Chemical characteristics and spatiotemporal variation of marine fine particles for clustered channels of air masses transporting toward remote background sites in East Asia

Po-Hsuan Yen; Chung-Shin Yuan; Chia-Wei Lee; Jun-Hao Ceng; Zi-You Huang; Kuan-Chen Chiang; I-Chieh Du; Yu-Lun Tseng; Ker-Yea Soong; Ming-Shiou Jeng

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121870

Chemical characteristics and spatiotemporal variation of marine fine particles for clustered channels of air masses transporting toward remote background sites in East Asia

Environ Pollut. 2023 Aug 15;331(Pt 1):121870. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121870. Epub 2023 May 22.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC.
² Institute of Environmental Engineering, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC; Aeroaol Science Research Center, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC. Electronic address: ycsngi@mail.nsysu.edu.tw.
³ Department of Safety, Health, and Environmental Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC.
⁴ Institute of Marine Biology, National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC.
⁵ Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Nangang, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC; Green Island Marine Research Station, Biodiversity Research Center, Academia Sinica, Green Island, Taitung, Taiwan, ROC.

PMID: 37225076
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2023.121870

Abstract

This study investigated the chemical characteristics, spatiotemporal distribution, and source apportionment of marine fine particles (PM_2.5) for clustered transport channels/routes of air masses moving toward three remote sites in East Asia. Six transport routes in three channels were clustered based on backward trajectory simulation (BTS) in the order of: West Channel > East Channel > South Channel. Air masses transported toward Dongsha Island (DS) came mainly from the West Channel, while those transported toward Green Island (GR) and Kenting Peninsula (KT) came mostly from the East Channel. High PM_2.5 commonly occurred from late fall to early spring during the periods of Asian Northeastern Monsoons (ANMs). Marine PM_2.5 was dominated by water-soluble ions (WSIs) which were predominated by secondary inorganic aerosols (SIAs). Although the metallic content of PM_2.5 was predominated by crustal elements (Ca, K, Mg, Fe, and Al), enrichment factor clearly showed that trace metals (Ti, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, and Zn) came mainly from anthropogenic sources. Organic carbon (OC) was superior to elemental carbon (EC), while OC/EC and SOC/OC ratios in winter and spring were higher than those in other two seasons. Similar trends were observed for levoglucosan and organic acids. The mass ratio of malonic acid and succinic acid (M/S) was commonly higher than unity, showing the influences of biomass burning (BB) and secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) on marine PM_2.5. We resolved that the main sources of PM_2.5 were sea salts, fugitive dust, boiler combustion, and SIAs. Boiler combustion and fishing boat emissions at the site DS had higher contribution than those at the sites GR and KT. The highest/lowest contribution ratios of cross-boundary transport (CBT) were 84.9/29.6% in winter and summer, respectively.

Keywords: Chemical characteristics; Clustered transport channels/routes; Marine PM(2.5); Source apportionment; Spatiotemporal variation.

MeSH terms

Aerosols / analysis
Air Pollutants* / analysis
Asia, Eastern
Carbon / analysis
China
Environmental Monitoring
Particulate Matter / analysis
Seasons
Vehicle Emissions / analysis

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter
Vehicle Emissions
Aerosols
Carbon