Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is a complex mixture produced by the oxidation of biogenic (BVOC) and anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (AVOC) in the atmosphere. Aerosol particles influence both the Earth's climate and human health. There are still major uncertainties about the sources and formation pathways of SOA, their transformation and lifetime in the atmosphere, and the underlying impacts on the Earth's climate and human health. In addition, the emissions of anthropogenic and biogenic precursors and their fate in the atmosphere are uncertain, leading to a discrepancy between measured and modelled SOA. An improved chemical characterisation of SOA in the atmosphere can contribute to the understanding of sources, formation pathways and impacts on climate and human health.
Inspired by metabolomics, a tool widely used in the life sciences to identify metabolites, metabolic pathways and biomarkers, we have created the aerosolomics database for the database-driven identification of marker compounds (without the need for authentic standards), which enables the investigation of atmospheric transformation pathways of VOCs under different oxidation conditions.The database enables the matching of compounds based on filters from experiments with an oxidation flux reactor (PAM-OFR) of biogenic and anthropogenic VOCs.
We would like to encourage the community to apply the database to their own samples (please have a look at our 鈥楢erosolomics Quick Start Guide鈥�). Therefore, we provide the database as db-files, msp-files and csv-files that allow the application of the database with Compound Discoverer, MZmine 3 or any self-built solution. As a collaborative project, further contributions to the database are desirable to improve our understanding of the sources and formation of secondary organic aerosol.
