Formulation and initial application of a dynamic model for urban aerosols

Abstract

A dynamic model for prediction of the spatial and temporal behavior of the size and chemical composition distributions of an urban air pollution aerosol is developed. Particular attention is given to the description of aerosol formation and growth in photochemical smog, in which the aerosol of interest lies primarily in the size range, 0.1–1 μm dia. The dynamic model developed is used to simulate aerosol number and mass concentrations and size distributions along several typical air trajectories on 20 September 1972 in the Los Angeles basin. Predictions of the model are compared with total aerosol mass concentrations computed from light-scattering measurements. The sensitivity of the predictions to assumptions concerning the nature of gas to particle conversion processes is explored.

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