Aerosol, cloud composition and in-cloud reactions

In recent years, haze, which is manly related PM2.5 particles, has been a ‘hot’ research area and the top priority of the governments. We investigated aerosol formation and effect on visibility. In collaboration with Shandong University and Colorado State University, we also studied cloud/fog composition and in-cloud process.

The key findings include:

(1) New particle formation can occur due to high concentrations of SO2 in spite of in high aerosol sink in China;

(2) Extremely high concentrations of fine aerosol nitrates were found under conditions of insufficient ammonia, we hypothesize contribution from N2O5 hydrolysis;

(3) Cloud water composition in North China is heavily contaminated by anthropogenic emissions, and

(4) Transport of sulfate, which is an important component of PM2.5 contributed to haze event in Beijing.

Figure 1 Daily PM2.5 mass, the major components of PM2.5, and meteorological parameters measured at Tai O (Hong Kong) during winter 2002 and relative contribution to chemical light extinction for (a) northerly, (b) northeasterly, and (c) easterly wind patterns (Cheung et al., 2005).

Figure 2. Time series of number size distribution in 10–100 nm and number concentration of sub-micro particles at Taicang near Shanghai in early summer 2015 (Gao et al, 2009).

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Figure 3. Nitrate conc. as a function of excess ammonium and aerosol acidity in four Chinese cities for PM2.5 samples collected during summer 2004-5 (Pathak et al., 2009).

Figure 4. Water soluble ions of cloud water in different air-mass category collected in 2007-8 at Mt Tai. TWSI: Total Water Soluble Ions; OI: Other Ions; OA: Organic Acids. (Guo et al., 2012).

Related References:

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