Contribution of regional transport to the black carbon aerosol during winter haze period in Beijing

Abstract

The mass concentrations of atmospheric refractory black carbon (rBC), an important absorber of solar radiation, were continuously measured with a single particle soot photometer (SP2) during wintertime haze period to investigate the transport of pollution to Beijing. The average mass concentration of rBC was 6.1 ± 3.9 μg m−3 during hazy periods, which was 4.7 times higher than it during non-hazy periods. Cluster analysis showed that the air parcels arriving at Beijing mainly originated from the northwest, passed through the south and brought the most polluted air to Beijing. Concentration-weighted trajectory analyses indicated that the central North China Plain were the most likely source region for the rBC that impacted Beijing. Furthermore, the Weather Research and Forecasting-Black Carbon model showed that 71.4–82.0% of the rBC at Beijing was from regional transport during the high rBC episodes and that 47.9–56.8% of the rBC can be attributed to sources in the central North China Plain. These results suggest that regional transport from the central North China Plain, rather than local emissions, was a more important source for rBC pollution in Beijing.