Study on acidity and acidic buffering capacity of particulate matter over Chinese eastern coastal areas in spring

Abstract

[1] The analytical results of the acidity and buffering capacity of particulate matter sampled by aircraft over Chinese eastern coastal areas in March and early April 2002 are presented. The flight region covered the coastal areas from Zhuhai, Guangdong province, to Dalian, Liaoning province, and the northeastern coastal areas around Dalian, Liaoning province, with the later being the key flight areas. The results show that total suspended particles (TSP) generally appear to be acidic, having no buffering capacity for acidification; the acidity of TSP in northern areas is lower than that in southern areas, whereas the acidity of TSP in the bordering region of the northern areas and the southern areas is relatively high, the discrimination of the acidity of TSP in different areas could be up to more than 100 times. The acidity of particulate matter increases as its diameter decreases, indicating that fine particles have strong acidity. Both in northern areas and in southern areas, particulate matter with diameters larger than 11 m has acidic buffering capacity, but particulate matter with diameters smaller than 2.1 m appears to be acidic, having no buffering capacity. Although the pollution level of particulate matter at high altitudes is lower, its acidification is stronger than that at ground level. The regional acidification of particulate matter at high altitudes is an important reason why some areas in China suffer acidic precipitation.

Aerial Observation of Aerosols Transported from East Asia — Chemical Composition of Aerosols and Layered Structure of an Air Mass over the East China Sea

“…Both the global and regional aspects of the long-range transport of pollutants are very important, and several cooperative international experiments have thus been conducted in the western Pacific region (Huebert et al, 2003;Parrish et al, 2004;Nakajima et al, 2007). The current authors have also reported the results of aerial observations of atmospheric pollutants in a source region in China (Hatakeyama et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2007;Wang et al, 2008), and a receptor region (Hatakeyama et al, 1995a, b;Hatakeyama et al, 1997;Hatakeyama et al, 2004). Transformation of pollutants during their long-range transport is an important problem from the perspective of regional air quality and acid rain.…”

Cloud and the corresponding precipitation chemistry in south China: Water‐soluble components and pollution transport

“…We also compared the acid neutralization states in this study with those in a previous study [ Wang et al , 2008], and found that in spring the pH of cloud water at Mount Heng was basically the same as that at a high‐elevation site, Mount Tai in North China (pH 3.80 versus 3.81), whereas the acidity of precipitation at Mount Heng was much higher that that at Mount Tai (pH 4.35 versus 4.68). The more acidic rainfall in the south could be explained by the fact that particulate matter over the southern areas has much weaker acidic buffering capacity compared with the northern areas [e.g., Wang and Wang , 1996; W. Wang et al , 2006].…”

Aerosol pH Dynamics During Haze Periods in an Urban Environment in China: Use of Detailed, Hourly, Speciated Observations to Study the Role of Ammonia Availability and Secondary Aerosol Formation and Urban Environment

“…Fine particulate matter, much of which can be acidic (Lawal et al, 2018;Silvern et al, 2017;Song et al, 2018Song et al, , 2019Weber et al, 2016), is also associated with harmful effects on human health. Particulate matter can also have negative environmental effects, such as reduced visibility and damage to ecological systems and historical monuments (Bouwman et al, 2002;Cheng et al, 2011;Huo et al, 2012;Ren et al, 2011;Tang et al, 2010;W. Wang, Liu, et al, 2006).…”