Estimation of the Source Contributions for Carbonaceous Aerosols at a Background Site in Korea

Abstract

To identify and quantify the contribution of the major sources for the ambient carbonaceous aerosols at a Global Atmosphere Watch (GAW) station in Korea, a receptor model, the Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model was applied for the one-year long measurement data. Particulate matter less than or equal to 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter (PM2.5) aerosols were sampled at Anmyeon Island GAW station from June 2015 to May 2016 and carbonaceous species including ~80 organic compounds were analyzed. According to the performance parameter evaluation, 5 or 7 factors were considered as optimal number of factors. It was found out that the results of 7 factors gave less contribution from the factor designated as mixed sources which we could not separate clearly. The major sources with 7 factors were identified with various analyses including chemical characteristics and air parcel movement analysis. The 7 factors with their relative contributions are; anthropogenic Secondary Organic Aerosols (SOA) (14%), biogenic SOA (15%), primary biogenic source (8%), local biomass burning (13%), transported biomass burning (16%), combustion related source (15%), and mixed sources (19%). The air parcel movement analysis results also support the identification of these factors. Thus, the Anmyeon Island GAW station has been affected by both regional and local sources for the carbonaceous aerosols.

Keywords

• positive matrix factorization
• source apportionment
• carbonaceous aerosol
• anmyeon island
• global atmosphere watch station