Integration of field observation and air quality modeling to characterize Beijing aerosol in different seasons

Fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) pollution in Beijing was investigated based on field observation and air quality modeling. Measurement results showed that when using elemental carbon (EC) as the reference component, concurrent increases were observed in the relative abundances of sulfate, nitrate, organic carbon (OC) and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) when RH exceeded ∼65% during winter. The observed increases could not be explained by variations of primary biomass burning emissions, instead they likely pointed to heterogeneous chemistry and presumably indicated that formation of secondary inorganic and organic aerosols might be related during winter haze events in Beijing. Large gaps were found in winter when comparing the observational and modeling results. In summer, RH exhibited little influence on the observed sulfate/EC, OC/EC or WSOC/EC, and the observed and modeled results were in general comparable for the concentrations of sulfate, EC and OC. This study suggests that distinct yet poorly-understood atmospheric chemistry may be at play in China's winter haze events, and it could be a substantial challenge to properly incorporate the related mechanisms into air quality models.