1Key Lab of Marine Environmental Science and Ecology, Ministry of
Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
2State Key Joint Laboratory for Environmental Simulation and Pollution
Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking
University, Beijing 100871, China
3Departments of Atmospheric Sciences and Chemistry, Center for the
Atmospheric Chemistry and the Environment, Texas A&M University, College
Station, TX 77843, USA
4State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and
Atmospheric Chemistry (LAPC), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
5Qiangdao Collaborative Center of Marine Science and Technology,
Qingdao 266100, China
*These authors contributed equally to this work.
1Key Lab of Marine Environmental Science and Ecology, Ministry of
Education, Ocean University of China, Qingdao 266100, China
2State Key Joint Laboratory for Environmental Simulation and Pollution
Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking
University, Beijing 100871, China
3Departments of Atmospheric Sciences and Chemistry, Center for the
Atmospheric Chemistry and the Environment, Texas A&M University, College
Station, TX 77843, USA
4State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and
Atmospheric Chemistry (LAPC), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese
Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
5Qiangdao Collaborative Center of Marine Science and Technology,
Qingdao 266100, China
Received: 22 Dec 2016 – Discussion started: 02 Jan 2017 – Revised: 22 Jun 2017 – Accepted: 03 Jul 2017 – Published: 08 Aug 2017
Abstract. This study is the first to use two identical Fast Mobility Particle Sizers for simultaneous measurement of particle number size distributions (PNSDs) at a street site and a rooftop site within 500 m distance in wintertime and springtime to investigate new particle formation (NPF) in Beijing. The collected datasets at 1 s time resolution allow deduction of the freshly emitted traffic particle signal from the measurements at the street site and thereby enable the evaluation of the effects on NPF in an urban atmosphere through a site-by-site comparison. The number concentrations of 8 to 20 nm newly formed particles and the apparent formation rate (FR) in the springtime were smaller at the street site than at the rooftop site. In contrast, NPF was enhanced in the wintertime at the street site with FR increased by a factor of 3 to 5, characterized by a shorter NPF time and higher new particle yields than at the rooftop site. Our results imply that the street canyon likely exerts distinct effects on NPF under warm or cold ambient temperature conditions because of on-road vehicle emissions, i.e., stronger condensation sinks that may be responsible for the reduced NPF in the springtime but efficient nucleation and partitioning of gaseous species that contribute to the enhanced NPF in the wintertime. The occurrence or absence of apparent growth for new particles with mobility diameters larger than 10 nm was also analyzed. The oxidization of biogenic organics in the presence of strong photochemical reactions is suggested to play an important role in growing new particles with diameters larger than 10 nm, but sulfuric acid is unlikely to be the main species for the apparent growth. However, the number of datasets used in this study is relatively small, and larger datasets are essential to draw a general conclusion.
This study reports the distinct effects of street canyons on new particle formation (NPF) under warm or cold ambient temperature conditions because of on-road vehicle emissions; i.e., stronger condensation sinks are responsible for the reduced NPF in the springtime, but efficient nucleation and partitioning of gaseous species contribute to the enhanced NPF in the wintertime. The oxidization of biogenic organics is suggested to play an important role in growing new particles.
This study reports the distinct effects of street canyons on new particle formation (NPF) under...
