Due to the prevailing westerlies, Korea is expected to be influenced atmospheric aerosols emitted from China, and the Yellow Sea. During the aerosol's long-range transport, it can react with diverse chemical species and/or provide a reaction site for ...
Due to the prevailing westerlies, Korea is expected to be influenced atmospheric aerosols emitted from China, and the Yellow Sea. During the aerosol's long-range transport, it can react with diverse chemical species and/or provide a reaction site for chemicals in the air. In this study, aerosol samples were collected on the Yellow Sea and for the same air mass to understand the modification of the aerosol particles during the long-range transport. For the characterization of the collected Asian Dust samples, a recently developed single particle analytical technique, named low-Z particle EPMA, was applied.
1. Single-particle characterization of aerosols collected on the Yellow Sea
Six sets of aerosol samples (samples S1-S6) were collected on the deck of a commercial ferryboat that plied between Incheon (Korea) and Tianjin (China) on 28 April 1 May, 2006, in order to characterize marine aerosol particles over the Yellow Sea. Samples S4-S6 happened to be collected when an Asian Dust storm event occurred in the sampling region. Sample S1 collected near the Korean peninsula contains a significant amount of reacted sea-salts and C,N,O-rich particle. For sample S2 which is collected at Bo Hai Sea, soil-derived particles, reacted sea-salts, and reacted CaCO3 are abundant. Soil-derived particles are mostly observed in sample S3. These results imply that sample S1 was somewhat marine influenced, sample S2 was influenced both by sources in the Yellow Sea and continental China, and sample S3 was mostly influenced by sources in continental China. Samples S4-S6 collected during an Asian Dust storm event have somewhat different characteristics from the samples S1-S3 that were collected when Asian Dust storm event did not happen. For samples S4-S6, it was observed that soil-derived particles are major chemical species in coarse fraction whereas in fine fraction most abundantly encountered particles are aluminosilicate with nitrate and/or sulfate and C,N,O-rich particles. The results of analysis of samples S1-S6 show that chemical compositions of each sample depend on sampling locations and meterological conditions. However, all samples nitrate-and/or sulfate-containing particles, implying that NOx and SOx were abundantly present over the Yellow Sea.
2. Single-particle characterization of aerosols collected for the same air mass
Asian Dust particles were collected in Beijing, China (once on Apr. 28, 2005), and Incheon, Korea (twice on Apr. 28 and 29, 2005), for the same air mass of an Asian Dust storm event. For the characterization of the collected Asian Dust samples, a recently developed single particle analytical technique, named low-Z particle EPMA, was applied. For the sample collected in Beijing (sample S1), most particles are soil-derived and only few particles were observed to experience chemical modification. Whereas, for the samples collected in Incheon (samples S2, S3), many reacted particles were observed, indicating that Asian Dust particles experienced chemical reactions while they had traveled over industrialized regions of China and the Yellow Sea.