Chemical characterizations of soluble aerosols in southern China

Soluble aerosols are measured at Guangdong and Hainan Provinces of southern China. The measured chemical composition of aerosols includes F-, Cl-, NO3-, SO4=, Na+, NH4+, K+, Ca2+, and Mg2+. The locations of measurements include a mega city (Guangzhou), a medium city along the coastline (Haiko), a small city along the coastline (Shanya), and a remote island site in the South China Sea (Yongxing island). The results reveal that aerosols in this region are complex and heterogeneous. Sulfate aerosol (SO4=) has the highest concentrations in Guangzhou (approximately 41% of total soluble aerosol mass), suggesting that anthropogenic activities (e.g., coal burning) play important roles in controlling aerosol concentrations in Guangzhou. By contrast, the concentrations of chlorine (Cl-) and sodium (Na+) are higher in Yongxing than in Guangzhou, indicating that the sea salt is the dominant aerosol in this marine environment site. In the medium (Haiko) and small (Shanya) city sites, the effects of anthropogenic and marine activities on aerosols fall in between the values in the mega city and the remote island site. The measured ratio of Cl-/Na+ shows that the ratio is less than 1.16 in all observation sites. The ratio in the Guangzhou city, the Haiko city, the Shanya city, and the Yongxing island is 0.52, 0.91, 0.24, and 0.53, respectively, indicating that significantly heterogeneous chemical reactions occur on sea salt particles. Unlike those in Europe and North America, there are high concentrations of calcium (Ca+) in all observation sites. The percentage of calcium mass to the measured total soluble aerosols mass is 21, 32, 34, and 30 at Guangzhou, Haiko, Sanya, and Yongxing, respectively. The calculations show that calcium plays an important role in neutralizing aerosols. The calculated "cation/anion" (summation operatorion+]/summation operatorion-]) ratio is 2.5, 2.5, 3.2, and 2.1, at Guangzhou, Haiko, Shanya, and Yongxing, respectively. The high "cation/anion" ratios suggest that SO4=, NO3-, and Cl- are neutralized, and the aerosols as a whole (internally mixed), appear to be in an alkaline mode in this region. However, without taking into account for calcium, the calculated "cation/anion" ratio reduces to 1.2, 0.98, 1.3, and 0.8 at Guangzhou, Haiko, Sanya, and Yongxing, respectively. The property of aerosols switches from an alkaline mode to an acidity mode at the Haiko and Yongxing sites.