Bianhong Zhou1,2, Qiyuan Wang 2, Qi Zhou1, Zhangquan Zhang1, Gehui Wang2, Ni Fang1, Meijuan Li1, Junji Cao2,3 1 Department of Geography and Environmental Engineering, Shaanxi Key Laboratory of Disaster Monitoring and Mechanism Simulation, Baoji University of Arts and Sciences, Baoji 721013, China
2 Key Laboratory of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi’an 710061, China
3 Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China
Received:
February 22, 2017
Revised:
October 10, 2017
Accepted:
October 24, 2017
Download Citation:
||https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2017.02.0070
Cite this article:
Zhou, B., Wang, Q., Zhou, Q., Zhang, Z., Wang, G., Fang, N., Li, M. and Cao, J. (2018). Seasonal Characteristics of Black Carbon Aerosol and its Potential Source Regions in Baoji, China.
Aerosol Air Qual. Res.
18: 397-406. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2017.02.0070
HIGHLIGHTS
ABSTRACT
Continuous measurements of black carbon (BC) aerosol were made at a midsized urban site in Baoji, China, in 2015. The daily average mass concentrations varied from 0.6 to 11.5 µg m–3, with an annual mean value of 2.9 ± 1.7 µg m–3. The monthly variation indicated that the largest loading of BC occurred in January and the smallest in June. The mass concentrations exhibited strong seasonality, with the highest occurring in winter and the lowest in summer. The large BC loadings in winter were attributed to the increased use of fuel for domestic heating and to stagnant meteorological conditions, whereas the low levels in summer were related to the increase in precipitation. BC values exhibited similar bimodal diurnal patterns during the four seasons, with peaks occurring in the morning and evening rush hours and an afternoon trough, which was associated with local anthropogenic activities and meteorological conditions. A potential source contribution function model indicated that the effects of regional transport mostly occurred in spring and winter. The most likely regional sources of BC in Baoji were southern Shaanxi province, northwestern Hubei province, and northern Chongqing during spring, whereas the northeastern Sichuan Basin was the most important source region during winter.
Keywords:
Black carbon aerosol; Seasonal characterization; Diurnal variation; Potential source region.
