Highly time- and size-resolved characterization of submicron aerosol particles in Beijing using an Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer

Atmospheric aerosols are a major pollutant in Beijing—a megacity in China. To achieve a better understanding of the characteristics, sources and processes of aerosols in Beijing, an Aerodyne Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (AMS) was deployed at an urban site in July 2006 to obtain size-resolved chemical composition of non-refractory submicron particles (NR-PM1) at 5 min resolution. During this study, NR-PM1 was on average composed of 25% sulfate, 22% nitrate, 16% ammonium, 1.4% chloride and 35% of organic aerosol (OA) species. The average size distributions of sulfate, nitrate and ammonium were very similar and characterized by a prominent accumulation mode peaking at Dva ≈ 600 nm. The average size distribution of OA was significantly broader due to the presence of an ultrafine mode. Multivariate analysis of the AMS organic spectra with Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) identified a hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA) and two oxygenated OA (OOA) components. The HOA component likely corresponded to primary OA material associated with combustion-related emissions. The two OOA components, which likely corresponded to more oxidized (OOA I) and less oxidized (OOA II) secondary OA materials, accounted for 45 ± 16% and 16 ± 7.2%, respectively, of the observed OA mass. OOA I correlated well with sulfate while OOA II correlated well with nitrate. The particle loading, composition and size distributions observed during this campaign were highly variable. Backtrajectory analysis indicates that this variability correlated with the varying impacts of regional and local sources and processes.