Organic aerosols — such as those released in cooking — may stay in the atmosphere for several days, because of nanostructures formed by fatty acids as they are released into the air.
By identifying the processes which control how these aerosols are transformed in the atmosphere, scientists will be able to better understand and predict their impact on the environment and the climate.
Experts at the Universities of Birmingham and Bath have used instruments at the Diamond Light Source and the Central Laser Facility, both based at the Harwell Campus in Oxford, to probe the behaviour of thin films of oleic acid — an unsaturated fatty acid commonly released when cooking.
In the study, published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, they were able to analyse the particular molecular properties that control how rapidly aerosol emissions can be broken down in the atmosphere.
Then, using a…
