[Analysis of Different Particle Sizes, Pollution Characteristics, and Sources of Atmospheric Aerosols During the Spring Dust Period in Beijing]

Yang Yang; Xing-Ru Li; Xi Chen; Shui-Qiao Liu; Yu-Si Liu; Jing Xu; Li-Li Wang; Ming-Hui Tao; Ge-Hui Wang

doi:10.13227/j.hjkx.201804237

[Analysis of Different Particle Sizes, Pollution Characteristics, and Sources of Atmospheric Aerosols During the Spring Dust Period in Beijing]

Huan Jing Ke Xue. 2018 Dec 8;39(12):5315-5322. doi: 10.13227/j.hjkx.201804237.

[Article in Chinese]

Authors

Yang Yang¹, Xing-Ru Li^{1

2}, Xi Chen¹, Shui-Qiao Liu³, Yu-Si Liu¹, Jing Xu³, Li-Li Wang⁴, Ming-Hui Tao⁵, Ge-Hui Wang²

Affiliations

¹ Analysis and Testing Center, Department of Chemistry, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China.
² Key Laboratory of Geographic Information Science, Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
³ College of Resource, Environment and Tourism, Capital Normal University, Beijing 100048, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
⁵ School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, China.

PMID: 30628374
DOI: 10.13227/j.hjkx.201804237

Abstract

To understand the evolution of the physical and chemical properties of dust aerosols in the atmosphere, the concentrations and chemical compositions of differently sized particles were continuously observed and analyzed using an ion chromatograph and carbonaceous analyzer during the outbreak of dust in May 2017 in Beijing. The concentrations of total suspended particulate (TSP), water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), elemental carbon (EC), OC, and water-soluble inorganic ions were (2237.59±681.49), (29.90±18.05), (1.46±3.05), (67.35±29.07), and (136.75±46.38) μg·m^-3 during the dust period, respectively, and significantly exceeded that of the non-dust period, except for EC. The Na⁺, NH₄⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺, Cl^-, NO₃^-, SO₄^2-, and WSOC concentrations during the dust storm period were 11.55, 3.00, 14.88, 14.89, 9.40, 4.60, 2.40, 3.91, and 1.83 times higher than that during the non-dust period. The growth of crustal ions, such as Ca²⁺ and K⁺, was notably the largest and NH₄⁺ and NO₃^- were minimal. The size distribution indicates that crustal ions primarily occur in the coarse mode during the whole sampling campaign. The SO₄^2- and NO₃^- ions are slightly bimodal during the dust storm, with a dominant peak in the coarse mode at 4.7-5.8 μm and a very minor peak in the fine mode with a size range of 0.43-0.65 μm. During the non-dust period, SO₄^2- is the dominant mode in the fine mode, while NO₃^- changes little compared with that during the dust period, which indicates that heterogeneous reaction with crustal ions is the main formation mechanism of NO₃^- in the coarse mode. A significant positive correlation was observed between SO₄^2- and the sum of crustal ions during the dust period, indicating that the source of SO₄^2- during the dust period is remote transmission of the dust storm. During the non-dust period, the positive correlation of SO₄^2- with NH₄⁺ indicates that secondary formation is the main source of SO₄^2-. Based on correlation analysis of NO₃^- with crustal ions and NH₄⁺, both remote transmission and secondary formation are the sources of NO₃^- during the dust storm and heterogeneous reactions are predominant during the non-dust period.

Keywords: backward trajectory model (HYSPLIT); dust weather; meteorological condition; water-soluble ions; water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC).

Publication types

English Abstract