AAAR 31st Annual Conference
October 8-12, 2012
Hyatt Regency Minneapolis
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Long-term Measurements of Aerosol Particle Composition with an Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor in Megacity Beijing, China
YELE SUN, Zifa Wang, Ting Yang, Xiaole Pan, Pingqing Fu, Huabin Dong, Jie Li, Ping Chen, John Jayne, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science
Abstract Number: 207 Working Group: Urban Aerosols
Abstract Air pollution is still a major environmental concern in China. Knowledge of sources and processes of particulate matter (PM) is of importance for improving air quality and reducing its harmful effects. In this work, we deployed an Aerodyne Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor (ACSM) in megacity Beijing, China for a long-term measurement of non-refractory submicron (PM1) species, including organics, sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and chloride. Here we present the results from a year-long (July 2011- July 2012) measurement at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics which is located between 3rd and 4th ring road in metropolitan area of Beijing. The seasonal variations, diurnal cycles, and evolution processes of organic and inorganic aerosols, as well as their association with meteorological variables are discussed. Particularly, the chemical characteristics of aerosol species in different environments, e.g., dust storm in spring, biomass burning in early summer, and coal combustion in heating season are explored. Positive matrix factorization is performed to ACSM organic aerosol (OA) mass spectra from different seasons. Various OA components, e.g., hydrocarbon-like OA (OA), cooking OA (COA), biomass burning OA (BBOA), and oxygenated OA (OOA) are identified, but not always consistent in different seasons. The sources and processing, seasonal and diurnal variations of primary and secondary OA are elucidated. Finally, HYSPLIT back trajectory and potential source contribution function analyses are used to further investigate the source regions associated with the high PM pollution in different seasons in Beijing, China.