title: Radiocarbon-based source apportionment of carbonaceous aerosols at a regional background site on Hainan Island, South China.
abstract: To assign fossil and nonfossil contributions to carbonaceous particles, radiocarbon ((14)C) measurements were performed on organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and water-insoluble OC (WINSOC) of aerosol samples from a regional background site in South China under different seasonal conditions. The average contributions of fossil sources to EC, OC and WINSOC were 38 ± 11%, 19 ± 10%, and 17 ± 10%, respectively, indicating generally a dominance of nonfossil emissions. A higher contribution from fossil sources to EC (∼51%) and OC (∼30%) was observed for air-masses transported from Southeast China in fall, associated with large fossil-fuel combustion and vehicle emissions in highly urbanized regions of China. In contrast, an increase of the nonfossil contribution by 5-10% was observed during the periods with enhanced open biomass-burning activities in Southeast Asia or Southeast China. A modified EC tracer method was used to estimate the secondary organic carbon from fossil emissions by determining (14)C-derived fossil WINSOC and fossil EC. This approach indicates a dominating secondary component (70 ± 7%) of fossil OC. Furthermore, contributions of biogenic and biomass-burning emissions to contemporary OC were estimated to be 56 ± 16% and 44 ± 14%, respectively.
authors: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Bern , 3012 Berne, Switzerland.
authors: Yan-Lin
authors: YL
authors: Zhang
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Li
authors: Gan
authors: G
authors: Zhang
authors: Peter
authors: P
authors: Zotter
authors: Ru-Jin
authors: RJ
authors: Huang
authors: Jian-Hui
authors: JH
authors: Tang
authors: Lukas
authors: L
authors: Wacker
authors: André S H
authors: AS
authors: Prévôt
authors: Sönke
authors: S
authors: Szidat
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols / Q000032:analysis*; D000392:Air Movements; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D018533:Biomass; D002244:Carbon / Q000032:analysis*; D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D005579:Fossil Fuels / Q000032:analysis; D062312:Islands; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis*; D012621:Seasons
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D005579:Fossil Fuels; D052638:Particulate Matter; D002244:Carbon