Influence of air masses on particle number concentration and size distribution at Mt. Waliguan, Qinghai Province, China

Particle size distribution of 12-500 nm was measured at Mt. Waliguan, China Global Atmosphere Watch Baseline Observatory, from Aug. in 2005 to May in 2007.72-hr back-trajectories at 100-m arrival height above ground level for the same period were calculated at 6：00, 12：00, and 21：00 （Beijing Time） for each day using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory （HYSPLIT-4） model developed by NOAA/ARL. It was found that air mass sources significantly impact particle number concentration and size distribution at Mt. Waliguan. Cluster analysis of back-trajectories show that higher Aitken mode particle number concentration was observed when air masses came from or passed by the northeastern section of Mt. Waliguan, with short trajectory length. High number concentration of nucleation mode was associated with air masses from clean regions, with long trajectory length.

RELATIVE LEVELS OF INDOOR AND OUTDOOR PARTICLE NUMBER CONCENTRATIONS IN A RESIDENTIAL BUILDING IN XI'AN

The time series of indoor and outdoor particle number concentrations in a naturally ventilated residential building in Xi＇an were tested simultaneously for 7 days in summer. The relationships between indoor and outdoor concentrations were examined and discussed, and linear regression analysis was employed to correlate the indoor and outdoor concentrations. The diurnal cycles of indoor and outdoor particle concentrations of different particle size ranges all showed positive correlations between indoor and outdoor number concentrations, The I/O ratios of number concentrations varied with the increase of particle size in the range of 0.89 （±0.19） to 0.99 （±0.15）.

Identifying Supercooled Liquid Water in Cloud Based on Airborne Observations: Correlation of Cloud Particle Number Concentration with Icing Probability and Proportion of Spherical Particles

Identifying supercooled liquid water(SLW)in clouds is critical for weather modification,aviation safety,and atmospheric radiation calculations.Currently,aircraft identification in the SLW area mostly depends on emprical estimation of cloud particle number concentration(N_(c))in China,and scientific verification and quantitative identification criteria are urgently needed.In this study,the observations are from the Fast Cloud Droplets Probe,Rosemount ice detector(RICE),and Cloud Particle Imager(CP_(i))onboard a King Air aircraft during seven flights in 2018 and 2019 over central and eastern China.Based on this,the correlation among N_(c),the proportion of spherical particles(P_(s)),and the probability of icing(P_(i))in supercooled stratiform and cumulus-stratus clouds is statistically analyzed.Subsequently,this study proposes a method to identify SLW areas using N_(c) in combination with ambient temperature.The reliability of this method is evaluated through the true skill statistics(TSS)and threat score(TS)methods.Numerous airborne observations during the seven flights reveal a strong correlation among Nc,P_(s),and P_(i)at the temperature from 0 to−18°C.When Nc is greater than a certain threshold of 5 cm^(−3),there is always the SLW,i.e.,P_(i)and P_(s)are high.Evaluation results demonstrate that the TSS and TS values for Nc=5 cm^(−3)are higher than those for Nc<5 cm^(−3),and a larger Nc threshold(>5 cm^(−3))corresponds to a higher SLW identification hit rate and a higher SLW content.Therefore,Nc=5 cm^(−3)can be used as the minimum criterion for identifying the SLW in clouds at temperature lower than 0°C.The SLW identification method proposed in this study is especially helpful in common situations where aircraft are equipped with only Nc probes and without the CP_(i)and RICE.

Origin of high particle number concentrations reaching the St. Louis, Midwest Supersite

Ultrafine particles are associated with adverse health effects. Total Particle Number Concentration（TNC） of fine particles were measured during 2002 at the St. Louis — Midwest supersite. The time series showed overall low level with frequent large peaks. The time series was analyzed alongside criteria pollutant measurements and meteorological observations. Multiple regression analysis was used to identify further contributing factors and to determine the association of different pollutants with TNC levels. This showed the strong contribution of sulfur dioxide（SO2） and nitrogen oxides（NO x） to high TNC levels. The analysis also suggested that increased dispersion resulting from faster winds and higher mixing heights led to higher TNC levels. Overall, the results show that there were intense particle nucleation events in a SO2 rich plume reaching the site which contributed around 29% of TNC. A further 40% was associated with primary emissions from mobile sources. By separating the remaining TNC by time of day and clear sky conditions,we suggest that most likely 8% of TNC are due to regional nucleation events and 23% are associated with the general urban background.

Application of nanoparticle tracking analysis for characterising the fate of engineered nanoparticles in sediment-water systems

Novel applications of nanotechnology may lead to the release of engineered nanoparticles（ENPs）, which result in concerns over their potential environmental hazardous impact. It is essential for the research workers to be able to quantitatively characterise ENPs in the environment and subsequently to assist the risk assessment of the ENPs. This study hence explored the application of nanoparticle tracking system（NTA） to quantitatively describe the behaviour of the ENPs in natural sediment-water systems. The NTA allows the measurement of both particle number concentration（PNC） and particle size distribution（PSD） of the ENPs. The developed NTA method was applied to a range of gold and magnetite ENPs with a selection of surface properties. The results showed that the positively-charged ENPs interacted more strongly with the sediment than neutral and negatively-charged ENPs. It was also found that the citrate coated Au ENPs had a higher distribution percentage（53%） than 11-mercaptoundecanoic acid coated Au ENPs（20%） and citrate coated magnetite ENPs（21%）. The principles of the electrostatic interactions between hard（and soft） acids and bases（HSAB） are used to explain such behaviours; the hard base coating（i.e. citrate ions） will interact more strongly with hard acid（i.e. magnetite） than soft acid（i.e. gold）.The results indicate that NTA is a complementary method to existing approaches to characterise the fate and behaviour of ENPs in natural sediment.

Technical challenges in tackling regulatory concerns for urban atmospheric nanoparticles

Recent Euro 5 and Euro 6 vehicle emission standards are the first ever initiative to control particles on a number basis at the source. Related standards are also desirable for ambient nanoparticles （taken in this article to be those below 300 rim） to protect against possible adverse effects on public health and the environment. However, there are a number of technical challenges that need to be tackled before developing a regulatory framework for atmospheric nanoparticles. Some of the challenges derive from a lack of standardisation of the key measurement parameters, including sampling, necessary for robust evaluation of particle number concentrations, especially in the context of insufficient knowledge of the physicochemical characteristics of emerging sources （i.e. bio-fuel derived and manufactured nanoparti- cles）. Ideally, ambient concentrations of primary particles could be linked to primary particle emissions by use of nanoparticle dispersion models, and secondary nanoparticles using photochemical modeling tools. The limitations in these areas are discussed. Although there is inadequate information on the exact biological mechanism through which these particles cause harm, it is argued that this should not in itself delay the introduction of regulation. This article reviews the missing links between the existing knowledge of nanoparticle number concentrations and the advances required to tackle the technical challenges implied in developing regulations.

Determination of time-and size-dependent fine particle emission with varied oil heating in an experimental kitchen

Particulate matter（PM） from cooking has caused seriously indoor air pollutant and aroused risk to human health.It is urged to get deep knowledge of their spatial-temporal distribution of source emission characteristics,especially ultrafine particles（UFP ＆lt; 100 nm） and accumulation mode particles（AMP 100-555 nm）.Four commercial cooking oils are auto dipped water to simulate cooking fume under heating to 255℃ to investigate PM emission and decay features between 0.03 and 10 μm size dimension by electrical low pressure impactor（ELPI） without ventilation.Rapeseed and sunflower produced high PM_（2.5） around5.1 mg/m^3,in comparison with those of soybean and corn（5.87 and 4.55 mg/m^3,respectively）at peak emission time between 340 and 450 sec since heating oil,but with the same level of particle numbers 6-9 × 10~5/cm^3.Mean values of PM_（1.0）/PM_（2.5） and PM_（2.5）/PM_（10） at peak emission time are around 0.51-0.55 and 0.23-0.29.After 15 min naturally deposition,decay rates of PM_（1.0）,PM_（2.5） and PM_（10） are 13.3%-29.8%,20.1%-33.9%and 41.2%-54.7%,which manifest that PM_（1.0） is quite hard to decay than larger particles,PM_（2.5） and PM_（1.0）.The majority of the particle emission locates at 43 nm with the largest decay rate at 75%,and shifts to a larger size between137 and 555 nm after 15 min decay.The decay rates of the particles are sensitive to the oil type.

Characterization of particulate matter from diesel passenger cars tested on chassis dynamometers

Emission characterization of particle number as well as particle mass from three diesel passenger cars equipped with diesel particulate filter（DPF）, diesel oxidation catalyst（DOC）and exhaust gas recirculation（EGR） under the vehicle driving cycles and regulatory cycle.Total particle number emissions（PNEs） decreased gradually during speed-up of vehicle from 17.3 to 97.3 km/hr. As the average vehicle speed increases, the size-segregated peak of particle number concentration shifts to smaller size ranges of particles. The correlation analysis with various particulate components such as particle number concentration（PNC）,ultrafine particle number concentration（UFPNC） and particulate matter（PM） mass was conducted to compare gaseous compounds（CO, CO2, HC and NOx）. The UFPNC and PM were not only emitted highly in Seoul during severe traffic jam conditions, but also have good correlation with hydrocarbons and NOxinfluencing high potential on secondary aerosol generation. The effect of the dilution temperature on total PNC under the New European Driving Cycle（NEDC）, was slightly higher than the dilution ratio. In addition, the nuclei mode（DP： ≤ 13 nm） was confirmed to be more sensitive to the dilution temperature rather than other particle size ranges. Comparison with particle composition between vehicle speed cycles and regulatory cycle showed that sulfate was slightly increased at regulatory cycle, while other components were relatively similar. During cold start test, semivolatile nucleation particles were increased due to effect of cold environment. Research on particle formation dependent on dilution conditions of diesel passenger cars under the NEDC is important to verify impact on vehicular traffic and secondary aerosol formation in Seoul.