Seasonal characterization of aerosol composition and sources in a polluted city in Central China

Abstract

We characterized the aerosol composition and sources of particulate matter (PM) in Sanmenxia, a polluted city located in the Fen-Wei Plain region of Central China. The PM2.5 concentration decreased by 18% from 72 μg m−3 in 2014 to 59 μg m−3 in 2019. All chemical species presented pronounced seasonal variations, with their highest concentrations in winter due to enhanced emissions and the frequent stagnant meteorological conditions. Nitrate was the major fraction of PM2.5 during all seasons (35–41%) except summer (25%), while sulfate was a dominant species in summer (29%) compared to other seasons (16–18%) from July 2018 to June 2019. The detailed analysis of a wintertime severe haze episode that lasted for approximately half a month demonstrated that secondary aerosols, including secondary organic aerosol, sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium, contributed 89% to non-refractory PM1 (NR-PM1), indicating the remarkable role of secondary aerosol formation in air pollution in Sanmenxia. Positive matrix factorization analysis further showed considerably enhanced low-volatility oxygenated organic aerosol (OA) and hydrocarbon-like OA during severe haze episodes, while significant contributions in semi-volatile oxygenated OA and coal combustion OA during clean periods. Severe pollution events in the city were generally associated with air masses from the southwest, and we also found that aerosol species, especially secondary aerosol species, showed distinct forenoon increases that were caused by the subsidence of air pollutants aloft. Our results highlight that future air quality improvement would benefit substantially from a more efficient control of gaseous precursors, particularly the NOx emissions from industry and vehicle emissions.