Aerosol Characterization over the North China Plain: Haze Life Cycle and Biomass Burning Impacts in Summer

The North China Plain experiences frequent severe haze pollution during all seasons. Here we present the results from a summer campaign that was conducted at Xianghe, a suburban site located between the megacities of Beijing and Tianjin. Aerosol particle composition was measured in situ by an Aerosol Chemical Speciation Monitor along with a suite of collocated measurements during 1–30 June 2013. Our results showed that aerosol composition at the suburban site was overall similar to that observed in Beijing, which was mainly composed of organics (39%), nitrate (20%), and sulfate (18%). Positive matrix factorization of organic aerosol (OA) identified four OA factors with different sources and processes. While secondary organic aerosol dominated OA, on average accounting for 70%, biomass burning OA (BBOA) was also observed to have a considerable contribution (11%) for the entire study period. The contribution of BBOA was increased to 21% during the BB period in late June, indicating a large impact of agricultural burning on air pollution in summer. Biomass burning also exerted a significant impact on aerosol optical properties. It was estimated that ~60% enhancement of absorption at the ultraviolet spectral region was caused by the organic compounds from biomass burning. The formation mechanisms and sources of severe haze pollution episodes were investigated in a case study. The results highlighted two different mechanisms, i.e., regional transport and local sources, driving the haze life cycles differently in summer in the North China Plain. While secondary aerosol species dominated aerosol composition in the episode from regional transport, organics and black carbon comprised the major fraction in the locally formed haze episode.