Articles | Volume 21, issue 10
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8341-2021
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8341-2021
Research article
 | 
01 Jun 2021
Research article |  | 01 Jun 2021

Significant contrasts in aerosol acidity between China and the United States

Bingqing Zhang, Huizhong Shen, Pengfei Liu, Hongyu Guo, Yongtao Hu, Yilin Chen, Shaodong Xie, Ziyan Xi, T. Nash Skipper, and Armistead G. Russell

Related authors

Processes driving the regional sensitivities of summertime PM2.5 to temperature across the US: New insights from model simulations
Lifei Yin, Yiqi Zheng, Bin Bai, Bingqing Zhang, Rachel Silvern, Jingqiu Mao, Loretta Mickley, and Pengfei Liu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2872,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2872, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Advances in characterization of black carbon particles and their associated coatings using the soot-particle aerosol mass spectrometer in Singapore, a complex city environment
Mutian Ma, Laura-Hélèna Rivellini, Yichen Zong, Markus Kraft, Liya E. Yu, and Alex King Yin Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 8185–8211, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8185-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8185-2025, 2025
Short summary
Iron isotopes suggest significant aerosol dissolution over the Pacific Ocean
Capucine Camin, François Lacan, Catherine Pradoux, Marie Labatut, Anne Johansen, and James W. Murray
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 8213–8228, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8213-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-8213-2025, 2025
Short summary
Enrichment of organic nitrogen in fog residuals observed in the Italian Po Valley
Fredrik Mattsson, Almuth Neuberger, Liine Heikkinen, Yvette Gramlich, Marco Paglione, Matteo Rinaldi, Stefano Decesari, Paul Zieger, Ilona Riipinen, and Claudia Mohr
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7973–7989, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7973-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7973-2025, 2025
Short summary
Asian dust transport of proteinaceous matter from the Gobi Desert to northern China
Ren-Guo Zhu, Hua-Yun Xiao, Meiju Yin, Hao Xiao, Zhongkui Zhou, Yuanyuan Pan, Guo Wei, and Cheng Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7699–7718, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7699-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7699-2025, 2025
Short summary
Machine-learning-assisted chemical characterization and optical properties of atmospheric brown carbon in Nanjing, China
Yu Huang, Xingru Li, Dan Dan Huang, Ruoyuan Lei, Binhuang Zhou, Yunjiang Zhang, and Xinlei Ge
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7619–7645, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7619-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7619-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

AiMa Air Quality Forecasting System: http://www.aimayubao.com/wryb_eval.php?movie=no (last access: 4 January 2020), 2017. 
Armstrong, B., Hutchinson, E., Unwin, J., and Fletcher, T.: Lung cancer risk after exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: a review and meta-analysis, Environ. Health Perspect., 112, 970–978, https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.6895, 2004. 
Battaglia, M. A., Douglas, S., and Hennigan, C. J.: Effect of the Urban Heat Island on Aerosol pH, Environ. Sci. Technol., 51, 13095–13103, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b02786, 2017. 
Behera, S. N. and Sharma, M.: Investigating the potential role of ammonia in ion chemistry of fine particulate matter formation for an urban environment, Sci. Total Environ., 408, 3569–3575, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2010.04.017, 2010. 
Behera, S. N., Cheng, J., Huang, X., Zhu, Q., Liu, P., and Balasubramanian, R.: Chemical composition and acidity of size-fractionated inorganic aerosols of 2013–14 winter haze in Shanghai and associated health risk of toxic elements, Atmos. Environ., 122, 259–271, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.09.053, 2015. 
Download
Short summary
Extended ground-level measurements are coupled with model simulations to comprehensively compare the aerosol acidity in China and the United States. Aerosols in China are significantly less acidic than those in the United States, with pH values 1–2 units higher. Higher aerosol mass concentrations and the abundance of ammonia and ammonium in China, compared to the United States, are leading causes of the pH difference between these two countries.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint