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Characteristics of size-segregated carbonaceous aerosols in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

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Abstract

Mass concentrations of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in size-resolved aerosols were investigated at four sites (three cities and one country) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region from September 2009 to August 2011. The size distributions of OC and EC presented large evolutions among rural and urban sites, and among four seasons, with highest peaks of OC and EC in fine mode in urban areas during winter. Geometric mean diameters (GMDs) of OC and EC in fine particles at urban sites during winter were lower than those at rural site mainly due to effects of fine particle coagulation and organic compound repartitioning. Fossil fuel emissions were a dominant source of OC and EC in urban areas, while biomass burning was a major source of OC and EC at rural site. Trajectory clustering and CWT analysis showed that regional transport was an important contributor to OC and EC in Beijing.

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Acknowledgments

This study is supported by the CAS Strategic Priority Research Program (XDA05100100), the Science and Technology Project of Beijing (D0904 0903670902), and the grant of the Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (KZCX2-YW-Q02-03).

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  1. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, People’s Republic of China

    Yuhong Guo

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  1. Yuhong Guo
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Correspondence to Yuhong Guo.

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Responsible editor: Gerhard Lammel

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Guo, Y. Characteristics of size-segregated carbonaceous aerosols in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. Environ Sci Pollut Res 23, 13918–13930 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6538-z

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