Seasonal variations of anhydrosugars in PM_2.5 in the Pearl River Delta Region, China

Abstract

A B S T R A C T Anhydrosugars including levoglucosan and mannosan are the most effective organic tracers for biomass burning aerosol in the atmosphere. In this study, to investigate the contribution of biomass burning emissions to the aerosol burden in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, China, 24-hour integrated PM 2.5 samples were collected simultaneously at four locations, (i) Guangzhou (GZ), (ii) Zhaoqing (ZQ) in Guangdong province, (iii) Hok Tsui (HT) and (iv) Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PU) in Hong Kong, in four seasons between 2006 and 2007. Levoglucosan and mannosan, together with water-soluble inorganic ions and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), were determined to elucidate the seasonal and spatial variations in biomass burning contributions. The concentrations of levoglucosan and mannosan were on average 82.49123 and 5.89 8.6 ng m (3 , respectively. The WSOC concentrations ranged from 0.2 to 9.4 mg m (3 , with an average of 2.191.6 mg m (3 . The relative contributions of biomass burning emissions to OC were 33% in QZ, 12% in GZ, 4% at PU and 5% at HT, respectively, estimated by the measured levoglucosan to organic carbon ratio (LG/ OC) relative to literature-derived LG/OC values. The contributions from biomass burning emissions were in general 1.7Á2.8 times higher in winter than those in other seasons. Further, it was inferred from diagnostic tracer ratios that a significant fraction of biomass burning emissions was derived from burning of hard wood and likely also from field burning of agricultural residues, such as rice straw, in the PRD region. Our results highlight the contributions from biomass/biofuel burning activities on the regional aerosol budget in South China.

Impact of Smoke Intensity on Size-Resolved Aerosol Composition and Microstructure during the Biomass Burning Season in Northwest Vietnam

“…Major organic components of BB smoke were found to be monosaccharide derivatives (anhydrosugars) from the thermal breakdown of cellulose, accompanied by aliphatic and oxygenated compounds (Simoneit et al, 1999). Molecular tracers such as levoglucosan and potassium ions confirm the impact of BB activities on ambient aerosol Ho et al, 2014). Aside from the carbonaceous components, up to 17% of smoke PM mass may be of mineral origin, dominated by alkali, alkali earth, chlorides and sulfates (Reid et al, 2005;Samsonov et al, 2012).…”

Spatial-temporal characteristics and determinants of PM2.5 in the Bohai Rim Urban Agglomeration

“…In China, research on PM 2.5 focused on the urban areas of the Pearl River Delta (Ho et al 2014), the Yangtze River Delta , and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area (BTHA) (Zhao et al 2013). BTHA is the core area of the BRUA .…”

Spatial-temporal characteristics of PM2.5 in China: A city-level perspective analysis

“…In China, studies on PM 2.5 have been carried out since 2000, and have mainly focused on the urban areas of the Pearl River Delta (Ho et al, 2014), the Yangtze River Delta (Li et al, 2011), and the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region (Wang et al, 2016;Zhao et al, 2013); these studies have been similar to research in other countries (Austin et al, 2013;Boldo et al, 2011;DeGaetano and Doherty, 2004). Most previous research has focused on measuring the chemical composition and spatial-temporal variability of PM 2.5 in China (Hu et al, 2014;Liu et al, 2009).…”