Characteristics of mass distributions of aerosol particle and its inorganic water-soluble ions in summer over a suburb farmland in Beijing

Agricultural activity is one of the most important sources of aerosol particles.To understand the mass distribu-tion and sources of aerosol particles and their inorganic water-soluble ions in a suburb farmland of Beijing,particle samples were collected using a microorifice uniform deposit impactor(MOUDI)in the summer of 2004 in a suburb vege-table field.The distribution of the particles and their inor-ganic water-soluble ions in the diameter range of 0.18-18 mm were measured.The dominant fine particle ions were SO_(4)^(2−),NO^(3−),and NH_(4)^(+).The association of day-to-day variation of the concentration of these ions with temperature,humidity,and solar radiation suggested that they are formed by the reac-tion of NH_(3) released from the vegetable field with the acid species produced from photochemical reactions.Fine particle K+is likely from vegetation emission and biomass burning.Coarse particles like Ca^(2+),Mg^(2+),NO_(3)^(−),and SO_(4)^(2−)are sug-gested to come from the mechanical process by which the soil particle entered the atmosphere,and from the reaction of the acid species at the surface of the soil particle.The results show that fertilizer and soil are important factors determining the aerosol particle over agricultural fields,and vegetable fields in suburban Beijing contribute significantly to the aerosol particle.