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Acidity of Aerosols during Winter Heavy Haze Events in Bei**g and Gucheng, China

  • Special Collection on the Heavy and Persistent Haze-Fog Episodes in Winter 2016/17 in the Bei**g-Tian**-Hebei Area of China
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Abstract

We investigated the acidity and concentrations of water-soluble ions in PM2.5 aerosol samples collected from an urban site in Bei**g and a rural site in Gucheng, Hebei Province from November 2016 to January 2017 to gain an insight into the formation of secondary inorganic species. The average SO42–, NO3–, and NH4+ concentrations were 8.3, 12.5, and 14.1 μg m–3, respectively, at the urban site and 14.0, 14.2, and 24.2 μg m–3, respectively, at the rural site. The nitrogen and sulfur oxidation ratios in urban Bei**g were correlated with relative humidity (with correlation coefficient r = 0.79 and 0.67, respectively) and the aerosol loadings. Based on a parameterization model, we found that the rate constant of the heterogeneous reactions for SO2 on polluted days was about 10 times higher than that on clear days, suggesting that the heterogeneous reactions in the aerosol water played an essential role in haze events. The ISORROPIA II model was used to predict the aerosol pH, which had a mean (range) of 5.0 (4.9–5.2) and 5.3 (4.6–6.3) at the urban and rural site, respectively. Under the conditions with this predicted pH value, oxidation by dissolved NO2 and the hydrolysis of N2O5 may be the major heterogeneous reactions forming SO42– and NO3– in haze. We also analyzed the sensitivity of the aerosol pH to changes in the concentrations of SO42–, NO3–, and NH4+ under haze conditions. The aerosol pH was more sensitive to the SO42– and NH4+ concentrations with opposing trends, than to the NO3– concentrations. The sensitivity of the pH was relatively weak overall, which was attributed to the buffering effect of NH3 partitioning.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Haochi Che of the Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences and Sanxue Ren of the China Meteorological Administration farm at Gucheng for carrying out the sampling at the Bei**g and Gucheng site, respectively.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Anhui Province Key Laboratory of Polar Environment and Global Change, School of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, 230026, China

    **yuan Chi, Pengzhen He, Zhuang Jiang, **awei Yu, Fange Yue, Longquan Wang, Bokun Li, Hui Kang, Cheng Liu & Zhouqing **e

  2. Key Laboratory of Environmental Optics and Technology, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031, China

    Cheng Liu & Zhouqing **e

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  1. **yuan Chi
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  2. Pengzhen He
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  3. Zhuang Jiang
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  4. **awei Yu
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  5. Fange Yue
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  6. Longquan Wang
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  7. Bokun Li
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  8. Hui Kang
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  9. Cheng Liu
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  10. Zhouqing **e
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Correspondence to Zhouqing **e.

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Supported by the National Key Project of Ministry of Science and Technology of China (2016YFC0203302) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (91544103).

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Chi, X., He, P., Jiang, Z. et al. Acidity of Aerosols during Winter Heavy Haze Events in Bei**g and Gucheng, China. J Meteorol Res 32, 14–25 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13351-018-7063-4

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