Articles | Volume 15, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-815-2015
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-815-2015
Research article
 | 
23 Jan 2015
Research article |  | 23 Jan 2015

A comparison of four receptor models used to quantify the boreal wildfire smoke contribution to surface PM2.5 in Halifax, Nova Scotia during the BORTAS-B experiment

M. D. Gibson, J. Haelssig, J. R. Pierce, M. Parrington, J. E. Franklin, J. T. Hopper, Z. Li, and T. J. Ward

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Cited articles

Bergauff, M., Ward, T., Noonan, C., and Palmer, C. P.: Determination and evaluation of selected organic chemical tracers for wood smoke in airborne particulate matter, Int. J. Environ. An. Ch., 88, 7, 473–486, 2008.
Bergauff, M. A., Ward, T. J., Noonan, C. W., and Palmer, C. P.: The effect of a woodstove changeout on ambient levels of PM2.5 and chemical tracers for woodsmoke in Libby, Montana, Atmos. Environ., 43, 2938–2943, 2009.
Bergauff, M. A., Ward, T. J., Noonan, C. W., Migliaccio, C. T., Simpson, C. D., Evanoski, A. R., and Palmer, C. P.: Urinary levoglucosan as a biomarker of wood smoke: results of human exposure studies, J. Expos. Sci. Environ. Epidemiol., 20, 385–392, 2010.
Bitar, L., Duck, T. J., Kristiansen, N. I., Stohl, A., and Beauchamp, S.: Lidar observations of Kasatochi volcano aerosols in the troposphere and stratosphere, J. Geophys. Res., 115, 1–10, 2010.
Dabek-Zlotorzynska, E., Dann, T. F., Martinelango, P. K., Celo, V., Brook, J. R., Mathieu, D., Ding, L., and Austin, C. C.: Canadian National Air Pollution Surveillance (NAPS) PM2.5 speciation program: methodology and PM2.5 chemical composition for the years 2003–2008, Atmos. Environ., 45, 673–686, 2011.
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This paper presents a quantitative comparison of the four most commonly used receptor models, namely absolute principal component scores, pragmatic mass closure, chemical mass balance, and positive matrix factorization. The receptor models were used to predict the contributions of boreal wild-fire smoke and other sources to PM2.5 mass in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada during the BORTAS-B experiment. This paper also presents a new woodsmoke PM2.5 enrichment factor (levoglucosan x 52).
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