The fuel of atmospheric chemistry: Toward a complete description of reactive organic carbon

C L Heald; J H Kroll

doi:10.1126/sciadv.aay8967

The fuel of atmospheric chemistry: Toward a complete description of reactive organic carbon

Sci Adv. 2020 Feb 5;6(6):eaay8967. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aay8967. eCollection 2020 Feb.

Authors

C L Heald^{1

2}, J H Kroll^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
² Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.
³ Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA, USA.

Abstract

The Earth's atmosphere contains a multitude of emitted (primary) and chemically formed (secondary) gases and particles that degrade air quality and modulate the climate. Reactive organic carbon (ROC) species are the fuel of the chemistry of the atmosphere, dominating short-lived emissions, reactivity, and the secondary production of key species such as ozone, particulate matter, and carbon dioxide. Despite the central importance of ROC, the diversity and complexity of this class of species has been a longstanding obstacle to developing a comprehensive understanding of how the composition of our atmosphere, and the associated environmental implications, will evolve. Here, we characterize the role of ROC in atmospheric chemistry and the challenges inherent in measuring and modeling ROC, and highlight recent progress toward achieving mass closure for the complete description of atmospheric ROC.

Copyright © 2020 The Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. No claim to original U.S. Government Works. Distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial License 4.0 (CC BY-NC).

Publication types

Review