Plant-Derived Volatiles and Their Contribution to Secondary Organic Aerosol

Dear Colleagues,

All plants synthesize and release numerous volatile organic compounds (plant volatiles or biogenic VOC) for various purposes including self-defense, communication with other plants or insects and, probably, counteracting environmental stresses. The best-recognized plant volatiles are isoprene and monoterpenes, but there several hundred other compounds that include all kinds of organics, from simple hydrocarbons to functional oxygenated compounds. Once in the atmosphere, plant volatiles immediately enter a network of physical and chemical transformation leading to the formation of particulate matter or secondary organic aerosol (SOA). Back in the 1960s, F.W. Went [Nature 187 (4738), 641–643] speculated that the emitted compounds are oxidized in the atmosphere to products that condense or agglomerate into particles that return to the ground as precipitates that are possibly nutritious for plants. In addition, particles suspended in the air may prevent plants from overheating by solar radiation either per se or by nucleating the clouds. The latter provides rains that recirculate evaporated water back to the plants. Years after Went, research on the transformation of plant volatiles in the atmosphere, including the formation and aging of SOA, is thriving. The number and mass of emitted compounds are so big that the role plant volatiles play in the global atmosphere mechanisms and climate change may be a counterweight to the role played by anthropogenic emissions.

This Special Issue of Atmosphere will review the current state of research on plant volatiles and SOA, as well as highlight frontier research trends in the field. We invite review and research papers on all related topics with particular attention focused on the following:

• Heterogeneous and multiphase transformation of plant volatiles in the atmosphere
• Role of green plant volatiles in SOA formation and aging
• Plant volatiles in urban environments and their influence on the air quality
• Quantitative assessment of SOA from plant volatiles
• Influence of SOA from plant volatiles on human health
• Mitigation of anthropogenic pollution by volatile-emitting plants
• Biosphere – atmosphere and climate feedbacks driven by plant volatiles

Dr. Krzysztof J. Rudziński
Guest Editor

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