Elevated nitrogen isotope ratios of tropical Indian aerosols from Chennai: Implication for the origins of aerosol nitrogen in South and Southeast Asia

To better understand the origins of aerosol nitrogen, we measured concentrations of total nitrogen (TN) and its isotope ratios (δ15N) in tropical Indian aerosols (PM10) collected from Chennai (13.04°N; 80.17°E) on day- and night-time basis in winter and summer 2007. We found high δ15N values (+15.7 to +31.2‰) of aerosol N (0.3–3.8 μg m−3), in which NH4+ is the major species (78%) with lesser contribution from NO3− (6%). Based on the comparison of δ15N in Chennai aerosols with those reported for atmospheric aerosols from mid-latitudes and for the particles emitted from point sources (including a laboratory study), as well as the δ15N ratios of cow-dung samples (this study), we found that the atmospheric aerosol N in Chennai has two major sources; animal excreta and bio-fuel/biomass burning from South and Southeast Asia. We demonstrate that a gas-to-particle conversion of NH3 to NH4HSO4 and (NH4)2SO4 and the subsequent exchange reaction between NH3 and NH4+ are responsible for the isotopic enrichment of 15N in aerosol nitrogen.