Seasonal and temporal variations of ambient aerosols in a deciduous broadleaf forest from northern Japan: Contributions of biomass burning and biological particles

Md Mozammel Haque; Santosh Kumar Verma; Dhananjay K Deshmukh; Bhagawati Kunwar; Yuzo Miyazaki; Kimitaka Kawamura

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130540

Seasonal and temporal variations of ambient aerosols in a deciduous broadleaf forest from northern Japan: Contributions of biomass burning and biological particles

Chemosphere. 2021 Sep:279:130540. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130540. Epub 2021 Apr 8.

Authors

Md Mozammel Haque¹, Santosh Kumar Verma², Dhananjay K Deshmukh³, Bhagawati Kunwar³, Yuzo Miyazaki⁴, Kimitaka Kawamura⁵

Affiliations

¹ Yale-NUIST Center on Atmospheric Environment, International Joint Laboratory on Climate and Environment Change (ILCEC), Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China; School of Applied Meteorology, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing, 210044, China; Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0819, Japan.
² Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0819, Japan; State Forensic Science Laboratory, Home Department, Government of Chhattisgarh, Raipur, 491001, India.
³ Chubu Institute for Advanced Studies, Chubu University, Kasugai, 487-8501, Japan.
⁴ Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0819, Japan.
⁵ Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 060-0819, Japan; Chubu Institute for Advanced Studies, Chubu University, Kasugai, 487-8501, Japan. Electronic address: kkawamura@isc.chubu.ac.jp.

PMID: 33895672
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.130540

Abstract

Total suspended particulate (TSP) samples were collected in a deciduous broadleaf forest in Sapporo, Hokkaido, Japan, from January to December 2010 to understand the molecular composition and abundance of sugar compounds (SCs) in atmospheric aerosols. We analyzed the samples for anhydrosugars, primary sugars, and sugar alcohols using a gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer. The annual mean concentrations of total SCs ranged from 16.1 to 1748 ng m^-3 (avg. 311 ng m^-3) with maxima in spring (avg. 484 ng m^-3) and minima in winter (avg. 28.2 ng m^-3). Primary sugars and sugar alcohols followed the seasonal pattern of total SCs. High levels of anhydrosugars in winter (avg. 22.9 ng m^-3) suggest a contribution of biomass burning from domestic heating due to lower ambient temperature. The high levels of arabitol and mannitol in spring followed by summer and autumn denote the contribution from multiple sources, i.e., growing vegetation and fungal spores in Sapporo forest. We observed an enhanced contribution of bioaerosols emitted from plant blossoms in spring and leaf decomposition in autumn. The identical seasonal trends of glucose and trehalose implied their similar sources in forest aerosols. Conversely, the highest concentration of sucrose in spring was due to the pollen emissions by blooming plants. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analyses of the SCs suggested that organic aerosols in the deciduous forest are associated with the emissions from multiple sources, including vegetation, microbes, pollens, and wintertime biomass burning. The PMF analysis also suggested that vegetation is the primary carbon source in the forest atmosphere. The diagnostic mass ratios of levoglucosan to mannosan demonstrated the dominance of softwood burning. We noted that the meteorological parameters substantially affect the emission sources and seasonal concentrations of SCs in the deciduous forest.

Keywords: Biomass burning; Microbial sources; Pollen tracer; Sugar compounds; Vegetation sources.

MeSH terms

Aerosols / analysis
Air Pollutants* / analysis
Biomass
Environmental Monitoring
Forests
Japan
Particulate Matter* / analysis
Seasons

Substances

Aerosols
Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter