title: Seasonal variations and source estimation of saccharides in atmospheric particulate matter in Beijing, China.
abstract: Saccharides are important constituents of atmospheric particulate matter (PM). In order to better understand the sources and seasonal variations of saccharides in aerosols in Beijing, China, saccharide composition was measured in ambient PM samples collected at an urban site in Beijing. The highest concentrations of total saccharides in Beijing were observed in autumn, while an episode with abnormal high total saccharide levels was observed from 15 to 23 June, 2011, due to extensive agricultural residue burning in northern China during the wheat harvest season. Compared to the other two categories of saccharides, sugars and sugar alcohols, anhydrosugars were the predominant saccharide group, indicating that biomass burning contributions to Beijing urban aerosol were significant. Ambient sugar and sugar alcohol levels in summer and autumn were higher than those in spring and winter, while they were more abundant in PM2.5 during winter time. Levoglucosan was the most abundant saccharide compound in both PM2.5 and PM10, the annual contributions of which to total measured saccharides in PM2.5 and PM10 were 61.5% and 54.1%, respectively. To further investigate the sources of the saccharides in ambient aerosols in Beijing, the PM10 datasets were subjected to positive matrix factorization (PMF) analysis. Based on the objective function to be minimized and the interpretable factors identified by PMF, six factors appeared to be optimal as to the probable origin of saccharides in the atmosphere in Beijing, including biomass burning, soil or dust, isoprene SOA and the direct release of airborne fungal spores and pollen.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China; State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: liangll2014@camscma.cn.
authors.forename: Linlin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Department of Biomedical Engineering and Environmental Sciences, National Tsing Hua University, Hsinchu, Taiwan; Division of Atmospheric Sciences, Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV, USA.
authors.forename: Guenter
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Engling
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; National Research Center for Environmental Analyses and Measurements, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Zhenyu
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Yuan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Fengkui
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China; National Satellite Meteorological Center, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xuyan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. Electronic address: hekb@tsinghua.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Kebin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: He
mesh_terms: D000336:Aerosols; D000388:Air / Q000032:analysis; D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000068476:Beijing; D002070:Butadienes / Q000032:analysis; D002241:Carbohydrates / Q000032:analysis; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D045782:Hemiterpenes / Q000032:analysis; D010316:Particle Size; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis*; D010420:Pentanes / Q000032:analysis; D012621:Seasons; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D000336:Aerosols; D000393:Air Pollutants; D002070:Butadienes; D002241:Carbohydrates; D004391:Dust; D045782:Hemiterpenes; D052638:Particulate Matter; D010420:Pentanes; D012987:Soil; C005059:isoprene
keywords: Aerosol particles; Beijing; Emission sources; PM(10); PM(2.5); Sugars