Characteristics of aerosol size distributions and new particle formation in the summer in Beijing

Abstract

The Campaigns of Air Quality Research in Beijing and Surrounding Region 2006 (CAREBeijing‐2006) were mainly focused on the influence of the regional aerosol on the air pollution in Beijing. The urban aerosol was characterized in detail. The particle size distributions were also compared to those measured at a regional site (Yufa) approximately 50 km south of the urban site at Peking University (PKU). At PKU, total particle number and volume concentrations were (1.8 ± 0.8) × 104 cm−3 and 83.5 ± 57.9 μm3 cm−3, respectively. Days in three consecutive summers of 2004, 2005, and 2006 were classified as polluted days with PM10 over 150 μg m−3 and nonpolluted days with lower PM10. On nonpolluted days, particle number size distributions showed a maximum at about 60 nm with Aitken mode particles dominating number concentration. On polluted days, the contribution of accumulation mode particles increased, shifting the maximum of the number size distribution to over 80 nm. On polluted days with stagnant meteorological conditions, secondary aerosol dominated, with SO42−, NO3−, and NH4+ accounting for over 60% of accumulation mode particle mass. Particle number size distributions at both sites were similar. Number and volume concentrations of total particles at Yufa were 6% and 12% lower, respectively; those of accumulation mode particles were 2% and 15% lower. This means that air pollution in Beijing is mainly a regional problem. The regional accumulation mode particles are a metric for assessing the air quality since they influence most the visibility and total mass concentration. Their number and volume concentrations on polluted days were 5 × 103 cm−3 and 30 μm3 cm−3, respectively. Five new particle formation (NPF) events with continuous smooth growth were observed at both PKU and Yufa during CAREBeijing‐2006. These NPF events are regional or semiregional. Growth rates at PKU ranged from 1.2 to 5.6 nm h−1, and formation rates ranged from 1.1 to 22.4 cm−3 s−1. SO42−, NH4+, and oxalate might be important contributors to NPF events.