Characteristics and source of black carbon over Taklimakan Desert

Abstract

Black carbon (BC) and PM10 in the center of Taklimakan Desert were on-line monitored in the whole year of 2007.In addition,TSP samples were also synchronously daily collected by medium-volume samplers with Whatman 41 filters in spring of 2007.BC in the dust aerosol was up to 1.14% of the total mass of PM10.A remarkable seasonal variation of BC in the aerosol with the order of winterspringautumnsummer was observed.The peak value of BC appeared at midnight while the lowest in the evening each day,which was just the reverse of that in urban area.The contribution of BC to the total mass of PM10 in non-dust storm days was ～11 times of that in dust storm.Through back trajectory and principal component analysis,it was found that BC in the dust aerosol over Taklimakan desert might be attributed to the emission from the anthropogenic activities,including domestic heating,cooking,combustion of oil and natural gas,through the medium-range transport from those oases located in the margins of the desert.The total BC aerosol from Taklimakan Desert to be transported to the eastward downstream was estimated to be 6.3×104 ton yr-1.