Vehicle emissions can reduce natural particle formation in the atmosphere

In the study, emissions from gasoline direct-injection vehicles and biogenic alpha-pinene were fed into an environmental chamber where particulate formation under the influence of ultraviolet light imitating sunlight was monitored for several hours.

Photo: Juha Tuomi / Rodeo.

The study found that a mixture of vehicle emission and alpha pinene produced more than 50% less particles than alpha pinene alone. This is expected to be due to the fact that the gaseous compounds of vehicle emissions undermine the particulate formation capacity of alpha pinene.

Further information:

Senior scientist Ari Leskinen, Finnish Meteorological Institute and University of Eastern Finland, tel. +358 50 522 9148, ari.leskinen@fmi.fi Kari E., Hao L., Ylisirniö A., Buchholtz A., Leskinen A., Yli-Pirilä P., Nuutinen I., Kuuspalo K., Jokiniemi J., Faiola C.L., Schobesberger S. & Virtanen A. 2019. Potential dual effect of anthropogenic emissions on the formation of biogenic secondary organic aerosol (BSOA), Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 15651-15671, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15651-2019

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