Impact of anthropogenic emissions and open biomass burning on regional carbonaceous aerosols in South China

Carbonaceous aerosols were studied at three background sites in south and southwest China. Hok Tsui in Hong Kong had the highest concentrations of carbonaceous aerosols (OC = 8.7 ± 4.5 μg/m3, EC = 2.5 ± 1.9 μg/m3) among the three sites, and Jianfeng Mountains in Hainan Island (OC = 5.8 ± 2.6 μg/m3, EC = 0.8 ± 0.4 μg/m3) and Tengchong mountain over the east edge of the Tibetan Plateau (OC = 4.8 ± 4.0 μg/m3, EC = 0.5 ± 0.4 μg/m3) showed similar concentration levels. Distinct seasonal patterns with higher concentrations during the winter, and lower concentrations during the summertime were observed, which may be caused by the changes of the regional emissions, and monsoon effects. The industrial and vehicular emissions in East, Southeast and South China, and the regional open biomass burning in the Indo-Myanmar region of Asia were probably the two major potential sources for carbonaceous matters in this region.