Mixing state of ambient aerosols in Nanjing city by single particle mass spectrometry

To investigate the mixing state and size-resolved aerosol in Nanjing, measurements were carried out for the period 14th January-1st February 2013 by using a Single Particle Aerosol Mass Spectrometer (SPAMS). A total of 10,864,766 particles were sized with vacuum aerodynamic diameter (dva) in the range of 0.2-2.0 μm. Of which, 1,989,725 particles were successfully ionized. Aerosol particles employed for analyzing SPAMS data utilized 96% of the hit particles to identify 5 main particle groups. The particle classes include: K-rich particles (K-CN, K-Nitrate, K-Sulfate and K-Secondary), sodium particles, ammonium particles, carbon-rich particles (OC, EC and OCEC) and heavy-metal particles (Fe-Secondary, Pb-Nitrate, Cu-Mn-Secondary and V-Secondary). EC was the largest contributor with a fraction of 21.78%, followed by K-Secondary (17.87%), K-Nitrate (12.68%) and K-CN (11.25%). High particle level and high RH (relative humidity) are two important factors decreasing visibility in Nanjing. Different particle classes have distinct extinction effects. It anti-correlated well with visibility for the K-secondary, sodium, ammonium, EC, Fe-Secondary and K-Nitrate particles. The proportion of EC particles at 0.65-1.4 μm was up to 25% on haze days and was below 10% on clean days.