Concentrations, seasonal and diurnal variations of black carbon in PM2.5 in Shanghai, China

Concentration of black carbon (BC) in PM2.5 was measured continuously with an aethalometer during January 2010 and December 2011 at an urban site in Shanghai, China. The impact of the emission control measures for the 2010 World Expo and the World Expo event itself on the concentration and temporal variation of BC in Shanghai was discussed. The annually averaged BC concentrations in 2010 and 2011 in Shanghai were 3.8 ± 2.3 μg m− 3 and 3.3 ± 2.1 μg m− 3 respectively. Higher BC concentrations were found in winter and the lowest monthly concentration occurred in September. Comparing with the BC concentration in 2011, lower BC concentration was found in spring of 2010 due to the emission control measures for the Shanghai World Expo and higher BC concentration in summer due to the huge increase of visitors to the World Expo. Distinct bi-modal diurnal variation of BC was found with the highest evening peak concentration in Friday and the lowest in Monday. The diurnal variation of BC matched well with the living style of people in Shanghai and indicated that traffic emission was the main source of BC in urban Shanghai.