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Carbonaceous aerosol composition over northern China in spring 2012

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Abstract

The organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) collected by eight-stage air samplers over northern China during spring 2012 were determined to characterize the spatial variations, size distributions, and sources of carbonaceous aerosols. OC and EC had high concentration levels and spatial heterogeneity. Higher carbonaceous aerosol loadings were found in urban areas, and high concentrations of OC and EC were found in eastern parts of northern China, including Beijing, Taiyuan in Shanxi Province, Yucheng in Shandong Province, Xianghe in Hebei Province, and Shenyang in Liaoning Province. Except the Cele site, OC and EC at all the sites showed a bimodal distribution, peaking in the size of 0.4–0.7 and 4.7–5.8 μm. Carbonaceous aerosols in the fine mode in the urban areas are mostly presented in smaller sizes than those in the rural/regional background areas. For most sites, mass median aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) values in the fine particles for OC were higher than those for EC with the addition of semi-volatile organics. Good correlations between OC and EC in all the cities (5 in North China and 1 in northeast China) may suggest the impact of anthropogenic emissions on carbonaceous aerosols in the above regions.

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Acknowledgments

This project was supported by the CAS Strategic Priority Research Program Grant (XDA05100100, XDB05020200) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41222033). The author thanks members of the Chinese Ecosystem Research Network (CERN) and Dunhuang Weather Bureau (Engineer Xiutian Ba), Semi-Arid Climate-Environment Observatory of CAS at Tongyu (Renjian Zhang), Xianghe, and Xinglong site (Professor Pucai Wang) for contributions to this research.

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  1. State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, 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. Carbonaceous aerosol composition over northern China in spring 2012. Environ Sci Pollut Res 22, 10839–10849 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4299-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-015-4299-8

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