Light absorption properties and potential sources of brown carbon in Fenwei Plain during winter 2018–2019

A distinctive kind of organic carbon aerosol that could absorb ultraviolet-visible radiation is called brown carbon(Br C),which has an important positive influence on radiative budget and climate change.In this work,we reported the absorption properties and potential source of Br C based on a seven-wavelength aethalometer in the winter of 2018–2019 at an urban site of Sanmenxia in Fenwei Plain in central China.Specifically,the mean value of Br C absorption coefficient was 59.6±36.0 Mm^(-1) at 370 nm and contributed 37.7%to total absorption,which made a significant impact on visibility and regional environment.Absorption coefficients of Br C showed double-peak pattern,and Br C had shown small fluctuations under haze days compared with clean days.As for the sources of Br C,Br C absorption coefficients expressed strong correlations with element carbon aerosols and primary organic carbon aerosols,indicating that most of Br C originated from primary emissions.The linear correlations between trace metal elements(K,As,Fe,Mn,Zn,and Pb)and Br C absorption coefficients further referred that the major sources of Br C were primary emissions,like coal burning,biomass burning,and vehicle emissions.The moderate relationship between Br C absorption coefficients and secondary organic aerosols suggested that secondary production of Br C also played an important role.The 120 hr backward air mass trajectories analysis and concentration-weighted trajectories analysis were also used to investigate potential sources of Br C in and around this area,which inferred most parts of Br C were derived from local emissions.

Evaluation and impact factors of indoor and outdoor gas-phase nitrous acid under different environmental conditions

As an important indoor pollutant,nitrous acid(HONO) can contribute to the concentration of indoor OH radicals by photolysis via sunlight penetrating into indoor environments,thus affecting the indoor oxidizing capability.In order to investigate the concentration of indoor HONO and its impact factors,three different indoor environments and two different locations in urban and suburban areas were selected to monitor indoor and outdoor pollutants simultaneously,including HONO,NO,NO2,nitrogen oxides(NOx),O3,and particle mass concentration.In general,the concentration of indoor HONO was higher than that outdoors.In the urban area,indoor HONO with high average concentration(7.10 ppbV) was well-correlated with the temperature.In the suburban area,the concentration of indoor HONO was only about 1-2 ppbV,and had a good correlation with indoor relative humidity.It was mainly attributed to the heterogeneous reaction of NO2 on indoor surfaces.The sunlight penetrating into indoor environments from outside had a great influence on the concentration of indoor HONO,leading to a concentration of indoor HONO close to that outdoors.

Continuous and comprehensive atmospheric observations in Beijing:a station to understand the complex urban atmospheric environment

Due to profound impact on climate and human health,air quality has attracted attention from all levels of the civil society.The key step in the provision of required tools for the society to tackle the complex air quality problem is to characterize it in a comprehensive manner with a long-term perspective.Here,we describe a continuous and comprehensive observation station and its accompanying state-ofthe-art instrumentation that was established to investigate the complex urban atmospheric environment in a rapidly developing Chinese Megacity.The station,located in downtown Beijing,aims to study air quality by identifying the major atmospheric pollutants and key processes determining their formation and loss mechanisms.A few hundreds of parameters are continuously measured with the state-of-the-art instruments,including trace gas concentrations,aerosol particle size distributions,and mass concentrations,covering aerosol particle chemical composition from molecules to micrometer-sized aerosol particles.This produced long-term,comprehensive big data with around 1�10^(11)bytes per year.In this paper,we provide an overview on the facilities of the station,the instrumentation used,the workflow of continuous observations and examples of results from 2018 to 2019 and a basis for establishing a modern long-term,comprehensive atmospheric urban observation station in other megacities.

Long-term winter observation of nitrous acid in the urban area of Beijing

The particulate matter(PM)pollution has been significantly improved by carrying out various valid emission control strategies since 2013 in China.Meanwhile the variation trend of nitrous acid(HONO)is worthy to investigate due to its vital role in the atmospheric oxidation process.In this study,field observation in the winter is conducted to investigate the concentration of HONO in an urban area of Beijing.In the winter of 2019,the mean HONO concentration is 1.38 ppbV during the whole winter.Photo-enhanced NO_(2)heterogeneous reactions on the ground and aerosol surfaces were found as the possible daytime sources of HONO.Compared to O_(3),photolysis of HONO dominates the primary OH sources during the winter time.To understand the HONO pollution patterns by years variation,multi-year data is summarized and finds that primary pollutants including CO and NO decreased,but secondary pollutants i.e.,HONO(mostly generated via secondary process)increased.Our study highlights the requirement to mitigate secondary pollution by control HONO concentration.