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Size distributions of aerosol sulfates and nitrates in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games: Impacts of pollution control measures and regional transport

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Abstract

For the 2008 Olympic Games, drastic control measures were implemented on industrial and urban emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NO x ) and other pollutants to address the issues of poor air quality in Beijing. To investigate the effects of SO2 and NO x reductions on the particulate sulfate and nitrate concentrations as well as their size distributions, size-segregated aerosol samples were collected using micro-orifice uniform deposit impactors (MOUDIs) at urban and downwind rural sites in Beijing before and after full-scale controls. During the sampling period, the mass concentrations of fine particles (PM1.8) at the urban and rural sites were 94.0 and 85.9 μg m−3, respectively. More than 90% of the sulfates and ∼60% of nitrates formed as fine particles. Benefiting from the advantageous meteorological conditions and the source controls, sulfates were observed in rather low concentrations and primarily in condensation mode during the Olympics. The effects of the control measures were separately analyzed for the northerly and the southerly air-mass-dominated days to account for any bias. After the control measures were implemented, PM, sulfates, and nitrates were significantly reduced when the northerly air masses prevailed, with a higher percentage of reduction in larger particles. The droplet mode particles, which dominated the sulfates and nitrates before the controls were implemented, were remarkably reduced in mass concentration after the control measures were implemented. Nevertheless, when the polluted southerly air masses prevailed, the local source control measures in Beijing did not effectively reduce the ambient sulfate concentration due to the enormous regional contribution from the North China Plain.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, 250100, China

    Xinfeng Wang  (王新锋), Tao Wang  (王 韬), Xiaomei Gao  (高晓梅), Wei Nie  (聂 玮), Likun Xue  (薛丽坤), Rui Gao  (高 锐), Qingzhu Zhang  (张庆竹) & Wenxing Wang  (王文兴)

  2. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China

    Xinfeng Wang  (王新锋), Tao Wang  (王 韬), Xiaomei Gao  (高晓梅), Wei Nie  (聂 玮) & Likun Xue  (薛丽坤)

  3. Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Science, Beijing, 100012, China

    Tao Wang  (王 韬), Jian Gao  (高 健), Wenxing Wang  (王文兴), Shulan Wang  (王淑兰), Fahe Chai & Yizhen Chen  (陈义珍)

  4. Department of Chemistry, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    Ravi Kant Pathak & Mattias Hallquist

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  1. Xinfeng Wang  (王新锋)
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  2. Tao Wang  (王 韬)
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  5. Xiaomei Gao  (高晓梅)
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  6. Wei Nie  (聂 玮)
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  7. Likun Xue  (薛丽坤)
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  9. Rui Gao  (高 锐)
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  10. Qingzhu Zhang  (张庆竹)
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  11. Wenxing Wang  (王文兴)
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  12. Shulan Wang  (王淑兰)
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  14. Yizhen Chen  (陈义珍)
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Correspondence to Wenxing Wang  (王文兴).

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Wang, X., Wang, T., Pathak, R.K. et al. Size distributions of aerosol sulfates and nitrates in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic Games: Impacts of pollution control measures and regional transport. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 30, 341–353 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-012-2053-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-012-2053-4

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