Individual particle analysis of aerosols collected at Lhasa City in the Tibetan Plateau

Bu, Duo; Zhang, Yuncheng; Kong, Lingdong; Fu, Hongbo; Hu, Yunjie; Chen, Jianmin; Li, Lin; Qiong, An

doi:10.1016/j.jes.2014.07.032

Cited by 43 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 56 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…TSP concentrations exhibited seasonal patterns with lower levels in summer seasons and higher values in the winterspring season. Duo et al (2015) investigated the composition and major sources of aerosol particles in Lhasa City of Tibetan Plateau. During the sampling period, the average concentrations of both PM 2.5 and PM 10 were 25.7 and 57.2 μg/m 3 , respectively.…”

Section: Air Pollution Of the Qinghai-tibet Plateaumentioning

confidence: 99%

Inorganic pollution around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: An overview of the current observations

Duan

Lü

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is the highest geographical unit in the world. Thus, it serves an important role in evaluating long-term ecologic conditions and environmental status and changes over time. This study summarizes major and trace element concentrations in biota and in water and soil. It also pays attention to gaseous pollutant and particle concentrations in air around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. The degree of soil heavy metal contamination and the water heavy metal hazard index were respectively evaluated. The contamination degrees of two sampling areas around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau reached extremely high levels with soil mC d (modified degree of contamination) values exceeding 20. Surprisingly, over 54% of sampling areas showed moderate or more serious soil contamination degree (mC d N 1.5). Moreover, the hazard indexes of two important rivers were 1.56 and 7.59, reaching unacceptable level. The potential risk might be beyond our expectation. Therefore, it should be an urgent and top priority to identify and confirm possible pollution sources around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Then, it is imperative to implement feasible and effective environmental quality control strategies.

show abstract

Section: Air Pollution Of the Qinghai-tibet Plateaumentioning

confidence: 99%

Inorganic pollution around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: An overview of the current observations

Duan

Lü

et al. 2016

Science of The Total Environment

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Besides urban emissions from solvent and fossil fuel use, biomass burning is an important source of aromatics in many parts of the world (Lewis et al, 2013). The local dung or biomass burning (Duo et al, 2015;Xiao et al, 2015) may be potential sources of aromatics in the TP. Hence, DHOPA may come from the processing of biomass burning emission.…”

Section: Aromatic Soa Tracermentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal variation of secondary organic aerosol tracers in Central Tibetan Plateau

Shen

Ding

et al. 2015

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) affects the earth's radiation balance and global climate. High-elevation areas are sensitive to global climate change. However, at present, SOA origins and seasonal variations are understudied in remote high-elevation areas. In this study, particulate samples were collected from July 2012 to July 2013 at the remote Nam Co (NC) site, Central Tibetan Plateau and analyzed for SOA tracers from biogenic (isoprene, monoterpenes and β-caryophyllene) and anthropogenic (aromatics) precursors. Among these compounds, isoprene SOA (SOAI) tracers represented the majority (26.6 ± 44.2 ng m−3), followed by monoterpene SOA (SOAM) tracers (0.97 ± 0.57 ng m−3), aromatic SOA (SOAA) tracer (2,3-dihydroxy-4-oxopentanoic acid, DHOPA, 0.25 ± 0.18 ng m−3) and β-caryophyllene SOA tracer (β-caryophyllenic acid, 0.09 ± 0.10 ng m−3). SOAI tracers exhibited high concentrations in the summer and low levels in the winter. The similar temperature dependence of SOAI tracers and isoprene emission suggested that the seasonal variation of SOAI tracers at the NC site was mainly influenced by the isoprene emission. The ratio of high-NOx to low-NOx products of SOAI (2-methylglyceric acid to 2-methyltetrols) was highest in the winter and lowest in the summer, due to the influence of temperature and relative humidity. The seasonal variation of SOAM tracers was impacted by monoterpenes emission and gas-particle partitioning. During the summer to the fall, temperature effect on partitioning was the dominant process influencing SOAM tracers' variation; while the temperature effect on emission was the dominant process influencing SOAM tracers' variation during the winter to the spring. SOAM tracer levels did not elevate with increased temperature in the summer, probably resulting from the counteraction of temperature effects on emission and partitioning. The concentrations of DHOPA were 1–2 orders of magnitude lower than those reported in the urban regions of the world. Due to the transport of air pollutants from the adjacent Bangladesh and northeastern India, DHOPA presented relatively higher levels in the summer. In the winter when air masses mainly came from northwestern India, mass fractions of DHOPA in total tracers increased, although its concentrations declined. The SOA-tracer method was applied to estimate secondary organic carbon (SOC) from these four precursors. The annual average of SOC was 0.22 ± 0.29 μgC m−3, with the biogenic SOC (sum of isoprene, monoterpenes and β-caryophyllene) accounting for 75 %. In the summer, isoprene was the major precursor with its SOC contributions of 81 %. In the winter when the emission of biogenic precursors largely dropped, the contributions of aromatic SOC increased. Our study implies that anthropogenic pollutants emitted in the Indian subcontinent could be transported to the TP and have an impact on SOC over the remote NC.

show abstract

“…Li et al (2007) also found anthropogenic ions from residential combustion emissions in precipitation samples at Nam Co station of the central TP. In addition, long-range transport of pollutants from eastern and northwestern China and northern India can contribute black carbon and other air pollutants to the TP region Wang et al, 2010;Engling et al, 2011;Kopacz et al, 2011;Lu et al, 2012;Xu et al, 2013;Zhao et al, 2013;Cong et al, 2015;Duo et al, 2015). Although anthropogenic sources make but a minor contribution to the background TP atmosphere, these anthropogenic aerosols significantly enhanced aerosol optical properties in the central and northeastern TP in summer (Cong et al, 2009b;Che et al, 2011;Xia et al, 2011).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mixing state and sources of submicron regional background aerosols in the northern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and the influence of biomass burning

Chen

et al. 2015

Atmos. Chem. Phys.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) was employed to obtain morphology, size, composition, and mixing state of background aerosols with diameter less than 1 µm in the northern Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) during 15 September to 15 October 2013. Individual aerosol particles mainly contained secondary inorganic aerosols (SIA -sulfate and nitrate) and organics during clean periods (PM 2.5 mass concentration less than 2.5 µg m −3 ). The presence of K-Na-Cl associated with organics and an increase in soot particles suggest that an intense biomass burning event caused the highest PM 2.5 concentrations (> 30 µg m −3 ) during the study. A large number fraction of the fly-ashcontaining particles (21.73 %) suggests that coal combustion emissions in the QTP significantly contributed to air pollutants at the medium pollution level (PM 2.5 : 10-30 µg m −3 ). We concluded that emissions from biomass burning and from coal combustion both constantly contribute to anthropogenic particles in the QTP atmosphere. Based on size distributions of individual particles at different pollution levels, we found that gas condensation on existing particles is an important chemical process for the formation of SIA with organic coating. TEM observations show that refractory aerosols (e.g., soot, fly ash, and visible organic particles) likely adhere to the surface of SIA particles larger than 200 nm due to coagulation. Organic coating and soot on surface of the aged particles likely influence their hygroscopic and optical properties, respectively, in the QTP. To our knowledge, this study reports the first microscopic analysis of fine particles in the background QTP air.

show abstract

Individual particle analysis of aerosols collected at Lhasa City in the Tibetan Plateau

Cited by 43 publications

References 56 publications

Inorganic pollution around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: An overview of the current observations

Inorganic pollution around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: An overview of the current observations

Seasonal variation of secondary organic aerosol tracers in Central Tibetan Plateau

Mixing state and sources of submicron regional background aerosols in the northern Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and the influence of biomass burning

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About