Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) constitutes a major fraction of submicrometer atmospheric particulate matter. Quantitative simulation of SOA within air-quality and climate models-and its resulting impacts-depends on the translation of SOA formation observed in laboratory chambers into robust parameterizations. Worldwide data have been accumulating indicating that model predictions of SOA are substantially lower than ambient observations. Although possible explanations for this mismatch have been advanced, none has addressed the laboratory chamber data themselves. Losses of particles to the walls of chambers are routinely accounted for, but there has been little evaluation of the effects on SOA formation of losses of semivolatile vapors to chamber walls. Here, we experimentally demonstrate that such vapor losses can lead to substantially underestimated SOA formation, by factors as much as 4. Accounting for such losses has the clear potential to bring model predictions and observations of organic aerosol levels into much closer agreement.M ost of the understanding concerning the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) from atmospheric oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) over the past 30 y has been developed from data obtained in laboratory chambers (1). SOA is a major component of particulate matter smaller than 1 μm (2) and consequently has important impacts on regional and global climate and human health and welfare. Accurate simulation of SOA formation and abundance within 3D models is critical to quantifying its atmospheric impacts. Measurements of SOA formation in laboratory chambers provide the basis for the parameterizations of SOA formation (3) in regional air-quality models and global climate models (4). A number of studies indicate that ambient SOA concentrations are underpredicted within models, often substantially so, when these traditional parameterizations are used (e.g., 5, 6). Some of this bias has been attributed to missing SOA precursors in emissions inventories, such as so-called intermediate volatility organic compounds, to ambient photochemical aging of semivolatile compounds occurring beyond that in chamber experiments (7) or to aerosol water/cloud processing (8). The addition of a more complete spectrum of SOA precursors into models has not, however, closed the measurement/prediction gap robustly. For example, recent analysis of organic aerosol (OA) concentrations in Los Angeles revealed that observed OA levels, which are dominated by SOA, exceed substantially those predicted by current atmospheric models (9), in accord with earlier findings in Mexico City (10).Here, we demonstrate that losses of SOA-forming vapors to chamber walls during photooxidation experiments can lead to substantial and systematic underestimation of SOA. Recent experiments have demonstrated that losses of organic vapors to the typically Teflon walls of a laboratory chamber can be substantial (11), but the effects on SOA formation have not yet been quantitatively established. In essence, the walls serve ...