Concentrations and solubility of trace elements in fine particles at a mountain site, southern China: regional sources  and cloud processing

Li, T.; Wang, Y.; Li, W. J.; Chen, J. M.; Wang, T.; Wang, W. X.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-8987-2015

Articles | Volume 15, issue 15

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-8987-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-8987-2015

© Author(s) 2015. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 15, issue 15

Research article

|

13 Aug 2015

Research article |

| 13 Aug 2015

Concentrations and solubility of trace elements in fine particles at a mountain site, southern China: regional sources and cloud processing

T. Li, Y. Wang, W. J. Li, J. M. Chen, T. Wang, and W. X. Wang

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Final revised paper (published on 13 Aug 2015)
Supplement to the final revised paper
Preprint (discussion started on 05 May 2015)
Supplement to the preprint

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC C3120: 'Comments on Li et al. (ACPD 15, 13001-13042, 2015)', Anonymous Referee #2, 31 May 2015
- AC C4783: 'Responses to Anonymous Referee #2', Yan Wang, 12 Jul 2015
RC C3168: 'Review of Li et al.', Anonymous Referee #1, 02 Jun 2015
- AC C4784: 'Responses to Anonymous Referee #1', Yan Wang, 12 Jul 2015
EC C3194: 'Solubility of trace elements', Jianzhong Ma, 03 Jun 2015
- AC C4785: 'Responses to Jianzhong Ma (Editor)', Yan Wang, 12 Jul 2015
SC C4003: 'This manuscript does not meet the scope of ACP', Referee Anonymous, 25 Jun 2015
- AC C4786: 'Responses to Referee Anonymous (SC)', Yan Wang, 12 Jul 2015

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Yan Wang on behalf of the Authors (22 Jul 2015) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Reconsider after minor revisions (Editor review) (24 Jul 2015) by Jianzhong Ma

Dear Dr. Wang,

I think your responses to the comments from the referees, Referee Anonymous and this editor as well as corresponding revisions of the manuscript are fine in general. The manuscript can be accepted for publication in ACP after further minor revisions as suggested below.

In the Abstract, you may try to avoid the use of the geographical names such as Hunan and Jiangxi, which might not be so familiar to a non-native reader. Instead, the important results with more general implications should be pointed out. For example, your findings on the cloud-processing effect, especially an enhancement in the solubility of trace elements corresponding to an increase of sulfate, can be mentioned.

The text parts of Part 1 and Part 2 in the Supplement, which describe the cloud water and residue sampling methods, can be moved and merged into Sect. 2.2, as strongly recommended by Referee #2.

A core content of this manuscript seems to be the solubility of trace elements and its variations with cloud processing. Therefore, I would suggest you move Figure S7 in the Supplement to the formal part of the manuscript (Sect. 3.4.1) and add another figure to Sect. 3.4.4 using data from Table S6 (maybe the ratios of post- to pre-cloud solubility can be plotted).

Some expressions in the manuscript are unclear for me. Please consider if the following sentences or phrases should be rewritten:

Page 3, Line 27 - Page 4 Line 1: “the water solubility of trace elements could be modified during long-range transport, probably affected by emission sources, anthropogenic pollution, acid processing and photochemical aging, etc.” (Perhaps, the water solubility of trace elements are different for various emission sources and could be modified further during long-range transport, probably by photochemical aging and cloud processing, etc)

Page 19, Line 22-23: “To determine the evolution of element solubility during cloud processing”. (maybe “with less disturbance of natural factors and human activities” should be deleted.)

Page 24, Line 8-9: “The enrichment factor analysis implied the pollution trace elements to be more easily concentrated in water-soluble fractions with higher correlations”. (It is really difficult for me to understand what are correlated.)

Sincerely,
Jianzhong Ma

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AR by Yan Wang on behalf of the Authors (31 Jul 2015) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (03 Aug 2015) by Jianzhong Ma

AR by Yan Wang on behalf of the Authors (03 Aug 2015)

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Short summary

Twelve trace elements in fine particles and clouds at a mountain site in southern China were investigated. Long-range transport contributed the most to element concentrations, whereas the YRD and the area around Mt. Lushan exhibited the highest element solubility. We demonstrated that cloud processing can enhance aerosol element solubility and increase sulfate concentration correspondingly, by irreversibly altering the morphology of metal particles in cloud droplet residues.