Impact of biogenic emissions on air quality over Europe and North America

Most of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) formed at the continental scale over Europe and NA are biogenic aerosols. Eliminating biogenic emissions reduces SOA by 72-88% over Europe and by 90% over NA. However, biogenic SOA are not only impacted by biogenic but also by anthropogenic emissions: eliminating all anthropogenic emissions affects oxidant levels and the absorbing carbon mass, reducing the formation of SOA by 15-16% over Europe and by about 10% over NA; Furthermore, locally, the reduction may be as large as 50%, especially over large urban centers in Europe and NA.