Traffic-Emitted Amines Promote New Particle Formation at Roadsides

Abstract

New particle formation (NPF) is a major source of atmospheric aerosol particles, significantly influencing particle number concentrations in urban environments. High condensation and coagulation sinks at highly trafficked roadside sites should suppress NPF due to the low survival probability of clusters and new particles, however, observations show that roadside NPF is frequent and intense. Here, we investigate NPF at an urban background and roadside site in Central Europe using simultaneous measurements of sulfuric acid, amines, highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs), and particle number size distributions. We demonstrate that sulfuric acid and amines, particularly traffic-derived C₂-amines, are the primary participants in particle formation. C₂-amine concentrations at the roadside are enhanced by over a factor of 4 relative to the background, overcoming the effect of enhanced coagulation and condensation sinks. Using machine learning we identify a further but uncertain enhancing role of HOMs. These findings reveal the critical role of traffic emissions in urban NPF.

Traffic is a source of amines which enhance the formation rates of new particles.