Seasonal variation in atmospheric particle electrostatic charging states determined using a parallel electrode plate device

Abstract

In order to understand the electrostatic charging state of atmospheric hundreds nanometer particles that has particular impact on health, we have observed the atmospheric particles charge distributions intermittently for one year. To easily estimate particle charge distribution, first of all, we have developed a simple instrument and calculation method. We confirmed by comparison with stationary charge distributions that the distributions obtained by our method can be used to easily determine the relative variation of particle charging states, although the proportion of particles with a small charge number was quantitatively underestimated. The charge distributions of the atmospheric particles observed from April 2017 to February 2018 were different from the generally accepted stationary charge distribution. Moreover, the observed distributions changed significantly throughout the year. This variation was found to correlate with seasonal variations in temperature, relative humidity, volumetric humidity, and air mass trajectories. Present result suggests that the seasonal variation of the charging state is possibly due to the seasonal variation of the atmospheric ion number concentrations. Thus, it is important to consider the variation in the charging state of atmospheric particles due to dynamic changes of atmospheric conditions, as the charging state can dramatically influence the deposition of particles in the lungs.