title: Seasonal and spatial occurrence and distribution of atmospheric polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in rural and urban areas of the North Chinese Plain.
abstract: Passive air sampling (PAS) was employed to study the occurrence of gaseous and particle-bound PAHs in the North Chinese Plain. The averaged concentrations of gaseous and particle-bound PAHs were 485+/-209 ng/m(3) and 267+/-161 ng/m(3), respectively. The PAHs concentrations at urban sites were generally higher than those at rural ones with ratios <1.5 in spring, summer and fall, but differences between them were not significant for the wintertime and annually averaged concentrations. This urban-rural distribution pattern was related to the PAHs emission sources. PAHs spatial variation can be partially (49%) explained by emission with a simple linear regression method. Both the gaseous and particle-bound PAHs were highest in winter and lowest in summer, with winter/summer ratios of 1.8 and 8, respectively. Emission strength was the most important factor for the seasonality.
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: Han
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Dou
authors.forename: Yanan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jingyu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: Mark Gabriel
authors.initials: MG
authors.lastname: Little
authors.forename: Zaifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: Jingfei
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Luguang
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Gao
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D052638:Particulate Matter; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D012621:Seasons
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons