Observations of residual submicron fine aerosol particles related to cloud and fog processing during a major pollution event in Beijing

Li, Zhengqiang; Eck, T. F.; Zhang, Ying; Zhang, Yuhuan; Li, Donghui; Li, Li; Xu, Hua; Hou, Weizhen; Yang, Leiku; Goloub, Philippe; Gu, Xingfa

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2013.12.044

Cited by 51 publications

(46 citation statements)

References 11 publications

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“…In addition, a tri-modal size distribution is observed at 12:24. It indicates that particle sizes during haze pollution can increase from QCF mode to VF mode due to enhancements on RH and water-soluble matters compared with those during non-haze day (on 9 January), in agreement with Li et al (2014). In contrast, the RH decreases after 12:30 on 12 January may result from the increase of temperature and particles size related to the water uptake by the fine particles (from QCF to VF mode).…”

Section: Changes In Aerosol Size Parameterssupporting

confidence: 73%

Aerosol Column Size Distribution and Water Uptake Observed during a Major Haze Outbreak over Beijing on January 2013

Zhang

Cuesta

et al. 2015

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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Haze can cause serious atmospheric pollution affecting air quality, human health and even global climate. In order to investigate aerosol columnar size distribution and water uptake during haze evolution, we analyse ground-based observations during an extreme winter pollution case at Beijing on 12 January 2013 (haze day) as compared to those registered on 9 January (non-haze day). We study the evolution of the aerosol size distribution using retrievals from a ground-based CIMEL sun-sky radiometer of the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET). Our results show that while the hourly volume growth rate of a sub-micron fine mode presented in the size distribution remains below 0.010 µm 3 /µm 2 /hr during the nonhaze day, it can rapidly increase during haze pollution event, reaching a maximum value of 0.075 µm 3 /µm 2 /hr. The mean size of fine mode particles becomes larger during the pollution event, while it is reduced for coarse mode particles. The mean volume of water uptake is 0.013 µm 3 /µm 2 in haze day, being about 13 times larger than that in non-haze day. Meanwhile, the volume of water-soluble inorganic aerosols increases from 0.036 to 0.298 µm 3 /µm 2 , partly explained by the increase of water uptake during the haze event and also likely by accumulation of particle matters due to stagnating atmospheric conditions. The increase of water-soluble particle volume, which is enhanced by water uptake, significantly contributes to haze evolution.

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Section: Changes In Aerosol Size Parameterssupporting

confidence: 73%

Aerosol Column Size Distribution and Water Uptake Observed during a Major Haze Outbreak over Beijing on January 2013

Zhang

Cuesta

et al. 2015

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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“…For example, Li et al [10] summarized the optical, microphysical, and chemical properties of haze aerosol during two pollution episodes in the winters of 2012 and 2013 in Beijing. Li et al [34] found the decrease of residual aerosol and an unusual case of residual aerosol increase during the different processes of a haze episode. In addition, some research concentrated on the properties of a single type aerosol, e.g., urban-industrial (e.g., [40]), rural (e.g., [32]), desert dust (e.g., [41]), and oceanic [42].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some of them mainly focused on AOD and Ångström exponent (AE) (e.g., [30,31]), some additionally studied absorption and scattering coefficients, SSA, and the absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) (e.g., [32][33][34]). These studies did not attempt to investigate aerosol microphysical properties like complex refractive indices (RI) and size distribution.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerosol Optical and Microphysical Properties of Four Typical Sites of SONET in China Based on Remote Sensing Measurements

Xie

et al. 2015

Remote Sensing

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Abstract:The current understanding of columnar aerosol optical and microphysical properties of different regions and seasons in China is insufficient due to the lack of measurements. Aiming to improve descriptions of aerosol models over China, this paper presents a systematic aerosol characterization of different sites based on a newly developed remote sensing network for aerosol observation, the Sun-sky radiometer Observation NETwork (SONET). One year of ground-based solar and sky radiation measurements of four typical sites of SONET (Beijing-urban-industrial site, Zhangye-rural site, Minqin-desert site, Zhoushan-oceanic site) are used to retrieve aerosol properties using similar inversion algorithms with AErosol RObotic NETwork (AERONET), including aerosol optical depth, Ångström exponent, volume size distribution, complex refractive index, single scattering albedo, and percentage of spherical particles. The retrieved properties among sites and seasons are found to be different in terms of magnitude, spectral dependence, and partition of fine and coarse mode, which can be primarily explained by different aerosol composition and mixing states that closely relate to the local climate, the natural environment, and most importantly, the ubiquitous anthropogenic impacts. For example, large dust particles greatly contribute to the low fine mode fraction in both volume concentration and optical depth for the Minqin site through the entire year, while abundant small particles that mainly come from emission sources dominate the size distribution and OPEN ACCESS Remote Sens. 2015, 7 9929 light extinction of aerosol in the summer at the Beijing site. The results also show general agreements with other studies on the aerosol properties at each site, however, some unique features are still noticeable, especially at the desert site and oceanic site (e.g., the unusually strong aerosol absorptivity indicated by the large imaginary refractive index and low single scattering albedo at the Minqin and Zhoushan sites), which can be partly attributed to the existence of absorbing particles coming from anthropogenic sources.

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“…Fine particles containing sulfate, nitrate and ammonium are hygroscopic, and their sizes are strongly affected by the relative humidity (Fu et al, 2008;Shen et al, 2015;Huang et al, 2016). Additionally, broad fine-mode distributions may result from the occurrence of fog or low-altitude cloud dissipation events Li et al, 2010Li et al, , 2014. Eck et al (2012) also pointed out that a large range of fine-mode aerosol sizes may result from cloud processing, and that also could contribute to a shoulder of larger size particles in the accumulation mode, especially in regions where sulfate and other water-soluble aerosols exist.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Aerosol optical properties and direct radiative forcing based on measurements from the China Aerosol Remote Sensing Network (CARSNET) in eastern China

et al. 2018

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Abstract. Aerosol pollution in eastern China is an unfortunate consequence of the region's rapid economic and industrial growth. Here, sun photometer measurements from seven sites in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from 2011 to 2015 were used to characterize the climatology of aerosol microphysical and optical properties, calculate direct aerosol radiative forcing (DARF) and classify the aerosols based on size and absorption. Bimodal size distributions were found throughout the year, but larger volumes and effective radii of fine-mode particles occurred in June and September due to hygroscopic growth and/or cloud processing. Increases in the fine-mode particles in June and September caused AOD 440 nm > 1.00 at most sites, and annual mean AOD 440 nm values of 0.71-0.76 were found at the urban sites and 0.68 at the rural site. Unlike northern China, the AOD 440 nm was lower in July and August (∼ 0.40-0.60) than in January and February (0.71-0.89) due to particle dispersion associated with subtropical anticyclones in summer. Low volumes and large bandwidths of both fine-mode and coarsemode aerosol size distributions occurred in July and August because of biomass burning. Single-scattering albedos at 440 nm (SSA 440 nm ) from 0.91 to 0.94 indicated particles with relatively strong to moderate absorption. Strongly absorbing particles from biomass burning with a significant SSA wavelength dependence were found in July and August at most sites, while coarse particles in March to May were Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 406H. Che et al.: Aerosol optical properties and direct radiative forcing mineral dust. Absorbing aerosols were distributed more or less homogeneously throughout the region with absorption aerosol optical depths at 440 nm ∼ 0.04-0.06, but inter-site differences in the absorption Angström exponent indicate a degree of spatial heterogeneity in particle composition. The annual mean DARF was −93 ± 44 to −79 ± 39 W m −2 at the Earth's surface and ∼ −40 W m −2 at the top of the atmosphere (for the solar zenith angle range of 50 to 80 • ) under cloud-free conditions. The fine mode composed a major contribution of the absorbing particles in the classification scheme based on SSA, fine-mode fraction and extinction Angström exponent. This study contributes to our understanding of aerosols and regional climate/air quality, and the results will be useful for validating satellite retrievals and for improving climate models and remote sensing algorithms.

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Observations of residual submicron fine aerosol particles related to cloud and fog processing during a major pollution event in Beijing

Cited by 51 publications

References 11 publications

Aerosol Column Size Distribution and Water Uptake Observed during a Major Haze Outbreak over Beijing on January 2013

Aerosol Column Size Distribution and Water Uptake Observed during a Major Haze Outbreak over Beijing on January 2013

Aerosol Optical and Microphysical Properties of Four Typical Sites of SONET in China Based on Remote Sensing Measurements

Aerosol optical properties and direct radiative forcing based on measurements from the China Aerosol Remote Sensing Network (CARSNET) in eastern China

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