Modeling of gaseous methylamines in the global atmosphere: Impacts of oxidation and aerosol uptake

69Citations
Citations of this article
42Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Gaseous amines have attracted increasing attention due to their potential role in enhancing particle nucleation and growth and affecting secondary organic aerosol formation. Here we study with a chemistry transport model the global distributions of the most common and abundant amines in the air: monomethylamine (MMA), dimethylamine (DMA), and trimethylamine (TMA). We show that gas phase oxidation and aerosol uptakes are dominant sinks for these methylamines. The oxidation alone (i.e., no aerosol uptake) leads to methylamine lifetimes of 5-10 h in most parts of low and middle latitude regions. The uptake by secondary species with uptake coefficient (γ) of 0.03 (corresponding to the uptake by sulfuric acid particles) reduces the lifetime by ∼30% over oceans and much more over the major continents, resulting in a methylamine lifetime of less than 1-2 h over central Europe, eastern Asia, and eastern US. With the estimated global emission flux, from the literature, our simulations indicate that [DMA] in the model surface layer over major continents is generally in the range of 0.1-2 ppt (parts per trillion) when γ = 0.03 and 0.2-10 ppt when γ = 0, and decreases quickly with altitude. [DMA] over oceans is below 0.05 ppt and over polar regions it is below 0.01 ppt. The simulated [MMA] is about a factor of ∼2.5 higher while [TMA] is a factor of ∼8 higher than [DMA]. The modeled concentrations of methylamines are substantially lower than the limited observed values available, with normalized mean bias ranging from -57 (γ = 0) to -88% (γ = 0.03) for MMA and TMA, and from -78 (γ = 0) to -93% (γ = 0.03) for DMA.

References Powered by Scopus

Global modeling of tropospheric chemistry with assimilated meteorology: Model description and evaluation

1771Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

A global high-resolution emission inventory for ammonia

973Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Evaluated Kinetic, Photochemical and Heterogeneous Data for Atmospheric Chemistry: Supplement V: IUPAC Subcommittee on Gas Kinetic Data Evaluation for Atmospheric Chemistry

883Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Cited by Powered by Scopus

Characterization of biomass burning emissions from cooking fires, peat, crop residue, and other fuels with high-resolution proton-transfer-reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry

252Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Causes and importance of new particle formation in the present-day and preindustrial atmospheres

235Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

New Particle Formation in the Atmosphere: From Molecular Clusters to Global Climate

226Citations
N/AReaders
Get full text

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Yu, F., & Luo, G. (2014). Modeling of gaseous methylamines in the global atmosphere: Impacts of oxidation and aerosol uptake. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 14(22), 12455–12464. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-12455-2014

Readers' Seniority

Tooltip

PhD / Post grad / Masters / Doc 19

68%

Researcher 6

21%

Professor / Associate Prof. 3

11%

Readers' Discipline

Tooltip

Chemistry 14

52%

Environmental Science 6

22%

Earth and Planetary Sciences 5

19%

Agricultural and Biological Sciences 2

7%

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free