Articles | Volume 19, issue 5
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2725-2019
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2725-2019
Research article
 | 
04 Mar 2019
Research article |  | 04 Mar 2019

Molecular characterization of organic aerosols in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal: insights into primary and secondary sources

Xin Wan, Shichang Kang, Maheswar Rupakheti, Qianggong Zhang, Lekhendra Tripathee, Junming Guo, Pengfei Chen, Dipesh Rupakheti, Arnico K. Panday, Mark G. Lawrence, Kimitaka Kawamura, and Zhiyuan Cong

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Cited articles

Alam, K., Mukhtar, A., Shahid, I., Blaschke, T., Majid, H., Rahman, S., Khan, R., and Rahman, N.: Source apportionment and characterization of particulate matter (PM10) in urban environment of Lahore, Aerosol Air Qual. Res., 14, 1851–1861, 2014. 
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Bhardwaj, P., Naja, M., Rupakheti, M., Lupascu, A., Mues, A., Panday, A. K., Kumar, R., Mahata, K. S., Lal, S., Chandola, H. C., and Lawrence, M. G.: Variations in surface ozone and carbon monoxide in the Kathmandu Valley and surrounding broader regions during SusKat-ABC field campaign: role of local and regional sources, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11949–11971, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11949-2018, 2018. 
Bhattarai, H., Saikawa, E., Wan, X., Zhu, H., Ram, K., Gao, S., Kang, S., Zhang, Q., Zhang, Y., Wu, G., Wang, X., Kawamura, K., Fu, P., and Cong, Z.: Levoglucosan as a tracer of biomass burning: Recent progress and perspectives, Atmos. Res., 220, 20–33, 2019. 
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Short summary
The sources of primary and secondary aerosols in the Hindu Kush–Himalayan–Tibetan Plateau region are not well known. Organic molecular tracers are useful for aerosol source apportionment. The characterization of molecular tracers were first systemically investigated and the contribution from primary and secondary sources to carbonaceous aerosols was estimated in the Kathmandu Valley. Our results demonstrate that biomass burning contributed a significant fraction to OC in the Kathmandu Valley.
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