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Characteristics of Black Carbon Aerosol during the Chinese Lunar Year and Weekdays in Xi’an, China

Authors :
Qiyuan Wang
Suixin Liu
Yaqing Zhou
Junji Cao
Yongming Han
Haiyan Ni
Ningning Zhang
Rujin Huang
Source :
Atmosphere, Vol 6, Iss 2, Pp 195-208 (2015)
Publication Year :
2015
Publisher :
MDPI AG, 2015.

Abstract

Black carbon (BC) aerosol plays an important role in climate forcing. The net radiative effect is strongly dependent on the physical properties of BC particles. A single particle soot photometer and a carbon monoxide analyser were deployed during the Chinese Lunar Year (CLY) and on weekdays at Xi’an, China, to investigate the characteristics of refractory black carbon aerosol (rBC). The rBC mass on weekdays (8.4 μg·m−3) exceeds that during the CLY (1.9 μg·m−3), presumably due to the lower anthropogenic emissions during the latter. The mass size distribution of rBC shows a primary mode peak at ~205 nm and a small secondary mode peak at ~102-nm volume-equivalent diameter assuming 2 g·cm−3 in void-free density in both sets of samples. More than half of the rBC cores are thickly coated during the CLY (fBC = 57.5%); the percentage is slightly lower (fBC = 48.3%) on weekdays. Diurnal patterns in rBC mass and mixing state differ for the two sampling periods, which are attributed to the distinct anthropogenic activities. The rBC mass and CO mixing ratios are strongly correlated with slopes of 0.0070 and 0.0016 μg·m−3·ppbv−1 for weekdays and the CLY, respectively.

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
20734433
Volume :
6
Issue :
2
Database :
Directory of Open Access Journals
Journal :
Atmosphere
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
edsdoj.20035cedbf84a838ce68eb549462a96
Document Type :
article
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos6020195