Modal characteristics of carbonaceous aerosol size distribution in an urban atmosphere of South China

Size distributions can provide important information about aerosol sources, formation, and growth mechanisms. However, compared to size distributions of inorganic aerosols, size distributions of carbonaceous aerosols have been much less studied and reported in the literature. In this paper, we systematically measured size distributions of elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), oxalate, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), as well as major inorganic ions in urban aerosols in Shenzhen, China. Totally 24 sets of samples were collected using a ten-stage micro orifice uniform deposit impactor (MOUDI) during October 2009 to February 2010. Three lognormal modes contained in the size distributions of species were resolved based on positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis of the measured dataset, corresponding to the condensation (peak = 0.34 μm), droplet (peak = 0.84 μm), and coarse (peak = 5.4 μm) modes, respectively. The mean concentrations of EC in the condensation, droplet, and coarse modes were 2.20, 1.18, and 0.64 μg m−3, respectively, and the modal characteristics of EC indicate that fresher local combustion emissions contributed mostly to aerosol EC in the urban atmosphere of Shenzhen. The mean concentrations of OC in the condensation, droplet, and coarse modes were 2.29, 3.34, and 3.51 μg m−3, respectively, and the modal characteristics of OC indicate that its sources were more primary in the condensation mode while more secondary in the droplet mode. The modal characteristics of aerosol oxalate and PAHs suggest that they were predominantly from in-cloud secondary formation and local emissions, respectively.

Research Highlights
► We measured carbonaceous aerosol size distribution at an urban site in South China.
► Three lognormal size modes were resolved based on statistical analysis.
► Elemental carbon was found to be mostly from fresh local combustion emissions.
► Organic carbon was found to be significantly from both primary and secondary origin.