-phase secondary organic aerosol (SOA) products of anthropogenic and biogenic precursor gases were measured by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Ambient concentrations of SOA tracers were used to estimate organic carbon (OC) from secondary origins (SOC). Anthropogenic SOC was estimated as 20–25% of ambient OC at both sites, while biogenic SOC was less abundant, but was relatively twice as important at the peripheral site. The OC that was not attributed secondary sources or to primary sources in a previous study showed temporal consistency with biomass-burning events, suggesting the importance of secondary processing of biomass-burning emissions in the region. The best estimate of biomass-burning-related SOC was in the range of 20–30% of ambient OC during peak biomass burning events. Low-molecular weight (MW) alkanoic and alkenoic dicarboxylic acids (C2–C5) were also measured, of which oxalic acid was the most abundant. The spatial and temporal trends of oxalic acid differed from tracers for primary and secondary sources, suggesting that it had different and/or multiple sources in the atmosphere.