Aerosol chemical composition and formation of secondary aerosol during haze events at the SORPES station in China

Haze pollution is a serious air quality concern in China up to now, which occurs frequently in mega city clusters, e.g. Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Yangtze River Delta region, especially in the cold season. Understanding the dominating secondary aerosol formation processes is vital for improving the prediction and emission control strategy of haze pollution. In this study, we reported measurements of aerosol chemical composition using the soot particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SP-AMS) at a regional background station, the Station for Observing Regional Processes of the Earth System (SORPES), in Nanjing, eastern China. Characteristics of aerosol chemical composition and dominating secondary aerosol formation processes were analyzed during typical haze events and compared with that in clean episodes. Sources and transportation of organic aerosol were performed using positive matrix factorization (PMF) together with backward Lagrangian particle dispersion modeling (LPDM).