title: Atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in north China: a winter-time study.
abstract: The contamination and outflow of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the Chinese Northern Plain, a region with a total area of 300 000 km2 and a high PAH emission density, were investigated. Polyurethane foam (PUF) and PM10 samples were collected at 46 sites located in urban, rural (towns or villages), and control (remote mountain) areas in the winter from November 2005 to February 2006. The observed concentrations of atmospheric PAHs were generally higher than those reported for developed countries and southern Chinese cities. It was found that there was no significant difference in air PAH concentrations between the urban and the rural areas (514 +/- 563 ng/m3 and 610 +/- 645 ng/ m3, respectively), while the PAH concentrations at the control sites (57.1 +/- 12.6 ng/m3) were 1 order of magnitude lower than those at the other sites. The primary reason for the similarity in PAH concentrations between urban and rural areas was the fact that the predominant sources of biomass and domestic coal combustion were widely spread over the study area. The partition constants (K(PM10)) of PAHs were significantly correlated to the corresponding values of subcooled liquid-vapor pressure (pL0). However, the regression slopes of log K(PM10) versus log pL0 were much steeper than -1, indicating adsorption dominated over absorption. Three distinct patterns of outflow from the study area were identified by forward trajectory and cluster analysis.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
authors.forename: Shuzhen
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Shu
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tao
authors.forename: Wenxin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yanan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dou
authors.forename: Jingyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Luguang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Jingfei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zaifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D001272:Atmosphere; D011083:Polycyclic Compounds / Q000032:analysis*; D011786:Quality Control
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D011083:Polycyclic Compounds