Characterization of submicron aerosols during a serious pollution month in Beijing (2013) using an aerodyne high-resolution aerosol mass spectrometer

Abstract

Abstract. In January 2013, Beijing experienced several serious haze events. To achieve a better understanding of the characteristics, sources and processes of aerosols during this month, an Aerodyne High-Resolution Time-of-Flight Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) was deployed at an urban site between 1 January and 1 February 2013 to obtain the size-resolved chemical composition of non-refractory submicron particles (NR-PM1). During this period, the mean measured NR-PM1 mass concentration was 87.4 μg m-3 and was composed of organics (49.8%), sulfate (21.4%), nitrate (14.6%), ammonium (10.4%), and chloride (3.8%). Moreover, inorganic matter, such as sulfate and nitrate comprised an increasing fraction of the NR-PM1 load as NR-PM1 loading increased, denoting their key roles in particulate pollution during this month. The average size distributions of the species were all dominated by an accumulation mode peaking at approximately 600 nm in vacuum aerodynamic diameter and organics characterized by an additional smaller size (∼200 nm). Elemental analyses showed that the average O/C, H/C, and N/C (molar ratio) of organic matter were 0.34, 1.44 and 0.015, respectively, corresponding to an OM/OC ratio (mass ratio of organic matter to organic carbon) of 1.60. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) analyses of the high-resolution organic mass spectral dataset differentiated the organic aerosol into four components, i.e., oxygenated organic aerosols (OOA), cooking-related (COA), nitrogen-containing (NOA) and hydrocarbon-like (HOA), which on average accounted for 40.0, 23.4, 18.1 and 18.5% of the total organic mass, respectively. Back trajectory clustering analyses indicated that the WNW air masses were associated with the highest NR-PM1 pollution during the campaign. Aerosol particles in southern air masses were especially rich in inorganic and oxidized organic species, whereas northern air masses contained a large fraction of primary species.