Abundance, composition and source of atmospheric PM2.5 at a remote site in the Tibetan Plateau, China

Jian Jun Li; Ge Hui Wang; Xin Ming Wang; Jun Ji Cao; Tao Sun; Chun Lei Cheng; Jing Jing Meng; Ta Feng Hu; Sui Xin Liu

doi:10.3402/tellusb.v65i0.20281

Abundance, composition and source of atmospheric PM2.5 at a remote site in the Tibetan Plateau, China

Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology

Volume 65 (2013): Issue 1

By: Jian Jun Li, Ge Hui Wang, Xin Ming Wang, Jun Ji Cao, Tao Sun, Chun Lei Cheng, Jing Jing Meng, Ta Feng Hu and Sui Xin Liu

Open Access

|Jan 2013

Figures & Tables

Location of sampling site (Bird Island, northwestern Qinghai Lake, 36°59′N, 99°54′E).

Correlations of WSOC with (a) OC and (b) $S O_{4}^{2 -}$ .

Table 1. Summary of major components in PM_2.5 at Qinghai Lake during summer (N=56), 2010

ComponentMinMaxMeanSDT (K)^a282.2293.5287.52.81RH (%)^a48.387.664.48.06PM_2.5 (µg m⁻³)3.861.721.513.3Carbonaceous componentsOC (µg m⁻³)0.662.591.580.59EC (µg m⁻³)0.030.890.370.24Char-EC (µg m⁻³)nd^d0.660.160.15Soot-EC (µg m⁻³)0.050.510.220.11WSOC (µg m⁻³)0.151.410.660.33WSIC (µg m⁻³)0.020.180.060.03OC/EC1.8521.85.953.90WSOC/OC0.150.660.410.13Water-soluble inorganic ions

S O_{4}^{2 -}

(µg m⁻³)0.6513.353.882.76

N O_{3}^{-}

(µg m⁻³)0.072.340.780.48

N H_{4}^{+}

(µg m⁻³)0.051.560.610.39Ca^{2 +} (µg m⁻³)0.021.340.340.29Mg^{2 +} (µg m⁻³)0.010.220.060.05K⁺ (µg m⁻³)0.010.290.100.08Cl⁻ (µg m⁻³)0.010.410.090.08R_N/S^b0.361.380.860.20pH_IS^c−1.72−0.18−1.20−0.32LWC^c (µmol m⁻³)0.070.820.320.19

[i] ^a T and RH: due to the instrument trouble, temperature (T) and relative humidity (RH) here only presented daily-averaged value from 2010-7-15~2009-8-27 (N=43).

[ii] ^b R _N/S: Ratio of [ $N H_{4}^{+}$ ]/[ $S O_{4}^{2 -}$ ] (mol m⁻³/mol m⁻³).

[iii] ^cpH_IS: AIM-derived in situ pH of the aqueous phase on aerosols.

[iv] AIM, aerosol inorganic model; EC, elemental carbon; LWC, liquid water content in the aqueous phase of PM_2.5; OC, organic carbon; WSIC, water-soluble inorganic carbon; WSOC, water-soluble organic carbon.

[v] ^dnd: not detected.

Table 2. Concentrations of nine organic compositions in the summertime aerosols (PM_2.5) at Qinghai Lake (ng m⁻³)

CompositionMinMaxMeanSDn-AlkanesPlant wax^a0.3910.414.092.80Fossil fuel^a0.364.912.371.30Subtotal0.7414.906.474.02Fatty acids2.2143.3919.4412.31Fatty alcohols1.3227.7212.227.55SugarsDehydrated sugars0.184.321.721.13 Primary sugars0.2013.073.213.26 Sugar alcohols0.103.961.541.13 Subtotal0.4919.386.474.80PAHs0.0801.910.690.52Phthalic acids0.227.042.641.53Phthalates0.285.471.931.19Polyols and polyacids0.8818.767.473.57BSOA tracersIsoprene SOA tracers0.137.152.501.91 α-/β-Pinene SOA tracers0.3010.422.952.07 β-Caryophyllene SOA tracer0.052.410.870.68Subtotal0.5418.446.334.36Total measured organics7.31306236Total organics – C/OC (%)0.425.262.611.04

[i] ^aPlant wax n-alkanes: calculated as the excess odd homologues-adjacent even homologues average and the difference from the total n-alkanes is the fossil-fuel-derived amount (Simoneit et al., 1991, 2004c).

[ii] BSOA, biogenic secondary organic aerosols; OC, organic carbon; SOA, secondary organic aerosol.

Molecular distribution of n-alkanes, fatty acids and fatty alcohols. Relative abundance: [(concentration of individual compound)/(concentration of total congeners)]×100%.

Temporal variations of n-alkanes, fatty acids and fatty alcohols. Shadow denotes rainy weather.

Relationships between the concentrations of (a) Levoglucosan and K⁺, (b) Ca^{2 +} and K⁺, (c) Char-EC and total PAHs, and (d) Soot-EC and total PAHs.

Temporal variations of sugars (biomass burning derived sugars contain galactosan, mannosan and levoglucosan; plant photosynthate=fructose + glucose + sucrose + trehalose; fungal spores=arabitol + mannitol + inositol). Relative abundance: [(concentration of sugars from special source)/(concentration of total sugars)]×100%. Shadow denotes rainy weather.

Temporal variations of (a) temperature and relative humidity, (b) pH_IS (particle acidity calculated using AIM model), and (c) estimated biogenic SOC concentration. Shadow denotes rainy weather.

Linear regression of concentrations of 2-methyltetrols with (a) temperature, and (b) relative humidity.

Backward trajectories of air masses arriving in Qinghai Lake (36.98°N, 99.90°E, and the altitude were set as 3300 m a.s.l., 07/03–08/27/2010, local time, 24-hr interval). Red line: air masses transported from the eastern region of Qinghai Lake, Green Line: air masses transported from the western region of Qinghai Lake.

Ratios of concentrations in air mass transported from easterly to that from westerly (E/W): (a) carbonaceous components and water-soluble inorganic ions and (b) organic compositions in PM_2.5.

Table 3. Comparison of summertime aerosol compositions with those in plateau, urban and mountain atmospheres

Sampling site and period

S O_{4}^{2 -}

N O_{3}^{-}

CPI^aCFAs/TFAs^bC_18:1/C_18:0BaP/BePSOC_iso /OC^c ReferencesPlateau siteQinghai Lake (PM_2.5), 20109.34.118%0.120.220.70%This studyWaliguan (TSP), 199519na^dnananana(Yang et al., 1996)Mountain sitesMt. Hua (PM₁₀), 2009143.4nana0.452.7%(Li et al., 2013) and unreported dataMt. Tai (TSP), 20061.51.830%0.160.85.0%(Xu et al., 2009; Fu et al., 2010)Mt. Changbai (PM₁₀/PM_2.5), 20064.5nananana6.7%(Wang et al., 2008; Xu et al., 2009)Mt. Dinghu (PM₁₀/PM_2.5), 20064.5nananana3.2%(Wang et al., 2008; Xu et al., 2009)Urban sitesXi'an (PM_2.5), 2006/20033.01.260%0.360.49na(Wang et al., 2006a; Shen et al., 2008)Beijing (PM_2.5), 2005/20031.61.246%0.740.38na(Wang et al., 2006a; He et al., 2012)Shanghai (PM₁₀ /PM_2.5), 2006/20031.81.156%0.190.220.41%(Wang et al., 2006a) and unreported dataGuangzhou (PM_2.5), 2006/20033.11.572%0.110.17na(Wang et al., 2006a; Huang et al., 2011)

[i] ^aCPI: carbon preference index for n-alkanes: (C₁₉+C₂₁+C₂₃+C₂₅+C₂₇+C₂₉+C₃₁+C₃₃+C₃₅)/(C₁₈+C₂₀+C₂₂+C₂₄+C₂₆+C₂₈+C₃₀+C₃₂+C₃₄).

[ii] ^bCFAs/TFAs: contribution of cooking derived fatty acids (CFAs, sum of C_16:0, C_18:0 and C_18:1) to total fatty acids (TFAs).

[iii] ^cSOC_iso/OC: contribution of estimated SOC derived from isoprene oxidation to OC.

[iv] ^dna: not available.

Reconstructed mass balances of PM_2.5 during summer in: (a) Qinghai Lake (this study), (b) Amazonian (Graham et al., 2003), (c) Beijing (Duan et al., 2006), and (d) Shanghai (Ye et al., 2003).

References

Authors

Metrics

Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v65i0.20281 | Journal eISSN: 1600-0889

Journal RSS Feed

Language: English

Page range: 20281 - 20281

Submitted on: Dec 15, 2012

Accepted on: Aug 6, 2013

Published on: Jan 1, 2013

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

fine particles,

inorganic ions,

biogenic secondary organic aerosols,

relative humidity

© 2013 Jian Jun Li, Ge Hui Wang, Xin Ming Wang, Jun Ji Cao, Tao Sun, Chun Lei Cheng, Jing Jing Meng, Ta Feng Hu, Sui Xin Liu, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 65 (2013): Issue 1

Abundance, composition and source of atmospheric PM2.5 at a remote site in the Tibetan Plateau, China

Figures & Tables

Fig. 1

Fig. 2

Fig. 3

Fig. 4

Fig. 5

Fig. 6

Fig. 7

Fig. 8

Fig. 9

Fig. 10

Fig. 11

Paradigm

My account