[Changes in Carbonaceous Aerosol in the Northern Suburbs of Nanjing from 2015 to 2019].

Carbonaceous aerosol is an important component of atmospheric fine particles that has an important impact on air quality, human health, and climate change. In order to explore the long-term changes in carbonaceous aerosol under the background of emission reduction, this study measured the mass concentrations of organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) of PM2.5, which collected in the northern suburbs of Nanjing for five years (December 17, 2014 to January 5, 2020). The results showed that the five-year average ρ(OC) and ρ(EC) were (10.2±5.3) µg·m-3 and (1.6±1.1) µg·m-3, accounting for 31.1% and 5.2% of PM2.5, respectively. OC and EC concentrations were both high in winter and low in summer. According to the nonparametric Mann-Kendall test and Sen's slope, the mass concentrations of OC and PM2.5 decreased significantly[OC:P<0.0001, -0.79 µg·(m3·a)-1, -0.29%·a-1; PM2.5:P<0.0001, -4.59 µg·(m3·a)-1, -1.58%·a-1]. Although EC had an upward trend, the significance and range of change were not obvious[P=0.02, 0.05 µg·(m3·a)-1, 0.02%·a-1]. OC and EC decreased significantly during winter from 2014 to 2019[OC:P<0.0001, -2.05 µg·(m3·a)-1, -0.74%·a-1; EC:P=0.001, -0.15 µg·(m3·a)-1, -0.05%·a-1], and the decline was more obvious than the whole. The correlation between OC and EC showed that the sources in winter and summer were more complex than those in spring and autumn. According to the characteristic ratio of OC and EC, the contribution of coal combustion and biomass burning decreased from 2015 to 2019, whereas the impact of industrial sources and vehicle emissions became more significant. Corresponding to this was the obvious decline in OC and the slight recovery of EC. The OC/EC ratio was over 2.0, indicating that there was secondary pollution in the study area. Further calculation revealed that the variation in SOC was consistent with that in OC, showing a significant decrease[P<0.0001, -0.47 µg·(m3·a)-1, -0.17%·a-1]. The average mass concentration of SOC was (5.0±3.5) µg·m-3, accounting for 49.2% of OC. These changes indicate clear effects of the prevention and control of air pollution in Nanjing in recent years. Furthermore, future control can focus on the emissions of VOCs to reduce secondary pollution.

[Distribution Characteristics and Source of Black Carbon Aerosols in the Northern Suburbs of Nanjing].

Black carbon (BC) is an important component of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) emitted during the combustion process. Light absorption and scattering exhibited by BC affect the exchange of solar energy on Earth. In this study, continuous measurements of atmospheric particulate BC were carried out, using a BC analyzer (AE33) in the suburban area of Nanjing from January 2019 to May 2019, to realize the diurnal variations of BC during the different seasons and potential sources of BC during the clean (CD, PM2.5<35 µg ·m-3) and haze days (PD, PM2.5>75 µg ·m-3). The results showed that the average concentration of BC was (3.8±2.3) µg ·m-3; a higher average BC concentration value of (4.3±2.6) µg ·m-3 was observed during the winter, exceeding that during the spring period by a factor of 1.3. The higher BC concentrations during the winter was attributed to the stagnant weather conditions and additional emissions. Significant diurnal cycles of BC were observed with higher BC concentrations during rush hours of traffic, suggesting traffic origins. The Ångström exponent were 1.32 and 1.30 during the spring and winter periods, respectively, indicating that the BC was mainly produced from the traffic emissions during both the seasons. This hypothesis was also supported by the average BC/CO ratio of 0.005, which was similar to that of BC derived by traffic emissions. Moreover, we discovered that the contributions of traffic emissions to BC were 68%-87% and 72%-86% during the haze and clean periods, respectively. This indicated enhanced contributions of coal combustion and biomass burning to BC in Nanjing during the haze events. Finally, using the potential source contribution function (PSCF) and concentration weighted trajectory (CWT) analysis, we highlighted that the BC at the receptor site was mainly from the local emissions in the surrounding areas of Nanjing.

[Characteristics and Source Analysis of Carbonaceous Components of PM2.5 During Autumn in the Northern Suburb of Nanjing].

In this study, PM2.5 samples were collected from October to November of 2015 in the northern suburb of Nanjing. The mass concentrations of organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and levoglucosan in the samples were analyzed by thermal optical transmittance (TOT) and ion chromatography. The average concentrations of OC and EC were respectively (11.3±4.9) µg·m-3 and (1.1±0.9) µg·m-3. The average total carbon (TC) was 22.9%, and the OC/EC was 7.4. The quality concentrations of PM2.5, OC, EC, and SOC all reflected daytime features, and the correlation between OC and EC was better during the day than at night (correlation coefficients of 0.86 for day and 0.7 for night). By analyzing the mass concentrations of PM2.5, levoglucosan, and SOC, as well as the data of backward trajectories and fire point data, it was determined that the northern suburb of Nanjing is affected by the long-distance transportation of biomass from Hebei and other places from October 13-16. The correlations between levoglucosan and OC, EC, or SOC were significant (correlation coefficients of 0.78, 0.79, and 0.65, respectively), and the contribution of biomass combustion during sampling to OC was 21.9%.

[Characteristics and Sources of Water Soluble Inorganic Ions in Fine Particulate Matter During Winter in Xuzhou].

A total of 32 daily PM2.5 samples were collected from December 2016 to February 2017 in the urban area of Xuzhou city. Water-soluble inorganic ions (WSⅡs), including F-, Cl-, NO3-, SO42-, Na+, Mg2+, NH4+, K+ and Ca2+, were determined by ion chromatography. The average mass concentration of PM2.5 was (164.8±77.3) µg·m-3 and the average total mass concentration of the nine ions was (67.5±36.1) µg·m-3, the contribution of the WSⅡs to the PM2.5 was more than 40.9%. The order of the concentrations of individual ions was NO3- > SO42- > NH4+ > Cl- > Ca2+ > K+ > Na+ > Mg2+ > F-. NH4+, NO3-, and SO42- (SNA) were the major components of the water-soluble ions in the PM2.5 measurement. The average mass concentration of WSⅡs in clean air, mild haze, and severe haze was (12.8±8.8), (59.0±22.8) and (86.3±36.0) µg·m-3, respectively. The contribution of SNA to WSⅡs was 86.4%, 82.8%, and 78.9%, respectively. The correlation between each component of SNA with each other was significant. NH4+, NO3-, and SO42- were in the form of (NH4)2SO4 and NH4NO3. Secondary formation, biomass burning, fossil fuel combustion, and dust were the major sources of the water-soluble ions in PM2.5.