Articles | Volume 23, issue 23
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14889-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14889-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Measurement report
| 
01 Dec 2023
Measurement report |
| 01 Dec 2023
| 01 Dec 2023
Measurement report: Size-resolved mass concentration of equivalent black carbon-containing particles larger than 700 nm and their role in radiation
Weilun Zhao
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Department of Ocean Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory, Guangzhou 511458, China
Gang Zhao
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Nan Ma
Institute for Environmental and Climate Research, Jinan University, Guangzhou 511443, China
Shuya Hu
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
Chunsheng Zhao
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
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Wenhui Zhao, Weiwei Hu, Zhaoce Liu, Tianle Pan, Tingting Feng, Jun Wang, Yiyu Cai, Lin Liang, Shan Huang, Bin Yuan, Nan Ma, Min Shao, Guohua Zhang, Xinhui Bi, Xinming Wang, and Pengfei Yu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2974, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2974, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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Our study examined brown carbon—organic aerosols that absorb light—at the remote Tibet and urban Guangzhou. Field data showed Tibet’s brown carbon absorbs about 10 times less than Guangzhou’s, due to cleaner air. Yet, over 75 % of its light absorption still comes from primary emission, which causes over 98 % of its climate-warming effect in both places. This study advances understanding of BrC dynamics and its sources in diverse environments for global climate effects.
Yu Li, Momei Qin, Weiwei Hu, Bin Zhao, Ying Li, Havala O. T. Pye, Jingyi Li, Linghan Zeng, Song Guo, Min Hu, and Jianlin Hu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2879, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2879, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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We evaluated how well a widely used air quality model simulates key properties of organic particles in the atmosphere, such as volatility and oxygen content, which influence how particles age, spread, and affect both air quality and climate. Using observations from eastern China, we found the model underestimated particle mass and misrepresented their chemical makeup. Our results highlight the need for improved emissions and chemical treatments to better predict air quality and climate impacts.
Jianjiong Mao, Lei Jiang, Zhicheng Feng, Jingyi Li, Yanhong Zhu, Momei Qin, Song Guo, Min Hu, and Jianlin Hu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2992, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2992, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Geoscientific Model Development (GMD).
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Tiny air particles impact air quality and climate change. Our study improved their prediction in China by modeling two key formation processes: ions + sulfuric acid (daytime) and sulfuric acid + dimethylamine (morning/evening). This improved model increases predictions by 36–84 % in Beijing and Nanjing. These advancements enable better demonstrate how these chemical processes significantly influence China's particulate pollution.
Bishuo He and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7765–7776, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7765-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7765-2025, 2025
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Factor uncertainty analysis helps us understand the impacts of factors on complex systems. Traditional methods have many limitations. This study introduces a new method to measure how each factor contributes to uncertainty. It gains insights into the role of each variable and works for all multi-factor systems. As an application, we analyzed how aerosols affect solar radiation and identified the key factors. These analyses can improve our understanding of the role of aerosols in climate change.
Gang Zhao, Ping Tian, Chunxiang Ye, Weili Lin, Yicheng Gao, Jie Sun, Yi Chen, Fengjun Shen, and Tong Zhu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3012, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3012, 2025
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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Understanding aerosol size distribution helps us predict how aerosols move, grow, and interact with the environment and climate. We used "maximum entropy" to demonstrate that the aerosol particle number size distribution would follow the Weibull distribution in the clean atmosphere during the new particle formation and growth process. The observations showed good consistency with the theoretical analysis.
Jingnan Shi, Zhisheng Zhang, Li Li, Li Liu, Yaqing Zhou, Shuang Han, Shaobin Zhang, Minghua Liang, Linhong Xie, Weikang Ran, Shaowen Zhu, Hanbing Xu, Jiangchuan Tao, Alfred Wiedensohler, Qiaoqiao Wang, Qiyuan Wang, Nan Ma, and Juan Hong
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2643, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-2643, 2025
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This study examines aerosol hygroscopicity and mixing states at Mt. Hua (2060 m), a key free-tropospheric site in central China. We found size-dependent hygroscopicity, source-related variations, and humidity-driven processing, distinguishing this region from other high-altitude sites, which may provide key constraints for aerosol-cloud and regional climate models.
Chengyi Fan, Bishuo He, Shuqi Guo, Jie Qiu, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5761–5771, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5761-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5761-2025, 2025
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Marine aerosols play a critical role in weather and climate, and their real part of the refractive index (RRI) is a key factor in their radiative effects. We present a study of RRI measurements using optical tweezer technology and find that the calculated results of RRI using the traditional method disagree with the measurements. A parameterization of the RRI and relative humidity relationship is proposed, and it will improve the radiation calculation in numerical models.
Huiyun Du, Jie Li, Xueshun Chen, Gabriele Curci, Fangqun Yu, Yele Sun, Xu Dao, Song Guo, Zhe Wang, Wenyi Yang, Lianfang Wei, and Zifa Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5665–5681, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5665-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5665-2025, 2025
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Inadequate consideration of mixing states and coatings on black carbon (BC) hinders aerosol radiation forcing quantification. Core–shell mixing aligns well with observations, but partial internal mixing is a more realistic representation. We used a microphysics module to determine the fraction of embedded BC and coating aerosols, constraining the mixing state. This reduced absorption enhancement by 30 %–43 % in northern China, offering insights into BC's radiative effects.
Weichao Huang, Sihang Wang, Peng Cheng, Bingna Chen, Bin Yuan, Pengfei Yu, Haichao Wang, Nan Ma, Mei Li, and Keding Lu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1835, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1835, 2025
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We studied vehicle emissions from 10 3000-metre tunnels in the Qinghai-Tibet plateau. Since low pressure causes fuel evaporation, emissions of volatile organic compounds rise with elevation, unlike in low-altitude areas where exhaust gas is predominant. This indicates the need for specific emission control measures. Electric vehicles can use renewable energy in Tibet to reduce emissions. The study aims to understand emissions at high altitudes and guide cleaner transport.
Junlin Shen, Li Liu, Fengling Yuan, Biao Luo, Hongqing Qiao, Miaomiao Zhai, Gang Zhao, Hanbing Xu, Fei Li, Yu Zou, Tao Deng, Xuejiao Deng, and Ye Kuang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1410, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1410, 2025
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This study provides direct observational evidence that secondary organic aerosols have substantially higher real refractive indices than primary organic aerosols, challenging current model assumptions and offering recommended values that improve the accuracy of aerosol radiative effect simulations.
Zheng Yang, Qiaoqiao Wang, Qiyuan Wang, Nan Ma, Jie Tian, Yaqing Zhou, Ge Xu, Miao Gao, Xiaoxian Zhou, Yang Zhang, Weikang Ran, Ning Yang, Jiangchuan Tao, Juan Hong, Yunfei Wu, Junji Cao, Hang Su, and Yafang Cheng
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1020, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-1020, 2025
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Our results demonstrate that the reduction in mass absorption efficiency from biomass burning is mainly driven by the decline in the imaginary part, with particle size playing a minor role. And light absorption of oxygenated BrC increases significantly with aging, but hydrocarbon-like BrC decrease over time. These results emphasize the necessity to classify BrC into different groups based on their mass absorption efficiency and atmospheric behavior in climate models.
Ye Kuang, Jiangchuan Tao, Hanbing Xu, Li Liu, Pengfei Liu, Wanyun Xu, Weiqi Xu, Yele Sun, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1163–1174, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1163-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1163-2025, 2025
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This study presents a novel optical framework to measure supersaturation, a fundamental parameter in cloud physics, by observing the scattering properties of particles that have or have not grown into cloud droplets. The technique offers high-resolution measurements, capturing essential fluctuations in supersaturation necessary for understanding cloud physics.
Jia Sun, Markus Hermann, Kay Weinhold, Maik Merkel, Wolfram Birmili, Yifan Yang, Thomas Tuch, Harald Flentje, Björn Briel, Ludwig Ries, Cedric Couret, Michael Elsasser, Ralf Sohmer, Klaus Wirtz, Frank Meinhardt, Maik Schütze, Olaf Bath, Bryan Hellack, Veli-Matti Kerminen, Markku Kulmala, Nan Ma, and Alfred Wiedensohler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10667–10687, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10667-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10667-2024, 2024
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We investigated the characteristics of new particle formation (NPF) for various environments from urban background to high Alpine and the impacts of NPF on cloud condensation nuclei and aerosol radiative forcing. NPF features differ between site categories, implying the crucial role of local environmental factors such as the degree of emissions and meteorological conditions. The results also underscore the importance of local environments when assessing the impact of NPF on climate in models.
Naveed Ahmad, Changqing Lin, Alexis K. H. Lau, Jhoon Kim, Tianshu Zhang, Fangqun Yu, Chengcai Li, Ying Li, Jimmy C. H. Fung, and Xiang Qian Lao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9645–9665, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9645-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9645-2024, 2024
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This study developed a nested machine learning model to convert the GEMS NO2 column measurements into ground-level concentrations across China. The model directly incorporates the NO2 mixing height (NMH) into the methodological framework. The study underscores the importance of considering NMH when estimating ground-level NO2 from satellite column measurements and highlights the significant advantages of new-generation geostationary satellites in air quality monitoring.
Jiangchuan Tao, Biao Luo, Weiqi Xu, Gang Zhao, Hanbin Xu, Biao Xue, Miaomiao Zhai, Wanyun Xu, Huarong Zhao, Sanxue Ren, Guangsheng Zhou, Li Liu, Ye Kuang, and Yele Sun
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9131–9154, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9131-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9131-2024, 2024
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Using simultaneous measurements of DMA–CCNC, H(/V)TDMA, and DMA–SP2, impacts of primary emissions and secondary aerosol formations on changes in aerosol physicochemical properties were comprehensively investigated. It was found that intercomparisons among aerosol mixing-state parameters derived from different techniques can help us gain more insight into aerosol physical properties which, in turn, will aid the investigation of emission characteristics and secondary aerosol formation pathways.
Fei Ye, Jingyi Li, Yaqin Gao, Hongli Wang, Jingyu An, Cheng Huang, Song Guo, Keding Lu, Kangjia Gong, Haowen Zhang, Momei Qin, and Jianlin Hu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 7467–7479, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7467-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-7467-2024, 2024
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Naphthalene (Nap) and methylnaphthalene (MN) are key precursors of secondary organic aerosol (SOA), yet their sources and sinks are often inadequately represented in air quality models. In this study, we incorporated detailed emissions, gas-phase chemistry, and SOA parameterization of Nap and MN into CMAQ to address this issue. The findings revealed remarkably high SOA formation potentials for these compounds despite their low emissions in the Yangtze River Delta region during summer.
Ming Chu, Xing Wei, Shangfei Hai, Yang Gao, Huiwang Gao, Yujiao Zhu, Biwu Chu, Nan Ma, Juan Hong, Yele Sun, and Xiaohong Yao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6769–6786, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6769-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6769-2024, 2024
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We used a 20-bin WRF-Chem model to simulate NPF events in the NCP during a three-week observational period in the summer of 2019. The model was able to reproduce the observations during June 29–July 6, which was characterized by a high frequency of NPF occurrence.
Kai Song, Rongzhi Tang, Jingshun Zhang, Zichao Wan, Yuan Zhang, Kun Hu, Yuanzheng Gong, Daqi Lv, Sihua Lu, Yu Tan, Ruifeng Zhang, Ang Li, Shuyuan Yan, Shichao Yan, Baoming Fan, Wenfei Zhu, Chak K. Chan, Maosheng Yao, and Song Guo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 13585–13595, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13585-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-13585-2023, 2023
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Incense burning is common in Asia, posing threats to human health and air quality. However, less is known about its emissions and health risks. Full-volatility organic species from incense-burning smoke are detected and quantified. Intermediate-volatility volatile organic compounds (IVOCs) are crucial organics accounting for 19.2 % of the total emission factors (EFs) and 40.0 % of the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) estimation, highlighting the importance of incorporating IVOCs into SOA models.
Chupeng Zhang, Shangfei Hai, Yang Gao, Yuhang Wang, Shaoqing Zhang, Lifang Sheng, Bin Zhao, Shuxiao Wang, Jingkun Jiang, Xin Huang, Xiaojing Shen, Junying Sun, Aura Lupascu, Manish Shrivastava, Jerome D. Fast, Wenxuan Cheng, Xiuwen Guo, Ming Chu, Nan Ma, Juan Hong, Qiaoqiao Wang, Xiaohong Yao, and Huiwang Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10713–10730, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10713-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10713-2023, 2023
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New particle formation is an important source of atmospheric particles, exerting critical influences on global climate. Numerical models are vital tools to understanding atmospheric particle evolution, which, however, suffer from large biases in simulating particle numbers. Here we improve the model chemical processes governing particle sizes and compositions. The improved model reveals substantial contributions of newly formed particles to climate through effects on cloud condensation nuclei.
Xiaodong Xie, Jianlin Hu, Momei Qin, Song Guo, Min Hu, Dongsheng Ji, Hongli Wang, Shengrong Lou, Cheng Huang, Chong Liu, Hongliang Zhang, Qi Ying, Hong Liao, and Yuanhang Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10563–10578, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10563-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10563-2023, 2023
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The atmospheric age of particles reflects how long particles have been formed and suspended in the atmosphere, which is closely associated with the evolution processes of particles. An analysis of the atmospheric age of PM2.5 provides a unique perspective on the evolution processes of different PM2.5 components. The results also shed lights on how to design effective emission control actions under unfavorable meteorological conditions.
Xurong Wang, Qiaoqiao Wang, Maria Prass, Christopher Pöhlker, Daniel Moran-Zuloaga, Paulo Artaxo, Jianwei Gu, Ning Yang, Xiajie Yang, Jiangchuan Tao, Juan Hong, Nan Ma, Yafang Cheng, Hang Su, and Meinrat O. Andreae
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9993–10014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9993-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9993-2023, 2023
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In this work, with an optimized particle mass size distribution, we captured observed aerosol optical depth (AOD) and coarse aerosol concentrations over source and/or receptor regions well, demonstrating good performance in simulating export of African dust toward the Amazon Basin. In addition to factors controlling the transatlantic transport of African dust, the study investigated the impact of African dust over the Amazon Basin, including the nutrient inputs associated with dust deposition.
Taomou Zong, Zhijun Wu, Junrui Wang, Kai Bi, Wenxu Fang, Yanrong Yang, Xuena Yu, Zhier Bao, Xiangxinyue Meng, Yuheng Zhang, Song Guo, Yang Chen, Chunshan Liu, Yue Zhang, Shao-Meng Li, and Min Hu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3679–3692, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3679-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3679-2023, 2023
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This study developed and characterized an indoor chamber system (AIR) to simulate atmospheric multiphase chemistry processes. The AIR chamber can accurately control temperature and relative humidity (RH) over a broad range and simulate diurnal variation of ambient atmospheric RH. The aerosol generation unit can generate organic-coating seed particles with different phase states. The AIR chamber demonstrates high-quality performance in simulating secondary aerosol formation.
Fei Li, Biao Luo, Miaomiao Zhai, Li Liu, Gang Zhao, Hanbing Xu, Tao Deng, Xuejiao Deng, Haobo Tan, Ye Kuang, and Jun Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6545–6558, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6545-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6545-2023, 2023
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A field campaign was conducted to study black carbon (BC) mass size distributions and mixing states connected to traffic emissions using a system that combines a differential mobility analyzer and single-particle soot photometer. Results showed that the black carbon content of traffic emissions has a considerable influence on both BC mass size distributions and mixing states, which has crucial implications for accurately representing BC from various sources in regional and climate models.
Najin Kim, Hang Su, Nan Ma, Ulrich Pöschl, and Yafang Cheng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 2771–2780, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2771-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-2771-2023, 2023
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We propose a multiple-charging correction algorithm for a broad-supersaturation scanning cloud condensation nuclei (BS2-CCN) system which can obtain high time-resolution aerosol hygroscopicity and CCN activity. The correction algorithm aims at deriving the activation fraction's true value for each particle size. The meaningful differences between corrected and original κ values (single hygroscopicity parameter) emphasize the correction algorithm's importance for ambient aerosol measurement.
Juan Hong, Min Tang, Qiaoqiao Wang, Nan Ma, Shaowen Zhu, Shaobin Zhang, Xihao Pan, Linhong Xie, Guo Li, Uwe Kuhn, Chao Yan, Jiangchuan Tao, Ye Kuang, Yao He, Wanyun Xu, Runlong Cai, Yaqing Zhou, Zhibin Wang, Guangsheng Zhou, Bin Yuan, Yafang Cheng, and Hang Su
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5699–5713, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5699-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5699-2023, 2023
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A comprehensive investigation of the characteristics of new particle formation (NPF) events was conducted at a rural site on the North China Plain (NCP), China, during the wintertime of 2018 by covering the particle number size distribution down to sub–3 nm. Potential mechanisms for NPF under the current environment were explored, followed by a further discussion on the factors governing the occurrence of NPF at this rural site compared with other regions (e.g., urban areas) in the NCP region.
Ting Lei, Hang Su, Nan Ma, Ulrich Pöschl, Alfred Wiedensohler, and Yafang Cheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4763–4774, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4763-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4763-2023, 2023
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We investigate the hygroscopic behavior of levoglucosan and D-glucose nanoparticles using a nano-HTDMA. There is a weak size dependence of the hygroscopic growth factor of levoglucosan and D-glucose with diameters down to 20 nm, while a strong size dependence of the hygroscopic growth factor of D-glucose has been clearly observed in the size range 6 to 20 nm. The use of the DKA method leads to good agreement with the hygroscopic growth factor of glucose nanoparticles with diameters down to 6 nm.
Lizi Tang, Min Hu, Dongjie Shang, Xin Fang, Jianjiong Mao, Wanyun Xu, Jiacheng Zhou, Weixiong Zhao, Yaru Wang, Chong Zhang, Yingjie Zhang, Jianlin Hu, Limin Zeng, Chunxiang Ye, Song Guo, and Zhijun Wu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4343–4359, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4343-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4343-2023, 2023
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There was an evident distinction in the frequency of new particle formation (NPF) events at Nam Co station on the Tibetan Plateau: 15 % in pre-monsoon season and 80 % in monsoon season. The frequent NPF events in monsoon season resulted from the higher frequency of southerly air masses, which brought the organic precursors to participate in the NPF process. It increased the amount of aerosol and CCN compared with those in pre-monsoon season, which may markedly affect earth's radiation balance.
Liang Yuan and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 3195–3205, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3195-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-3195-2023, 2023
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Chemical compositions vary between and within particles due to the complex sources and aging processes, causing particle-to-particle heterogeneity in aerosol hygroscopicity, which is of great importance to aerosol climatic and environmental effects. This study proposes an algorithm to quantify the heterogeneity from in situ measurements, sheds light on the reanalysis of the existing H-TDMA datasets, and could have a large impact on how we use and think about these datasets.
Weilun Zhao, Gang Zhao, Ying Li, Song Guo, Nan Ma, Lizi Tang, Zirui Zhang, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 6807–6817, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6807-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-6807-2022, 2022
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A new method to determine black carbon mass size distribution (BCMSD) was proposed using the size-resolved absorption coefficient measured by an aerodynamic aerosol classifier in tandem with an aethalometer. This new method fills the gap in the high-time-resolution measurement of BCMSD ranging from upper submicron particle sizes to larger than 1 µm. This method can be applied to field measurement of BCMSD extensively for better understanding BC aging and better estimating the BC climate effect.
Gang Zhao, Tianyi Tan, Shuya Hu, Zhuofei Du, Dongjie Shang, Zhijun Wu, Song Guo, Jing Zheng, Wenfei Zhu, Mengren Li, Limin Zeng, and Min Hu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10861–10873, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10861-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10861-2022, 2022
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Black carbon is the second strongest absorbing component in the atmosphere that exerts warming effects on climate. One critical challenge in quantifying the ambient black carbon's radiative effects is addressing the BC microphysical properties. In this study, the microphysical properties of the aged and fresh BC particles are synthetically analyzed under different atmospheres. The measurement results can be further used in models to help constrain the uncertainties of the BC radiative effects.
Kai Song, Song Guo, Yuanzheng Gong, Daqi Lv, Yuan Zhang, Zichao Wan, Tianyu Li, Wenfei Zhu, Hui Wang, Ying Yu, Rui Tan, Ruizhe Shen, Sihua Lu, Shuangde Li, Yunfa Chen, and Min Hu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 9827–9841, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9827-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-9827-2022, 2022
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Emissions from four typical Chinese domestic cooking and fried chicken using four kinds of oils were investigated to illustrate the impact of cooking style and oil. Of the estimated SOA, 10.2 %–32.0 % could be explained by S/IVOC oxidation. Multiway principal component analysis (MPCA) emphasizes the importance of the unsaturated fatty acid-alkadienal volatile product mechanism (oil autoxidation) accelerated by the cooking and heating procedure.
Jiaxing Sun, Yele Sun, Conghui Xie, Weiqi Xu, Chun Chen, Zhe Wang, Lei Li, Xubing Du, Fugui Huang, Yan Li, Zhijie Li, Xiaole Pan, Nan Ma, Wanyun Xu, Pingqing Fu, and Zifa Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7619–7630, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7619-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7619-2022, 2022
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We analyzed the chemical composition and mixing state of BC-containing particles at urban and rural sites in winter in the North China Plain and evaluated their impact on light absorption enhancement. BC was dominantly mixed with organic carbon, nitrate, and sulfate, and the mixing state evolved significantly as a function of relative humidity (RH) at both sites. The absorption enhancement depended strongly on coated secondary inorganic aerosol and was up to ~1.3–1.4 during aging processes.
Cuiqi Zhang, Zhijun Wu, Jingchuan Chen, Jie Chen, Lizi Tang, Wenfei Zhu, Xiangyu Pei, Shiyi Chen, Ping Tian, Song Guo, Limin Zeng, Min Hu, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7539–7556, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7539-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7539-2022, 2022
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The immersion ice nucleation effectiveness of aerosols from multiple sources in the urban environment remains elusive. In this study, we demonstrate that the immersion ice-nucleating particle (INP) concentration increased dramatically during a dust event in an urban atmosphere. Pollutant aerosols, including inorganic salts formed through secondary transformation (SIA) and black carbon (BC), might not act as effective INPs under mixed-phase cloud conditions.
Shidong Fan and Ying Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7331–7351, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7331-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7331-2022, 2022
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We investigated the mechanisms by which marine-emitted halogens influence the OH radical, which is not considered in air quality forecasting model systems. The atmospheric OH radical has a complicated response to halogen emissions by species through both physical and chemical processes. Over ocean, inorganic iodine is the controlling species and chemistry is more important. Over land, the physics of sea salt aerosols are more important. The mechanism is applicable to other circumstances.
Yuanzheng Gong, Kai Song, Song Guo, Daqi Lv, Yuan Zhang, Zichao Wan, Wenfei Zhu, Hui Wang, Ying Yu, Rui Tan, Ruizhe Shen, Sihua Lu, Shuangde Li, and Yunfa Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-326, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-326, 2022
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Herein we applied thermal desorption comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-mass spectrometer (TD-GCxGC-MS) for synchronous analysis of gaseous and particulate organics emitted from cooking fumes. With a systematic 4-step qualitative procedure and precise quantitative and semi-quantitative method, 170 and 352 compounds from C2 (acetic acids) – C30 (squalene) occupying 95 % and 90 % of the total ion current for gaseous and particulate samples were identified and quantified.
Haoran Zhang, Nan Li, Keqin Tang, Hong Liao, Chong Shi, Cheng Huang, Hongli Wang, Song Guo, Min Hu, Xinlei Ge, Mindong Chen, Zhenxin Liu, Huan Yu, and Jianlin Hu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5495–5514, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5495-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5495-2022, 2022
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We developed a new algorithm with low economic/technique costs to identify primary and secondary components of PM2.5. Our model was shown to be reliable by comparison with different observation datasets. We systematically explored the patterns and changes in the secondary PM2.5 pollution in China at large spatial and time scales. We believe that this method is a promising tool for efficiently estimating primary and secondary PM2.5, and has huge potential for future PM mitigation.
Yun Lin, Yuan Wang, Bowen Pan, Jiaxi Hu, Song Guo, Misti Levy Zamora, Pengfei Tian, Qiong Su, Yuemeng Ji, Jiayun Zhao, Mario Gomez-Hernandez, Min Hu, and Renyi Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4951–4967, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4951-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4951-2022, 2022
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Severe regional haze events, which are characterized by exceedingly high levels of fine particulate matter (PM), occur frequently in many developing countries (such as China and India), with profound implications for human health, weather, and climate. Our work establishes a synthetic view for the dominant regional features during severe haze events, unraveling rapid in situ PM production and inefficient transport, both of which are amplified by atmospheric stagnation.
Jingnan Shi, Juan Hong, Nan Ma, Qingwei Luo, Yao He, Hanbing Xu, Haobo Tan, Qiaoqiao Wang, Jiangchuan Tao, Yaqing Zhou, Shuang Han, Long Peng, Linhong Xie, Guangsheng Zhou, Wanyun Xu, Yele Sun, Yafang Cheng, and Hang Su
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4599–4613, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4599-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4599-2022, 2022
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In this study, we investigated the hygroscopicity of submicron aerosols at a rural site in the North China Plain during the winter of 2018, using a HTDMA and a CV-ToF-ACSM. We observed differences in aerosol hygroscopicity during two distinct episodes with different primary emissions and secondary aerosol formation processes. These results provide an improved understanding of the complex influence of sources and aerosol evolution processes on their hygroscopicity.
Shuang Han, Juan Hong, Qingwei Luo, Hanbing Xu, Haobo Tan, Qiaoqiao Wang, Jiangchuan Tao, Yaqing Zhou, Long Peng, Yao He, Jingnan Shi, Nan Ma, Yafang Cheng, and Hang Su
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3985–4004, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3985-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3985-2022, 2022
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We present the hygroscopicity of 23 organic species with different physicochemical properties using a hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) and compare the results with previous studies. Based on the hygroscopicity parameter κ, the influence of different physicochemical properties that potentially drive hygroscopicity, such as the functionality, water solubility, molar volume, and O : C ratio of organics, are examined separately.
Ying Li, Xiangjun Zhao, Xuejiao Deng, and Jinhui Gao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3861–3873, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3861-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3861-2022, 2022
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This study finds a new phenomenon of weak wind deepening (WWD) associated with the peripheral circulation of typhoon and gives the influence mechanism of WWD on its contribution to daily variation during sustained ozone episodes. The WWD provides the premise for pollution accumulation in the whole PBL and continued enhancement of ground-level ozone via vertical mixing processes. These findings could benefit the daily daytime ozone forecast in the PRD region and other areas.
Xiajie Yang, Qiaoqiao Wang, Nan Ma, Weiwei Hu, Yang Gao, Zhijiong Huang, Junyu Zheng, Bin Yuan, Ning Yang, Jiangchuan Tao, Juan Hong, Yafang Cheng, and Hang Su
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3743–3762, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3743-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3743-2022, 2022
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We use the GEOS-Chem model with additional anthropogenic and biomass burning chlorine emissions combined with updated parameterizations for N2O5 ＋ Cl chemistry to investigate the impacts of chlorine chemistry on air quality in China. Our study not only significantly improves the model's performance but also demonstrates the importance of non-sea-salt chlorine sources as well as an appropriate parameterization for N2O5 ＋ Cl chemistry to the impact of chlorine chemistry in China.
Yaqing Zhou, Nan Ma, Qiaoqiao Wang, Zhibin Wang, Chunrong Chen, Jiangchuan Tao, Juan Hong, Long Peng, Yao He, Linhong Xie, Shaowen Zhu, Yuxuan Zhang, Guo Li, Wanyun Xu, Peng Cheng, Uwe Kuhn, Guangsheng Zhou, Pingqing Fu, Qiang Zhang, Hang Su, and Yafang Cheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2029–2047, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2029-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2029-2022, 2022
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This study characterizes size-resolved particle effective densities and their evolution associated with emissions and aging processes in a rural area of the North China Plain. Particle effective density exhibits a high-frequency bimodal distribution, and two density modes exhibit opposite trends with increasing particle size. SIA and BC mass fractions are key factors of particle effective density, and a value of 0.6 g cm−3 is appropriate to represent BC effective density in bulk particles.
Gang Zhao, Tianyi Tan, Yishu Zhu, Min Hu, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18055–18063, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18055-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18055-2021, 2021
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In this study, the black carbon (BC) mixing state index (χ) is developed to quantify the dispersion of ambient black carbon aerosol mixing states based on binary systems of BC and other non-black carbon components. We demonstrate that the BC light absorption enhancement increases with χ for the same MR, which indicates that χ can be employed as a factor to constrain the light absorption enhancement of ambient BC.
Najin Kim, Yafang Cheng, Nan Ma, Mira L. Pöhlker, Thomas Klimach, Thomas F. Mentel, Ovid O. Krüger, Ulrich Pöschl, and Hang Su
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6991–7005, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6991-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6991-2021, 2021
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A broad supersaturation scanning CCN (BS2-CCN) system, in which particles are exposed to a range of supersaturation simultaneously, can measure a broad range of CCN activity distribution with a high time resolution. We describe how the BS2-CCN system can be effectively calibrated and which factors can affect the calibration curve. Intercomparison experiments between typical DMA-CCN and BS2-CCN measurements to evaluate the BS2-CCN system showed high correlation and good agreement.
Zirui Zhang, Wenfei Zhu, Min Hu, Kefan Liu, Hui Wang, Rongzhi Tang, Ruizhe Shen, Ying Yu, Rui Tan, Kai Song, Yuanju Li, Wenbin Zhang, Zhou Zhang, Hongming Xu, Shijin Shuai, Shuangde Li, Yunfa Chen, Jiayun Li, Yuesi Wang, and Song Guo
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15221–15237, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15221-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15221-2021, 2021
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We comprehensively investigated the mass growth potential, oxidation degree, formation pathway, and mass spectra features of typical urban-lifestyle secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) including vehicle SOAs and cooking SOAs. The mass spectra we acquired could provide necessary references to estimate the mass fractions of vehicle and cooking SOAs in the atmosphere, which would greatly decrease the uncertainty in air quality evaluation and health risk assessment in urban areas.
Wenfei Zhu, Song Guo, Zirui Zhang, Hui Wang, Ying Yu, Zheng Chen, Ruizhe Shen, Rui Tan, Kai Song, Kefan Liu, Rongzhi Tang, Yi Liu, Shengrong Lou, Yuanju Li, Wenbin Zhang, Zhou Zhang, Shijin Shuai, Hongming Xu, Shuangde Li, Yunfa Chen, Min Hu, Francesco Canonaco, and Andre S. H. Prévôt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15065–15079, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15065-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15065-2021, 2021
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The experiments of primary emissions and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from urban lifestyle sources (cooking and vehicles) were conducted. The mass spectral features of primary organic aerosol (POA) and SOA were characterized by using a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer. This work, for the first time, establishes the vehicle and cooking SOA source profiles and can be further used as source constraints in the OA source apportionment in the ambient atmosphere.
Helmi Uusitalo, Jenni Kontkanen, Ilona Ylivinkka, Ekaterina Ezhova, Anastasiia Demakova, Mikhail Arshinov, Boris Denisovich Belan, Denis Davydov, Nan Ma, Tuukka Petäjä, Alfred Wiedensohler, Markku Kulmala, and Tuomo Nieminen
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-530, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2021-530, 2021
Publication in ACP not foreseen
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Characteristics of formation of atmospheric aerosol at four boreal forest sites in Finland and Russian Siberia was analyzed. Our results provide information on the governing processes of atmospheric aerosol formation in the boreal forest area, which a substantial part of the continental biosphere. Aerosol formation was occurring less frequently at Siberian than in Finnish sites, which was affected by the lower particle growth rates and higher loss rates in Siberia.
Jie Qiu, Wangshu Tan, Gang Zhao, Yingli Yu, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4879–4891, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4879-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4879-2021, 2021
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Considering nephelometers' major problems of a nonideal Lambertian light source and angle truncation, a new correction method based on a machine learning model is proposed. Our method has the advantage of obtaining data with high accuracy while achieving self-correction, which means that researchers can get more accurate scattering coefficients without the need for additional observation data. This method provides a more precise estimation of the aerosol’s direct radiative forcing.
Gang Zhao, Yishu Zhu, Zhijun Wu, Taomou Zong, Jingchuan Chen, Tianyi Tan, Haichao Wang, Xin Fang, Keding Lu, Chunsheng Zhao, and Min Hu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 9995–10004, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9995-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-9995-2021, 2021
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New particle formation is thought to contribute half of the global cloud condensation nuclei. We find that the new particle formation is more likely to happen in the upper boundary layer than that at the ground, which can be partially explained by the aerosol–radiation interaction. Our study emphasizes the influence of aerosol–radiation interaction on the NPF.
Tianyi Tan, Min Hu, Zhuofei Du, Gang Zhao, Dongjie Shang, Jing Zheng, Yanhong Qin, Mengren Li, Yusheng Wu, Limin Zeng, Song Guo, and Zhijun Wu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8499–8510, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8499-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8499-2021, 2021
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Every year in the pre-monsoon season, the black carbon (BC) aerosols originated from biomass burning in southern Asia are easily transported to the Tibetan Plateau (TP) by the convenience of westerly wind. This study reveals that the BC aerosols in the aged biomass burning plumes strongly enhance the total light absorption over the TP, and the aging process during the long-range transport will further strengthen the radiative heating of those BC aerosols.
Kai Song, Song Guo, Haichao Wang, Ying Yu, Hui Wang, Rongzhi Tang, Shiyong Xia, Yuanzheng Gong, Zichao Wan, Daqi Lv, Rui Tan, Wenfei Zhu, Ruizhe Shen, Xin Li, Xuena Yu, Shiyi Chen, Liming Zeng, and Xiaofeng Huang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7917–7932, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7917-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7917-2021, 2021
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Nitrated phenols (NPs) are crucial components of brown carbon. To comprehend the constitutes and sources of NPs in winter of Beijing, their concentrations were measured by a CI-LToF-MS. The secondary formation process was simulated by a box model. NPs were mainly influenced by primary emissions and regional transport. Primary emitted phenol rather than benzene oxidation was crucial in the heavy pollution episode in Beijing. This provides more insight into pollution control strategies of NPs.
Weiqi Xu, Masayuki Takeuchi, Chun Chen, Yanmei Qiu, Conghui Xie, Wanyun Xu, Nan Ma, Douglas R. Worsnop, Nga Lee Ng, and Yele Sun
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3693–3705, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3693-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3693-2021, 2021
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Here we developed a method for estimation of particulate organic nitrates (pON) from the measurements of a high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer coupled with a thermodenuder based on the volatility differences between inorganic nitrate and pON. The results generally had improvements in reducing negative values due to the influences of a high concentration of inorganic nitrate and a constant ratio of NO+ to NO2+ of organic nitrates (RON).
Jiangchuan Tao, Ye Kuang, Nan Ma, Juan Hong, Yele Sun, Wanyun Xu, Yanyan Zhang, Yao He, Qingwei Luo, Linhong Xie, Hang Su, and Yafang Cheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 7409–7427, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7409-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-7409-2021, 2021
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The mechanism of secondary aerosol (SA) formation can be affected by relative humidity (RH) and has different influences on the particle CCN activity under different RH conditions. In the North China Plain, we find different responses of CCN activity and enhancements of CCN number concentration to SA formation under different RH conditions. In addition, variations of aerosol mixing state due to SA formation contribute some of the largest uncertainties in predicting CCN number concentration.
Weiqi Xu, Chun Chen, Yanmei Qiu, Ying Li, Zhiqiang Zhang, Eleni Karnezi, Spyros N. Pandis, Conghui Xie, Zhijie Li, Jiaxing Sun, Nan Ma, Wanyun Xu, Pingqing Fu, Zifa Wang, Jiang Zhu, Douglas R. Worsnop, Nga Lee Ng, and Yele Sun
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5463–5476, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5463-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5463-2021, 2021
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Here aerosol volatility and viscosity at a rural site (Gucheng) and an urban site (Beijing) in the North China Plain (NCP) were investigated in summer and winter. Our results showed that organic aerosol (OA) in winter in the NCP is more volatile than that in summer due to enhanced primary emissions from coal combustion and biomass burning. We also found that OA existed mainly as a solid in winter in Beijing but as semisolids in Beijing in summer and Gucheng in winter.
Rongzhi Tang, Quanyang Lu, Song Guo, Hui Wang, Kai Song, Ying Yu, Rui Tan, Kefan Liu, Ruizhe Shen, Shiyi Chen, Limin Zeng, Spiro D. Jorga, Zhou Zhang, Wenbin Zhang, Shijin Shuai, and Allen L. Robinson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2569–2583, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2569-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2569-2021, 2021
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We performed chassis dynamometer experiments to investigate the emissions and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation potential of intermediate volatility organic compounds (IVOCs) from an on-road Chinese gasoline vehicle. High IVOC emission factors (EFs) and distinct volatility distribution were recognized. Our results indicate that vehicular IVOCs contribute significantly to SOA, implying the importance of reducing IVOCs when making air pollution control policies in urban areas of China.
Weilun Zhao, Wangshu Tan, Gang Zhao, Chuanyang Shen, Yingli Yu, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1319–1331, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1319-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1319-2021, 2021
Chuanyang Shen, Gang Zhao, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 1293–1301, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1293-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-1293-2021, 2021
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Aerosol hygroscopicity measured by the humidified tandem differential mobility analyzer (HTDMA) is affected by multiply charged particles from two aspects: (1) number contribution and (2) the weakening effect. An algorithm is proposed to do the multi-charge correction and applied to a field measurement. Results show that the difference between corrected and measured size-resolved κ can reach 0.05, highlighting that special attention needs to be paid to the multi-charge effect when using HTDMA.
Chuanyang Shen, Gang Zhao, Weilun Zhao, Ping Tian, and Chunsheng Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1375–1388, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1375-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1375-2021, 2021
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Submicron particles larger than 300 nm dominate the aerosol light extinction and mass concentration in the urban environment. Aerosol hygroscopic properties extended to 600 nm were investigated at an urban site. Our results find that there exists a large fraction of a less hygroscopic group above 300 nm, and the hygroscopicity in this size range is enhanced significantly with the development of pollution levels. The hygroscopicity variation contributes greatly to the low visibility.
Christian Mark Garcia Salvador, Rongzhi Tang, Michael Priestley, Linjie Li, Epameinondas Tsiligiannis, Michael Le Breton, Wenfei Zhu, Limin Zeng, Hui Wang, Ying Yu, Min Hu, Song Guo, and Mattias Hallquist
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1389–1406, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1389-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1389-2021, 2021
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High-frequency online measurement of gas- and particle-phase nitro-aromatic compounds (NACs) at a rural site in China, heavily influenced by biomass burning events, enabled the analysis of the production pathway of NACs, including an explanation of strong persistence in the daytime. The contribution of secondary processes was significant, even during the dominant wintertime influence of primary emissions, suggesting the important role of regional secondary chemistry, i.e. photochemical smog.
Chaomin Wang, Bin Yuan, Caihong Wu, Sihang Wang, Jipeng Qi, Baolin Wang, Zelong Wang, Weiwei Hu, Wei Chen, Chenshuo Ye, Wenjie Wang, Yele Sun, Chen Wang, Shan Huang, Wei Song, Xinming Wang, Suxia Yang, Shenyang Zhang, Wanyun Xu, Nan Ma, Zhanyi Zhang, Bin Jiang, Hang Su, Yafang Cheng, Xuemei Wang, and Min Shao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14123–14138, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14123-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14123-2020, 2020
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We utilized a novel online mass spectrometry method to measure the total concentration of higher alkanes at each carbon number at two different sites in China, allowing us to take into account SOA contributions from all isomers for higher alkanes. We found that higher alkanes account for significant fractions of SOA formation at the two sites. The contributions are comparable to or even higher than single-ring aromatics, the most-recognized SOA precursors in urban air.
Guo Li, Hang Su, Nan Ma, Guangjie Zheng, Uwe Kuhn, Meng Li, Thomas Klimach, Ulrich Pöschl, and Yafang Cheng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6053–6065, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6053-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6053-2020, 2020
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Aerosol acidity plays an important role in regulating the chemistry, health, and ecological effect of aerosol particles. However, a direct measurement of aerosol pH is very challenging because of its fast transition and equilibrium with adjacent environments. Therefore, most early studies have to use modeled pH, resulting in intensive debates about model uncertainties. Here we developed an optimized approach to measure aerosol pH by using pH-indicator papers combined with RGB-based colorimetry.
Ting Lei, Nan Ma, Juan Hong, Thomas Tuch, Xin Wang, Zhibin Wang, Mira Pöhlker, Maofa Ge, Weigang Wang, Eugene Mikhailov, Thorsten Hoffmann, Ulrich Pöschl, Hang Su, Alfred Wiedensohler, and Yafang Cheng
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 5551–5567, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5551-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-5551-2020, 2020
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We present the design of a nano-hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (nano-HTDMA) apparatus that enables high accuracy and precision in hygroscopic growth measurements of aerosol nanoparticles with diameters less than 10 nm. We further introduce comprehensive methods for system calibration and validation of the performance of the system. We then study the size dependence of the deliquescence and the efflorescence of aerosol nanoparticles for sizes down to 6 nm.
Wei Tao, Hang Su, Guangjie Zheng, Jiandong Wang, Chao Wei, Lixia Liu, Nan Ma, Meng Li, Qiang Zhang, Ulrich Pöschl, and Yafang Cheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11729–11746, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11729-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11729-2020, 2020
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We simulated the thermodynamic and multiphase reactions in aerosol water during a wintertime haze event over the North China Plain. It was found that aerosol pH exhibited a strong spatiotemporal variability, and multiple oxidation pathways were predominant for particulate sulfate formation in different locations. Sensitivity tests further showed that ammonia, crustal particles, and dissolved transition metal ions were important factors for multiphase chemistry during haze episodes.
Jinhui Gao, Ying Li, Bin Zhu, Bo Hu, Lili Wang, and Fangwen Bao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10831–10844, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10831-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10831-2020, 2020
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Light extinction of aerosols can decease surface ozone mainly via reducing photochemical production of ozone. However, it also leads to high levels of ozone aloft being entrained down to the surface which partly counteracts the reduction in surface ozone. The impact of aerosols is more sensitive to local ozone, which suggests that while controlling the levels of aerosols, controlling the local ozone precursors is an effective way to suppress the increase of ozone over China at present.
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Short summary
Studies have concentrated on particles containing black carbon (BC) smaller than 700 nm because of technical limitations. In this study, BC-containing particles larger than 700 nm (BC>700) were measured, highlighting their importance to total BC mass and absorption. The contribution of BC>700 to the BC direct radiative effect was estimated, highlighting the necessity to consider the whole size range of BC-containing particles in the model estimation of BC radiative effects.
Studies have concentrated on particles containing black carbon (BC) smaller than 700 nm because...
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