Chemistry of new particle growth during springtime in the Seoul metropolitan area, Korea.

New particle formation and growth events (NPEs) were frequently observed (17 out of 60 days) during April 14 to June 15, 2016 in the Seoul metropolitan area (SMA). In this study, we investigated the chemical mechanisms of new particle growth based on measurements conducted using an aerodyne high resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) and a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS). Both instruments were deployed as a part of the KORUS-AQ campaign (Korea-US Air Quality study). NPEs usually started around noon time between ∼11:00 and 14:00 with the appearance of an ultrafine mode peaking between ∼20 and 30 nm (in mobility diameter, D, measured by the SMPS operating in the range 18-947 nm) followed by the growth of this modal diameter to 50-100 nm during the next ∼6-18 h. The growth rate of NPEs during the study was on average 4.48 ± 1.39 nm/h. Comparing to the non-NPE days in SMA, NPEs occurred under the conditions of lower concentration of preexisting particles, higher ozone (48 vs 30 ppb), stronger solar radiation (2.53 vs1.20 MJ/m), and drier air (34 vs 65%). The HR-ToF-AMS size-resolved aerosol composition measurements show that LV-OOA (low volatility oxidized organic aerosol) and sulfate were major contributors to the growth of new particles at the initial stage of NPE which mostly occurred during daytime and that the later growth which extended into nighttime was mainly contributed by semi-volatile condensable species such as nitrate and SV-OOA (semi-volatile oxygenated organic aerosol). Generally new particles grew to a modal size of ∼80 nm (12 out of 17 NPEs) over the course of an event, however, particles could grow to larger than 100 nm when nitrate concentration was high whereas particle growth was limited to ∼ 50 nm when nitrate, SV-OOA or sulfate were low.