Chemical characteristics of size resolved atmospheric aerosols in Iasi, north-eastern Romania. Nitrogen-containing inorganic compounds controlling aerosols chemistry in the area

Abstract

Abstract. This study assesses the atmospheric aerosol load and behaviour (size and seasonal dependent) of the major inorganic and organic aerosol ionic components (i.e., acetate, ( 2 pH units range) while over the cold seasons the contribution in this pH range was of ~ 43 %. Moreover, while over the warm seasons ~ 24-25 % of the acidic samples were in the 1-2 pH range, reflecting mainly contributions from very strong inorganic acids, over the cold seasons an increase to ~ 40 %, brought by the 1-3 pH range, would reflect possible contributions from other acidic type species (i.e., organics), changes in aerosols acidity impacting most probably the gas-5 particle partitioning of semi-volatile organic acids. In overall, it has been estimated that within the aerosol mass concentration the ionic mass brings contribution as high as 40.6 % with the rest being unaccounted yet.