A Review of Aerosol Chemical Composition and Sources in Representative Regions of China during Wintertime

Yichen Wang,Jianhuai Ye,Quande Qin,Mengyuan Yan,André S H Prévôt,Qiyuan Wang,Junji Cao

doi:10.3390/atmos10050277

Abstract

Comparisons of aerosol composition and sources in different cities or regions are rather limited, yet important for an in-depth understanding of the spatial diversity of aerosol pollution in China. In this study, the data originating from 25 different winter aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS)/aerosol chemical speciation monitor (ACSM) studies were used to provide spatial coverage of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), Guanzhong (GZ), Yangtze River Delta (YRD), and Pearl River Delta (PRD) regions. The spatial distribution and diurnal variations in aerosol composition and organic sources were analyzed to investigate the aerosol characteristics in the four regions. It was found that there were differences in the compositions of non-refractory particulate matter across the regions, e.g., more sulfate in the PRD versus more nitrate in the YRD, as well as in the organic sources, e.g., more coal combustion in BTH versus more biomass burning in GZ. The characteristics of the composition of NR-PM are similar when the campaigns were classified according to the winter of different years or the cities of different regions. The diurnal variation of the PRD-sulfate indicated its regional nature, whereas the organics from burning sources in two regions of northern China exhibited local characteristics. Based on these findings, we suggest that strict control policies for coal combustion and biomass burning emissions should be enforced in the BTH and GZ regions, respectively.

Highlights

In recent years, China has suffered from severe air pollution, especially during wintertime [1,2,3].Measurements have shown that the daily average mass concentrations of PM2.5 during winter heating seasons in a number of major Chinese cities were about 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than concentrations in European Countries and in Atmosphere 2019, 10, 277; doi:10.3390/atmos10050277 www.mdpi.com/journal/atmosphereAtmosphere 2019, 10, 277 the US [1,3,4]
The highest Non-refractory Particulate Matter (NR-PM) value was observed at Xi’an in the GZ region [15], whilst the lowest was at Hong Kong in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region [35]
NR-PM in the PRD and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) regions was dominated by secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA), e.g., 52% in the PRD and 53% in the YRD

Summary

Introduction

China has suffered from severe air pollution, especially during wintertime [1,2,3].Measurements have shown that the daily average mass concentrations of PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm) during winter heating seasons in a number of major Chinese cities were about 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than concentrations in European Countries and in Atmosphere 2019, 10, 277; doi:10.3390/atmos10050277 www.mdpi.com/journal/atmosphereAtmosphere 2019, 10, 277 the US [1,3,4]. China has suffered from severe air pollution, especially during wintertime [1,2,3]. Measurements have shown that the daily average mass concentrations of PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 μm) during winter heating seasons in a number of major Chinese cities were about 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than concentrations in European Countries and in Atmosphere 2019, 10, 277; doi:10.3390/atmos10050277 www.mdpi.com/journal/atmosphere. The severe air pollution was often accompanied by a sharp rise in respiratory diseases and extremely low visibility [5,6,7,8]. Identifying the major chemical compositions and sources is required to implement optimized and targeted pollution control strategies [12]. The quantification of the PM chemical composition and its sources can be acquired by the measurements of the mass spectrometric fingerprints of ambient PM samples [2]

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion