ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-10-8119-2010 Haze types in Beijing and the influence of agricultural biomass burning Li W. J. 1 2 3 Shao L. Y. 2 Buseck P. R. 3 Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong 250100, China State Key Laboratory of Coal Resources and Safe Mining & College of Geoscience and Surveying Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology, Beijing 100083, China School of Earth and Space Exploration & Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404, USA 01 09 2010 10 17 8119 8130 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/8119/2010/acp-10-8119-2010.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/10/8119/2010/acp-10-8119-2010.pdf

Emissions from agricultural biomass burning (ABB) in northern China have a significant impact on the regional and global climate. The monthly average aerosol optical depth (AOD) at 550 nm in northern China in 2007 had a maximum of 0.7 in June. The AOD measurements are consistent with regional brown hazes that occurred at that time, which was a period of severe aerosol pollution. Aerosol particles were collected in urban Beijing from 12 to 30 June 2007, during a period of high haze, and studied using transmission electron microscopy with energy-dispersive X-ray spectrometry. The dominant particle types collected in the fine fraction (diameter <1 μm) were ammonium sulfate, soot, K<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub>, KNO<sub>3</sub>, and organic matter, except that the K salts were minor between 21 and 30 June. K-rich particles as tracers of biomass burning, together with wildfire maps, show that intense regional ABB in northern China contributed significantly to the regional haze between 12 and 20 June. We therefore grouped the episodes into type-1 and -2 haze, with the former occurring between 12 and 20 June and the latter between 21 and 30 June. After long-range transport, ABB particles in the type-1 haze exhibited marked changes in morphology, composition, and mixing state. KCl particles were absent, presumably having been converted by heterogeneous reactions to K<sub>2</sub>SO<sub>4</sub> and KNO<sub>3</sub>. Soot particles were mixed with the other particle types. Abundant organic matter and soluble salts emitted by ABB increased their sizes during transport and resulted in more hygroscopic aerosol particles in downwind areas, becoming additional cloud condensation nuclei. The high AOD (average value 2.2) in Beijing during 12 to 20 June is partly explained by the hygroscopic growth of fine aerosol particles and by the strong absorption of internally mixed soot particles, both coming from regional ABB emissions. Therefore, it is important to consider the origins of the haze, which in turn leads to the different particle types.

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