Transported and Local Organic Aerosols over Fukuoka, Japan

Abstract

In order to understand transported and local pollution in an urban area that are strongly affected by long-range transport of air pollution, daily concentrations of 15 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and 20 n-alkanes in the total suspended particles were simultaneously measured at sites in Western Japan on Fukue Island (FI), located downwind of mainland East Asia, and Fukuoka City (FC), a megacity close (< 200 km) to the FI site, in spring and winter 2010 and summer 2011. The average total PAH concentration observed at the FC site (2.93 ± 2.17 ng/m 3 ) was higher than that at the FI site (1.78 ± 1.70 ng/m 3 ). The average total n-alkane concentration at the FC site (34.7 ± 21.8 ng/m 3 ) was also higher than that at the FI site (12.2 ± 9.2 ng/m 3 ). However, the total PAH and n-alkane concentrations measured at the FI site were considerably high, despite its remote location. The seasonal changes in the specific PAH ratios, used to determine the source of pollutants, were similar between the FC and FI sites. The average fluoranthene/(fluoranthene + pyrene) ratio was 0.57-0.65 in winter and spring and 0.48-0.51 in summer. PAHs observed at both sites mainly originated from coal or biomass combustion in spring or winter, whereas those were affected by petroleum combustion as well as coal and biomass combustion in summer. These field results show that pollutants transported from mainland East Asia make a significant contribution to the total PAHs and n-alkanes at the FC site in the winter and spring seasons.

Seasonal Fluctuations in Air Pollution in Dazaifu, Japan, and Effect of Long-Range Transport from Mainland East Asia

“…6) In recent decades, emissions of air pollutants from mainland East Asia have unprecedentedly increased with the rapid economic growth 7) and long-range transport of air pollutants in East Asia has been reported in recent years. [8][9][10][11][12][13][14] The occurrence and transport of dust storms and anthropogenic air pollutants in East Asia have been monitored using satellite data and ground-based measurements in central Korea. 9,10) Kim et al 9) reported episodes of anthropogenic pollutant particles that arrived at the Korean peninsula from eastern China and indicated that the anthropogenic pollutant particles were largely detected in the form of smoke over the Yellow Sea region.…”

Measurement of Ambient PAHs in Kumamoto: Differentiating Local and Transboundary Air Pollution

“…In addition, data of the site on Tuoji Island in China, which were obtained simultaneously with our experiments through collaborative research, were included in the PMF to determine the effect of TAP. The CHAAMS, Fukue, Fukuoka, and Tuoji sites have been described in detail by Shimada et al (2015), Sato et al (2013), andZhang et al (2016). The sampling method for PM 2.5 and analytical method for PM 2.5 and metals were reported by Shimada et al (2015).…”

“…Numerous studies conducted in Japan (Kaneyasu and Takada, 2004;Tang et al, 2005;Ogawa et al, 2012;Sato et al, 2013) reported that PAHs were transported from China to Japan. Kaneyasu and Takada (2004) collected fine atmospheric aerosols from Miyako Island and Amami Island and analyzed their chemical components.…”

“…Ogawa et al (2012) reported that the total suspended particle (TSP) and total PAH concentrations in Fukue Island (a remote site) were the highest in the air masses from China. Sato et al (2013) reported that PAHs observed in Fukuoka City and Fukue Island mainly were originated from coal or biomass combustion in spring or winter, whereas they were originated from petroleum combustion and coal and biomass combustion in summer.…”

“…Sato et al (2013) indicated that 65%-75% of the total PAHs in Fukuoka City are transported by comparing the daily data of PAHs in Fukuoka with those of Fukue Island. However, Sato et al (2013) assumed that all PAHs in Fukue Island were transported from China.…”