Revisiting acetonitrile as tracer of biomass burning in anthropogenic-influenced environments

Huangfu, Yibo; Yuan, Bin; Wang, Sihang; Wu, Caihong; He, Xianjun; Qi, Jipeng; de Gouw, Joost; Warneke, Carsten; Gilman, Jessica B.; Wisthaler, Armin; Karl, Thomas; Graus, Martin; Jobson, Bertram T.; Shao, Min

doi:10.1029/2020GL092322

i

Revisiting acetonitrile as tracer of biomass burning in anthropogenic-influenced environments

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2021
By Huangfu, Yibo ; Yuan, Bin ; Wang, Sihang ; ...

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Geophysical Research Letters
Personal Author:

Huangfu, Yibo ; Yuan, Bin ; Wang, Sihang ; Wu, Caihong ; He, Xianjun ; Qi, Jipeng ; de Gouw, Joost ; Warneke, Carsten ; Gilman, Jessica B. ; Wisthaler, Armin ; Karl, Thomas ; Graus, Martin ; Jobson, Bertram T. ; Shao, Min
NOAA Program & Office:

OAR (Oceanic and Atmospheric Research) ; CSL (Chemical Sciences Laboratory) ; CIRES (Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences)
Description:

Acetonitrile (CH3CN) has been widely employed as biomass burning tracer. However, the current application of CH3CN absolute mixing ratio as the thresholds may misidentify biomass burning due to the interference from other CH3CN sources in anthropogenic-influenced environments. High levels of CH3CN were observed with minor biomass burning impact but still followed a similar correlation with carbon monoxide (CO), suggesting their shared source, most likely, vehicular emission. By analyzing the available literature including more than 30 worldwide field measurements, the enhancement ratios (EnRs) of CH3CN to CO for biomass burning were found as 2.01 ± 0.16 ppbv/ppmv, well distinguished from the EnRs obtained in urban measurement (0.26 ± 0.04 ppbv/ppmv). An example is given and the application of EnR to identify biomass burning is discussed. The results suggest that the correlation between CH3CN and CO and their EnRs can be used as more specific indicators for biomass burning.
Keywords:

Acetonitrile Biomass
Source:

Geophysical Research Letters, 48, e2020GL092322
DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1029/2020GL092322
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Journal Article
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urn:sha256:290f7e383a626672c401c12e72c9d648947e1f553395ffb46ec87a90fe23e0df
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