Influence of High Relative Humidity on Secondary Organic Carbon: Observations at a Background Site in East China

To investigate the impacts of relative humidity(RH) on secondary organic aerosol(SOA) concentrations and chemical reactions, the carbonaceous aerosol components [i.e., organic carbon(OC) and element carbon(EC)] were quantified in daily PM2.5 samples collected at a background site in East China during summer 2015. Based on the method of EC-tracer, the concentration of secondary organic carbon(SOC) demonstrated an obvious negative relationship with RH higher than 60%. Moreover, the ratio of SOC/EC also exhibited obvious decreasing trends with increasing RH, indicating negative effects for chemical production of SOA under high RH conditions. Due to high RH,photochemistry was weakened, gaseous oxidant concentrations was lowered(e.g., significantly decreased O3 levels),and the production rates of SOA were relatively low. On the other hand, because of more water uptake under higher RH conditions, the aerosol droplet acidity was reduced and enhancement of SOA formation by acidity was accordingly absent. In addition, high RH also plays an important role in changing viscosity of pre-existing aerosol coatings,which can affect reactive uptake yield of SOA. Overall, the results from this study imply that SOA production may be more associated with photochemical processes, while aqueous-phase chemistry is not very important for some SOA formation in a moist ambient environment. In the ambient atmosphere, oxidant concentrations, reaction rates,airborne species, etc., are highly variable. How do these factors affect SOA yields under given ambient environment warrants further detailed investigations.

Variation Characteristics of Ambient NMHCs at Shangdianzi and Lin’an Regional GAW Sites

In order to study the variation characteristics of concentration of the atmospheric non-methane hydrocarbons （NMHCs） in background area of China, the atmospheric concentrations of NMHCs were measured at Lin＇an （LA） regional GAW （Global Atmosphere Watch） Station （30°25＇N, 119°44＇E; 132.0 m ASL） and Shangdianzi （SDZ） regional GAW Station （40°19＇N, 117°07＇E; 286.5 m ASL） with the sorbent sorption/thermal desorption/gas chromatographic method. Totally 145 samples were collected during the period of October 2003 and July 2004. Among the 52 NMHC species of C2-C10 detected there were 26 alkanes, 17 alkenes, and 9 aromatics. The average concentrations of total NMHCs （TNMHCs） at LA and SDZ were （238.5±126.0） ×10^-9C and （278.7±185.5）×10^-9C, respectively. The results showed the ambient concentrations of TNMHCs at LA regional GAW Station increased notably over the last decade. The compositions of NMHCs at SDZ and LA were relatively similar. The proportions of alkanes, alkenes, and aromatics for SDZ and LA were in ranges of （27.3±4.0）%, （10.3±3.5）%, and （62.5±4.8）%, respectively, with features of vehicle exhaust emissions. The concentrations of NMHCs at the two sites showed obvious diurnal and seasonal variations. The TNMHC concentrations in October-November were high at the two sites, and relatively low in April and July. The diurnal variation patterns at the sites were different. The high TNMHC concentrations at SDZ normally appeared in evening and night, but appeared in morning at LA. The TNMHCs concentrations at the two sites were significantly influenced by the meteorological condition. The high TNMHC concentration associated with the local wind from the urban areas or traffic in upper reaches.