Summertime Spatial Variations in Atmospheric Particulate Matter and Its Chemical Components in Different Functional Areas of Xiamen, China

Abstract

Due to the highly heterogeneous and dynamic nature of urban areas in Chinese cities, air pollution exhibits well-defined spatial variations. Rapid urbanization in China has heightened the importance of understanding and characterizing atmospheric particulate matter (PM) concentrations and their spatiotemporal variations. To investigate the small-scale spatial variations in PM in Xiamen, total suspended particulate (TSP), PM10, PM5 and PM2.5 measurements were collected between August and September in 2012. Their average mass concentrations were 102.50 μg·m , respectively. Organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) in PM2.5 were measured using thermal optical transmission. Based on the PM concentrations for all size categories, the following order for the different functional areas studied was identified: hospital > park > commercial area > residential area > industrial area. OC contributed approximately 5%-23% to the PM2.5 mass, whereas EC accounted for 0.8%-6.95%. Secondary organic carbon constituted most of the carbonaceous particles found in the park, commercial, industrial and residential areas, with the exception of hospitals. The high PM and EC OPEN ACCESSAtmosphere 2015, 6 235 concentrations in hospitals were primarily caused by vehicle emissions. Thus, the results suggest that long-term plans should be to limit the number of vehicles entering hospital campuses, construct large-capacity underground parking structures, and choose hospital locations far from major roads.

Characteristics of Particulate Carbon in Precipitation during the Rainy Season in Xiamen Island, China

“…These values are comparable to the results from European background sites, which reported that EC wet deposition fluxes ranged from 0.4 to 3.2 mgC·m −2 ·month −1 and that WIOC fluxes ranged from 5.1 to 31.5 mgC·m −2 ·month −1 [6]. The atmospheric OC and EC concentrations in Xiamen were comparable to the urban background sites in Europe [27], which indicated comparable deposition fluxes. EC wet deposition fluxes in snow in northeastern China were estimated to be 4.…”

“…The TOT method follows the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) protocol [32]. The details of the TOT method can be found elsewhere [26,27]. Briefly, the small piece of the filter is gradually heated in pure helium (He) gas environment to 850 • C at which point most organic carbon is thought to be converted into carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), whereas small organic compounds are charred into EC.…”

“…Xiamen Island is the main part of the city's urban area. Many studies in Xiamen have focused on the carbonaceous particles in the atmosphere [3,[25][26][27], but none have analyzed the level of particulate carbon in precipitation. Thus, the objectives of this study are to: (1) assess the particulate carbon levels in precipitation during the rainy season; (2) characterize the temporal variation of WIOC and EC in precipitation; (3) identify the air mass processes being influenced; and, finally, (4) estimate the wet deposition flux of particulate carbon.…”

Temporal variability of primary and secondary aerosols over northern India: Impact of biomass burning emissions

“…Therefore, it is suggested that if water-soluble fraction of aerosols does not show significant contribution from seasalts and soluble dust then, as a first approximation, it can be considered as the water-soluble secondary fraction of aerosols (both inorganic and organic) present in the atmosphere over a given region. (Ram and Sarin, 2011); Xiamen: representing a clean city in China (Zhao et al, 2015); and (Lecce: representing urban background site in Italy ) are also presented in Table 2. The contribution of WSS to PM 2.5 i.e., water-soluble secondary aerosol fraction varied from 0.30 to 0.62 during the year with the highest contribution during winter and spring (55e60%) followed by autumn (~45%) whereas, minimum (~30%) during summer and wet seasons (Table 2).…”

Particulate Matter Concentrations in the Vicinity of an Incinerator

“…However, it may present potential hazard to human and the environment hence the presence of various toxic elements in the fallout dust. Acute and chronic health effects are related to the in halable PM 10 exposure in the urban environment [4] including acute respiratory related conditions (asthma, acute bronchitis, running nose) cerebrovascular disease (stroke), respiratory diseases, cardiopulmonary disorders, ischemic heart disease [19], damage of vital organs such as kidneys, liver and gastrointestinal system [20], different cancer, mortality and reduction in life expectancy, admission in hospitals and regular health [21]. Similar to dust, PM suspended in the atmosphere leads to visibility degradation.…”