References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

1680-7324

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-11-1565-2011

First long-term study of particle number size distributions and new particle formation events of regional aerosol in the North China Plain

Shen

X. J.

¹ ² Sun

J. Y.

¹ Zhang

Y. M.

¹ Wehner

³ Nowak

³ Tuch

³ Zhang

X. C.

¹ Wang

T. T.

¹ Zhou

H. G.

⁴ Zhang

X. L.

⁴ Dong

⁴ Birmili

³ Wiedensohler

Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry of CMA, Center for Atmosphere Watch and Services, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China

Graduate University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China

Leibniz Institute for Tropospheric Research, 04318 Leipzig, Germany

Shangdianzi Regional GAW station, Research Institute of Urban Meteorology, Beijing Meteorological Bureau, Beijing 100089, China

18 02 2011

11 4 1565 1580

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/11/1565/2011/acp-11-1565-2011.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/11/1565/2011/acp-11-1565-2011.pdf

Atmospheric particle number size distributions (size range 0.003–10 μm) were measured between March 2008 and August 2009 at Shangdianzi (SDZ), a rural research station in the North China Plain. These measurements were made in an attempt to better characterize the tropospheric background aerosol in Northern China. The mean particle number concentrations of the total particle, as well as the nucleation, Aitken, accumulation and coarse mode were determined to be 1.2 ± 0.9 × 104, 3.6 ± 7.9 × 103, 4.4 ± 3.4 × 103, 3.5 ± 2.8 × 103 and 2 ± 3 cm−3, respectively. A general finding was that the particle number concentration was higher during spring compared to the other seasons. The air mass origin had an important effect on the particle number concentration and new particle formation events. Air masses from northwest (i.e. inner Asia) favored the new particle formation events, while air masses from southeast showed the highest particle mass concentration. Significant diurnal variations in particle number were observed, which could be linked to new particle formation events, i.e. gas-to-particle conversion. During particle formation events, the number concentration of the nucleation mode rose up to maximum value of 104 cm−3. New particle formation events were observed on 36% of the effective measurement days. The formation rate ranged from 0.7 to 72.7 cm−3 s−1, with a mean value of 8.0 cm−3 s−1. The value of the nucleation mode growth rate was in the range of 0.3–14.5 nm h−1, with a mean value of 4.3 nm h−1. It was an essential observation that on many occasions the nucleation mode was able to grow into the size of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) within a matter of several hours. Furthermore, the new particle formation was regularly followed by a measurable increase in particle mass concentration and extinction coefficient, indicative of a high abundance of condensable vapors in the atmosphere under study.

References 1

Allan, J. D., Alfarra, M. R., Bower, K. N., Coe, H., Jayne, J. T., Worsnop, D. R., Aalto, P. P., Kulmala, M., Hyötyläinen, T., Cavalli, F., and Laaksonen, A.: Size and composition measurements of background aerosol and new particle growth in a Finnish forest during QUEST 2 using an Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 6, 315–327, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-6-315-2006doi:10.5194/acp-6-315-2006, 2006.

Barsanti, K. C., McMurry, P. H., and Smith, J. N.: The potential contribution of organic salts to new particle growth, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 2949–2957, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-2949-2009doi:10.5194/acp-9-2949-2009, 2009.

Birmili, W., Stratmann, F., and Wiedensohler, A.: Design of a DMA-based size spectrometer for a large particle size range and stable operation, J. Aerosol Sci., 30(4), 549–554, 1999.

Birmili, W., Wiedensohler, A., Heintzenberg, J., and Lehmann, K.: Atmospheric particle number size distribution in central Europe: Statistical relations to air mass and meteorology, J. Geophys. Res., 32, 5–18, 2001.

Bohren, C. F. and Huffman, D. R.: Absorption and scattering of light by small particles, John Wiley and Sons, Wiley-Intersci., New York, USA, 544~pp., 1998.

Boy, M. and Kulmala, M.: Nucleation events in the continental boundary layer: Influence of physical and meteorological parameters, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 2, 1–16, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-2-1-2002doi:10.5194/acp-2-1-2002, 2002.

Boy, M., Kulmala, M., Ruuskanen, T. M., Pihlatie, M., Reissell, A., Aalto, P. P., Keronen, P., Dal Maso, M., Hellen, H., Hakola, H., Jansson, R., Hanke, M., and Arnold, F.: Sulphuric acid closure and contribution to nucleation mode particle growth, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 5, 863–878, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-5-863-2005doi:10.5194/acp-5-863-2005, 2005.

Cheng, Y. F., Eichler, H., Wiedensohler, A., Heintzenberg, J., Zhang, Y. H., Hu, M., Herrmann, H., Zeng, L. M., Liu, S., Gnauk, T., Brüggemann, E., and He, L. Y.: Mixing state of elemental carbon and non-light-absorbing aerosol components derived from in situ particle optical properties at Xinken in Pearl River Delta of China, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D20204, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2005JD006929doi:10.1029/2005JD006929, 2006.

Dal Maso, M., Kulmala, M., Riipinen, I., Wagner, R., Hussein, T., Aalto, P. P., and Lehtinen, K. E. J.: Formation and growth of fresh atmospheric aerosols: eight years of aerosol size distribution data from SMEAR II, Hyytiälä, Finland, Boreal Env. Res., 10, 323–336, 2005.

Dal Maso, M., Sogacheva, L., Aalto, P. P., Riipinen, I., Komppula, M., Tunved, P., Korhonen, L., Suur-Uski, V., Hirsikko, A., Kurten, T., Kerminen, V.-M., Lihavainen, H., Viisanen, Y., Hansson, H.-C., and Kulmala, M.: Aerosol size distribution measurements at four Nordic field stations: identification, analysis and trajectory analysis of new particle formation bursts, Tellus, 59, 350–361, 2007.

d' Almeida, G., Keopke, P., and Shettle, E.: Atmospheric aerosol-global climatology and radiative characteristics, A. Deepak, Hampton, Va, 1991.

Dominici, F., Peng, R. D., Bell, M. L., Pham, L., McDermott, A., Zeger, S. L., and Samet, J. M.: Fine particulate air pollution and hospital admission for cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, J. American Medical Association., 295, 1127–1134, 2006.

Draxler, R. R. and Rolph, G. D.: HYSPLIT (HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory). Model access via NOAA ARL READY Website: http://www.arl.noaa.gov/ready/hysplit4.html, NOAA Air Resources Laboratory, Silver Spring, MD, 2003.

Engler, C., Rose, D., Wehner, B., Wiedensohler, A., Brüggemann, E., Gnauk, T., Spindler, G., Tuch, T., and Birmili, W.: Size distributions of non-volatile particle residuals ($D_p$<800 nm) at a rural site in Germany and relation to air mass origin, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 5785–5802, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-7-5785-2007doi:10.5194/acp-7-5785-2007, 2007.

Fuchs, N. A.: The mechanics of aerosols, Pergamon, New York, USA, 1964.

Fuchs, N. A. and Sutugin, A. G.: Highly dispersed aerosols, Pergamon, New York, USA, 1971.

Gao, J., Wang, J., Cheng, S. H., Xue, L. K., Yan, H. Z., Hou, L. J., Jiang, Y. Q., and Wang, W. X.: Number concentration and size distributions of submicron particles in Jinan urban area: Characteristics in summer and winter, J. Environ. Sci., 19, 1466–1473, 2007.

Gao, J., Wang, T., Zhou, X. H., Wu, W. S., and Wang, W. X.: Measurement of aerosol number size distributions in the Yangtze River delta in China: Formation and growth of particles under polluted conditions, Atmos. Environ., 43, 829–836, 2009.

Harrison, R. M., Jones, M., and Collins, G.: Measurements of the physical properties of particles in the urban atmosphere, Atmos. Environ., 33, 309–321, 1999.

Hamed, A., Joutsensaari, J., Mikkonen, S., Sogacheva, L., Dal Maso, M., Kulmala, M., Cavalli, F., Fuzzi, S., Facchini, M. C., Decesari, S., Mircea, M., Lehtinen, K. E. J., and Laaksonen, A.: Nucleation and growth of new particles in Po Valley, Italy, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 355–376, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-7-355-2007doi:10.5194/acp-7-355-2007, 2007.

Hong, Y. C., Lee, J. T., Kim, H., Ha, E. H., Schwartz, J., and Christiani, D. C.: Effects of Air Pollutants on Acute Stroke Mortality, Environ. Health Persp., 110, 181–197, 2002.

%Hussein, T., Puustinen, A., Aalto, P. P., Mäkelä, J. M., Hämeri, %K., and Kulmala, M.: Urban aerosol number size distributions, Atmos. Chem. %Phys., 4, 391-411, 2004. Hussein, T., Puustinen, A., Aalto, P. P., Mäkelä, J. M., Hämeri, K., and Kulmala, M.: Urban aerosol number size distributions, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 4, 391–411, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-4-391-2004doi:10.5194/acp-4-391-2004, 2004.

Iida, K., Stolzenburg, M. R., and McMurry, P. H.: Effect of working fluid on sub-2 nm particle detection with a laminar flow ultrafine condensation particle counter, Aerosol Sci. Technol., 43, 81–96, doi:10.1080/02786820802488194, 2009.

Jaatinen, A., Hamed, A., Joutsensaari, J., Mikkonen, S., Birmili, W., Wehner, B., Spindler, G., Wiedensohler, A., Decesari, S., Mircea. M., Facchini. M.C., Junninen, H., Kulmala, M., Lehtinen, K. E. J., and Laaksonen, A.: A comparison of new particle formation events in the boundary layer at three different sites in Europe, Boreal Env. Res., 14, 481–498, 2009.

Kerminen, V.-M. and Kulmala, M.: Analytical formulae connecting the "real" and the "apparent" nucleation rate and the nuclei number concentration for atmospheric nucleation events, J. Aerosol Sci., 33, 609–622, 2002.

Kerminen, V.-M., Lihavainen, H., Komppula, M., Viisanen, Y. and Kulmala, M.: Direct observational evidence linking atmospheric aerosol formation and cloud droplet activation, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L14803, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2005GL023130doi:10.1029/2005GL023130, 2005.

Kivekäs, N., Sun, J., Zhan, M., Kerminen, V.-M., Hyvärinen, A., Komppula, M., Viisanen, Y., Hong, N., Zhang, Y., Kulmala, M., Zhang, X.-C., Deli-Geer, and Lihavainen, H.: Long term particle size distribution measurements at Mount Waliguan, a high-altitude site in inland China, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 9, 5461–5474, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-9-5461-2009doi:10.5194/acp-9-5461-2009, 2009.

Kulmala, M.: How Particles Nucleate and Grow, Science, 302, 1000–1001, 2003.

Kulmala, M., Vehkamäkia, H., Petäjä, T., Dal Maso, M., Lauri, A., Kerminen, V. -M., Birmili, W., and McMurry, P.H.: Formation and growth rates of ultrafine atmospheric particles: a review of observations, J. Aerosol Sci., 35, 143–176, 2004.

Kulmala, M., Riipinen, I., Sipilä, M., Manninen, H. E., Petäjä, T., Junninen, H., Dal Maso, M., Mordas, G., Mirme, A., Vana, M., Hirsikko, A., Laakso, L., Harrison, R.M., Hanson, I., Leung, C., Lehtinen, K. E. J., and Kerminen, V. -M.: Toward direct measurement of atmospheric nucleation, Science, 318, 89–92, 2007.

Laakso, L., Koponen, I. K., Mönkkönen, P., Kulmala, M., Kerminen, V.-M., Wehner, B., Wiedensohler, A., Wu, Z. J., and Hu, M.: Aerosol particles in the developing world: a comparison between New Delhi in India and Beijing in China, Water Air Soil Poll., 173, 5–20, 2006.

Li, X. H., Duan, L., Wang, S. X., Duan, J. C., Guo, X. M., Yi, H. H., Hu, J. N., Li, C., and Hao, J. M.: Emission characteristics of particulate matter from rural household biofuel combustion in China, Energy Fuels, 21, 845–851, 2007.

Lin, W., Xu, X., Zhang, X., and Tang, J.: Contributions of pollutants from North China Plain to surface ozone at the Shangdianzi GAW Station, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 5889–5898, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-5889-2008doi:10.5194/acp-8-5889-2008, 2008.

Liu, S., Hu, M.,Wu, Z. J., Wehner. B., Wiedensohler. A., and Cheng, Y. F.: Aerosol number size distribution and new particle formation at a rural/coastal site in Pearl River Delta (PRD) of China, Atmos. Environ., 25, 6275–6283, 2008.

Middleton, W. E. K.: Vision Through the Atmosphere, U. Toronto Press, Toronto, 205~pp., 1952.

Qian, S., Sakurai, H., and McMurry, P. H.: Characteristics of regional nucleation events in urban East St. Louis, Atmos. Environ., 41, 4119–4127, 2007.

Pope, III C A and Dockery, D. W.: Health Effects of Fine Particulate Air Pollution: Lines that Connect, J. Air Waste Manage. Assoc., 56, 709–742, 2006.

Riipinen, I., Sihto, S.-L., Kulmala, M., Arnold, F., Dal Maso, M., Birmili, W., Saarnio, K., Teinilä, K., Kerminen, V.-M., Laaksonen, A., and Lehtinen, K. E. J.: Connections between atmospheric sulfuric acid and new particle formation during QUEST III-IV campaigns in Heidelberg and Hyytiälä, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 1899–1914, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-7-1899-2007doi:10.5194/acp-7-1899-2007, 2007.

Rosenfeld, D., Lohmann, U., Raga, G. B., O'Dowd, C. D., Kulmala, M., Fuzzi, S., Reissell, A., and Andreae, M. O.: Flood or Drought: How Do Aerosols Affect Precipitation?, Science, 321, 1309–1313, 2008.

Seinfeld, J. H. and Pandis, S. N.: Atmospheric chemistry and physics of air pollution, John Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, USA, 1998.

Sloane, C. S.: Optical properties of aerosols of mixed composition, Atmos. Environ., 18, 871–878, 1984.

Solomon, S., Qin, D. H., Manning, M., Marquis, M., Averyt, K., Tignor, M., Miller, H. L., and Chen, Z. L.: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC): Summary for policymakers, Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007.

Stanier, C. O., Khlystov, A. Y., and Pandis, S. N.: Ambient aerosol size distributions and number concentrations measured during the Pittsburgh Air Quality Study (PAQS), Atmos. Environ., 38, 3275–3284, 2004.

Su, H., Cheng, Y. F., Cheng, P., Zhang, Y. H., Dong, S. F., Zeng, L. M., Wang, X. S., Slanina, J., Shao, M., and Wiedensohler, A.: Observation of nighttime nitrous acid (HONO) formation at a non-urban site during PRIDE-PRD 2004 in China, Atmos. Environ., 42, 6219–6232, 2008.

Sipilä, M., Lehtipalo, K., Attoui, M., Neitola, K., Petäjä, T., Aalto, P. P., O'Dowd, C. D., and Kulmala, M.: Laboratory verification of PH-CPC's ability to monitor atmospheric sub-3 nm clusters, Aerosol Sci. Technol., 43, 126–135, 2009.

Tang, J., Wang, M. L., Cheng, H. B., Ding, G. A., Yu, X. M., Zhou, H. G., and Liu, G.P.: Variation Characteristics of Ambient NMHCs at Shangdianzi and Lin'an Regional GAW Sites, Acta Meteorol. Sin., 21, 334–341, 2007.

Twomey. S.: Atmospheric aerosols, Elsevier, New York, USA, 1977.

%Tuch, T. M., Haudek, A., Müller, T., Nowak, A., Wex, H., and %Wiedensohler, A.: Design and performance of an automatic regenerating %adsorption aerosol dryer for continuous operation at monitoring sites, %Atmos. Meas. Tech., 2, 417-422, 2009. Tuch, T. M., Haudek, A., Müller, T., Nowak, A., Wex, H., and Wiedensohler, A.: Design and performance of an automatic regenerating adsorption aerosol dryer for continuous operation at monitoring sites, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 2, 417–422, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/amt-2-417-2009doi:10.5194/amt-2-417-2009, 2009.

Verma, S., Venkataraman, C., Boucher, O., and Ramachandran, S.: Source evaluation of aerosols measured during the Indian Ocean Experiment using combined chemical transport and back trajectory modeling, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D11210, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007698doi:10.1029/2006JD007698, 2007.

Wang, W., Ma, J. Z., Hatakeyama, S., Liu, X. Y., Chen, Y., Takami, A., Ren, L. H., and Geng, C. M.: Aircraft measurements of vertical ultrafine particles profiles over Northern China coastal areas during dust storms in 2006, Atmos. Environ., 42, 5715–5720, 2008.

Wehner, B. and Wiedensohler, A.: Long term measurements of submicrometer urban aerosols: statistical analysis for correlations with meteorological conditions and trace gases, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 3, 867–879, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-3-867-2003doi:10.5194/acp-3-867-2003, 2003.

Wehner, B., Birmili, W., Ditas, F., Wu, Z., Hu, M., Liu, X., Mao, J., Sugimoto, N., and Wiedensohler, A.: Relationships between submicrometer particulate air pollution and air mass history in Beijing, China, 2004-2006, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 6155–6168, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-6155-2008doi:10.5194/acp-8-6155-2008, 2008.

Wiedensohler, A., Cheng, Y. F., Nowak, A., Wehner, B., Achtert, P., Berghof, M., Birmili, W., Wu, Z. J., Hu, M., Zhu, T., Takegawa, N., Kita, K., Kondo, Y., Lou, S. R., Hofzumahaus, A., Holland, F., Wahner, A., Gunthe, S. S., Rose, D., Su, H., and Pöschl, U.: Rapid aerosol particle growth and increase of cloud condensation nucleus activity by secondary aerosol formation and condensation: A case study for regional air pollution in northeastern China, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D00G08, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010884doi:10.1029/2008JD010884, 2009.

Willeke, K. and Baron, P. A.: Aerosol measurement: Principles, techniques and applications, Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, USA, 1993.

Woo, K. S., Chen, D. R., Pui, D. Y. H., and McMurry, P. H.: Measurement of Atlanta aerosol size distributions: observations of ultrafine particle events, Aero. Sci. Technol., 34, 75–87, 2001.

Wu, Z. J., Hu, M., Liu, S., Wehner, B., Bauer, S., Ma βling, A., Wiedensohler, A., Petäjä, T., Dal Maso, M., and Kulmala, M.: New particle formation in Beijing, China: Statistical analysis of a 1-year data set, J. Geophys. Res., 112, D09209, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2006JD007406doi:10.1029/2006JD007406, 2007.

Wu, Z. J., Hu, M., Lin, P., Liu, S., Wehner, B., and Wiedensohler, A.: Particle number size distribution in the urban atmosphere of Beijing, China, Atmos. Environ., 42, 7967–7980, 2008.

Yan, P., Tang, J., Huang, J., Mao, J. T., Zhou, X.J., Liu, Q., Wang, Z. F., and Zhou, H. G.: The measurement of aerosol optical properties at a rural site in Northern China, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 2229–2242, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-8-2229-2008doi:10.5194/acp-8-2229-2008, 2008.

Yue, D. L., Hu, M., Wu, Z. J., Wang, Z. B., Guo, S., Wehner, B., Nowak, A., Achtert, P., Wiedensohler, A., Jung, J. S., Kim,Y. J., and Liu, S. H.: Characteristics of aerosol size distributions and new particle formation in the summer in Beijing, J. Geophys. Res., 114, D00G12, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010894doi:10.1029/2008JD010894, 2009.

Yue, D. L., Hu, M., Zhang, R. Y., Wang, Z. B., Zheng, J., Wu, Z. J., Wiedensohler, A., He, L. Y., Huang, X. F., and Zhu, T.: The roles of sulfuric acid in new particle formation and growth in the mega-city of Beijing, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 10, 4953–4960, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-10-4953-2010doi:10.5194/acp-10-4953-2010, 2010.

Zhang, R., Suh, I., Zhao, J., Zhang, D., Fortner, E. C., Tie, X., Molina, L. T., and Molina, M. J.: Atmospheric new particle formation enhanced by organic acids, Science, 304, 1487–1490, 2004.