Concentrations and distributions of three major watersoluble ion species (sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium) contained in ambient particles were measured at three sampling sites in the Kao-ping ambient air quality basin, Taiwan. Ambient particulate matter (PM) samples were collected in a Micro-orifice Uniform Deposit Impactor from February to July 2003 and were analyzed for watersoluble ion species with an ion chromatograph. The PM 1 / PM 2.5 and PM 1 /PM 10 concentration ratios at the emission source site were 0.73 and 0.53 and were higher than those (0.68 and 0.48) at the background site because there are more combustion sources (i.e., industrial boilers and traffic) around the emission source site. Mass-size distributions of PM NO 3 Ϫ were found in both the fine and coarse modes. SO 4 2Ϫ and NH 4 ϩ were found in the fine particle mode (PM 2.5 ), with significant fractions of submicron particles (PM 1 ). The source site had higher PM 1 /PM 10 (79, 42, and 90%) and PM 1 /PM 2.5 concentration ratios (90, 58, and 93%) for the three major inorganic secondary aerosol components (SO 4 2Ϫ , NO 3 Ϫ , and NH 4 ϩ ) than the receptor site (65, 27, and 65% for PM 1 /PM 10 ; 69, 51, and 70% for PM 1 /PM 2.5 ). Results obtained in this study indicate that the PM 1 (submicron aerosol particles) fraction plays an important role in the ambient atmosphere at both emission source and receptor sites. Further studies regarding the origin and formation of ambient secondary aerosols are planned.
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