Search

Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) as precursors of ozone and secondary organic aerosols can cause adverse effects on the environment and human health. However, knowledge of the VOC vertical profile in the lower troposphere of major Chinese cities is poorly understood. In this study, tethered balloon flights were conducted over the juncture of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei in China during the winter of 2016. Thirty-six vertical air samples were collected on selected heavy and light pollution days at altitudes of 50-1000 meters above ground level. On average, the concentration of total VOCs (TVOCs) at 50-100 m was 4.9 times higher than at 900-1000 m (46.9 ppbV vs. 8.0 ppbV). TVOC concentrations changed rapidly from altitudes of 50-100 to 401-500 m, with an average decrease of 72%. With further altitude increase, the TVOC concentration gradually decreased. The xylene/benzene ratios of 34/36 air samples were lower than 1.1, and the benzene/toluene ratios of 34/36 samples were higher than 0.4, indicating the occurrence of aged air mass during the sampling period. Alkenes contributed most in terms of both OH loss rate (39%-71%) and ozone formation potential (40%-72%), followed by aromatics (6%-38%). Finally, the main factors affecting the vertical distributions of VOCs were local source emission and negative dispersion conditions on polluted days. These data could advance our scientific understanding of VOC vertical distribution., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)

In order to understand the compositions characteristics of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM 2.5 ) fraction in road dust (RD 2.5 ) of oasis cities on the edge of Tarim Basin, 30 road dust (RD) samples were collected in Kashi, Cele, and Yutian in the spring, 2018, and RD 2.5 was collected using the resuspension approach. Eight water-soluble ions, 39 trace elements and 8 fractions of carbon-containing species in PM 2.5 were analyzed. Ca 2+ and Ca were the most abundant ions and elements in RD 2.5 (7.1% and 9.5%). Cl - in RD 2.5 was affected not only by attributed to saline-alkali soils in oasis cities of the Tarim Basin and dust from Taklimakan Desert but also by human activities. Moreover, the organic carbon/elemental carbon (OC/EC) ratio indicated that carbon components in RD 2.5 in Cele town mainly come from fossil fuel combustion, while those in Yutian and Kashi mainly come from biomass combustion. It is noteworthy that high Ca in RD 2.5 was seriously affected by anthropogenic emissions, and high Na and K contents in RD 2.5 could be derived from soil and desert dust. It was estimated that Cd, Tl, Sn and Cr were emitted from anthropogenic emissions using the enrichment factor. The coefficients of divergence (COD) result indicated that the influence of local emission on road dust emission is greater than that of long-distance transmission. This study is the first time to comprehensively analyze the chemical characteristics of road dust in oasis cities, and the results provides the sources of road dust at the margin of Tarim Basin., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier B.V.)