Articles | Volume 25, issue 1
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-73-2025
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-73-2025
Research article
 | 
07 Jan 2025
Research article |  | 07 Jan 2025

Significant role of biomass burning in heavy haze formation in Nanjing, a megacity in China: molecular-level insights from intensive PM2.5 sampling on winter hazy days

Mingjie Kang, Mengying Bao, Wenhuai Song, Aduburexiati Abulimiti, Changliu Wu, Fang Cao, Sönke Szidat, and Yanlin Zhang

Related authors

Effectiveness of Emission Controls on Atmospheric Oxidation and Air Pollutant Concentrations: Uncertainties due to Chemical Mechanisms and Inventories
Mingjie Kang, Hongliang Zhang, and Qi Ying
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-255,https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-255, 2025
Short summary
Measurement report: Vertical distribution of biogenic and anthropogenic secondary organic aerosols in the urban boundary layer over Beijing during late summer
Hong Ren, Wei Hu, Lianfang Wei, Siyao Yue, Jian Zhao, Linjie Li, Libin Wu, Wanyu Zhao, Lujie Ren, Mingjie Kang, Qiaorong Xie, Sihui Su, Xiaole Pan, Zifa Wang, Yele Sun, Kimitaka Kawamura, and Pingqing Fu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 12949–12963, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12949-2021,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-12949-2021, 2021
Short summary
Characterization of biogenic primary and secondary organic aerosols in the marine atmosphere over the East China Sea
Mingjie Kang, Pingqing Fu, Kimitaka Kawamura, Fan Yang, Hongliang Zhang, Zhengchen Zang, Hong Ren, Lujie Ren, Ye Zhao, Yele Sun, and Zifa Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 13947–13967, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13947-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13947-2018, 2018
Short summary
Molecular distribution and compound-specific stable carbon isotopic composition of dicarboxylic acids, oxocarboxylic acids and α-dicarbonyls in PM2.5 from Beijing, China
Wanyu Zhao, Kimitaka Kawamura, Siyao Yue, Lianfang Wei, Hong Ren, Yu Yan, Mingjie Kang, Linjie Li, Lujie Ren, Senchao Lai, Jie Li, Yele Sun, Zifa Wang, and Pingqing Fu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2749–2767, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2749-2018,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2749-2018, 2018
Short summary

Related subject area

Subject: Aerosols | Research Activity: Field Measurements | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Measurement report: Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in particulate matter (PM10) from activated sludge aeration
Jishnu Pandamkulangara Kizhakkethil, Zongbo Shi, Anna Bogush, and Ivan Kourtchev
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5947–5958, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5947-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5947-2025, 2025
Short summary
African dust transported to Barbados in the wintertime lacks indicators of chemical aging
Haley M. Royer, Michael T. Sheridan, Hope E. Elliott, Edmund Blades, Nurun Nahar Lata, Zezhen Cheng, Swarup China, Zihua Zhu, Andrew P. Ault, and Cassandra J. Gaston
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5743–5759, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5743-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5743-2025, 2025
Short summary
A 60-year atmospheric nitrate isotope record from a southeastern Greenland ice core with minimal postdepositional alteration
Zhao Wei, Shohei Hattori, Asuka Tsuruta, Zhuang Jiang, Sakiko Ishino, Koji Fujita, Sumito Matoba, Lei Geng, Alexis Lamothe, Ryu Uemura, Naohiro Yoshida, Joel Savarino, and Yoshinori Iizuka
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5727–5742, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5727-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5727-2025, 2025
Short summary
Measurement report: Characterization of aerosol hygroscopicity over Southeast Asia during the NASA CAMP2Ex campaign
Genevieve Rose Lorenzo, Luke D. Ziemba, Avelino F. Arellano, Mary C. Barth, Ewan C. Crosbie, Joshua P. DiGangi, Glenn S. Diskin, Richard Ferrare, Miguel Ricardo A. Hilario, Michael A. Shook, Simone Tilmes, Jian Wang, Qian Xiao, Jun Zhang, and Armin Sorooshian
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5469–5495, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5469-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5469-2025, 2025
Short summary
Molecular characterization of organic aerosols in urban and forested areas of Paris using high-resolution mass spectrometry
Diana L. Pereira, Chiara Giorio, Aline Gratien, Alexander Zherebker, Gael Noyalet, Servanne Chevaillier, Stéphanie Alage, Elie Almarj, Antonin Bergé, Thomas Bertin, Mathieu Cazaunau, Patrice Coll, Ludovico Di Antonio, Sergio Harb, Johannes Heuser, Cécile Gaimoz, Oscar Guillemant, Brigitte Language, Olivier Lauret, Camilo Macias, Franck Maisonneuve, Bénédicte Picquet-Varrault, Raquel Torres, Sylvain Triquet, Pascal Zapf, Lelia Hawkins, Drew Pronovost, Sydney Riley, Pierre-Marie Flaud, Emilie Perraudin, Pauline Pouyes, Eric Villenave, Alexandre Albinet, Olivier Favez, Robin Aujay-Plouzeau, Vincent Michoud, Christopher Cantrell, Manuela Cirtog, Claudia Di Biagio, Jean-François Doussin, and Paola Formenti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4885–4905, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4885-2025,https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4885-2025, 2025
Short summary

Cited articles

Alexeeff, S. E., Deosaransingh, K., Van Den Eeden, S., Schwartz, J., Liao, N. S., and Sidney, S.: Association of Long-term Exposure to Particulate Air Pollution With Cardiovascular Events in California, JAMA Network Open, 6, e230561, https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.0561, 2023. 
Andreae, M. O. and Merlet, P.: Emission of trace gases and aerosols from biomass burning, Global Biogeochem. Cy., 15, 955–966, https://doi.org/10.1029/2000GB001382, 2001. 
Anon: Biomass burning – a review of organic tracers for smoke from incomplete combustion, Appl. Geochem., 17, 129–162, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0883-2927(01)00061-0, 2002. 
Bao, M., Zhang, Y.-L., Cao, F., Lin, Y.-C., Hong, Y., Fan, M., Zhang, Y., Yang, X., and Xie, F.: Light absorption and source apportionment of water soluble humic-like substances (HULIS) in PM2.5 at Nanjing, China, Environ. Res., 206, 112554, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2021.112554, 2022. 
Bao, M., Zhang, Y.-L., Cao, F., Hong, Y., Lin, Y.-C., Yu, M., Jiang, H., Cheng, Z., Xu, R., and Yang, X.: Impact of fossil and non-fossil fuel sources on the molecular compositions of water-soluble humic-like substances in PM2.5 at a suburban site of Yangtze River Delta, China, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 8305–8324, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-8305-2023, 2023. 
Download
Short summary
Reports on molecular-level knowledge of high-temporal-resolution particulate matter ≤2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5) on hazy days are limited. We investigated various PM2.5 species and their sources. The results show biomass burning (BB) was the main source of organic carbon. Moreover, BB enhanced fungal spore emissions and secondary aerosol formation. The contribution of non-fossil sources increased with increasing haze pollution, suggesting BB may be an important driver of haze events in winter.
Share
Altmetrics
Final-revised paper
Preprint