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  • Title: Chemical characterization and sources of submicron aerosols in Lhasa on the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau: Insights from high-resolution mass spectrometry.
    Author: Zhao W, Zhang X, Zhai L, Shen X, Xu J.
    Journal: Sci Total Environ; 2022 Apr 01; 815():152866. PubMed ID: 34998762.
    Abstract:
    In recent years, a great number of studies has been carried out in urban cities regarding urban particulate matter (PM) pollution in China, especially in eastern China. Lhasa, the capital of the Tibet Autonomous Region in western China, is the highest (3650 m a.s.l.) city in China and has notably different lifestyles and PM sources comparing with those in eastern China. However, there is currently a lack of studies on PM pollution in this city. In this study, an Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer was deployed along with other co-located instruments to explore the chemical characterization of ambient submicron PM (PM1) in Lhasa from 31 August 2019 to 26 September 2019. The mean ambient PM1 mass loading through this study was 4.72 μg m-3. Organic aerosols (OAs) played a dominant role with an average contribution of 82.6% to PM1, followed by 5.4% nitrate, 4.7% ammonium, 3.4% sulfate, 3.1% BC, and 0.7% chloride. The relatively lower contribution from secondary inorganic aerosols (nitrate and sulfate) in this study was distinctly different from that in eastern China, indicating lower fossil fuel usage in this city. Via positive matrix factorization (PMF), organic aerosols were decomposed into four components containing a traffic-related hydrocarbon-like OA (HOA), a cooking-related OA (COA), a biomass burning-related OA (BBOA), as well as an oxygenated OA (OOA). The OOA and COA had higher contributions (34% and 35%, respectively) to total OAs, while the rest accounted for 17% for HOA and 14% for BBOA. However, an increased mass fraction of BBOA (up to 36%) was found during the Sho Dun Festival, suggesting the importance of biomass burning emissions during the religious activities in this city. Frequent new particle formation events were observed during this study and the contribution of chemical species for the particle growth was also explored.
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