High Spatial Variability of Biomass Burning Emissions Observed at Three Tibetan Plateau Sites

Abstract

Abstract Aerosol from biomass burning (BB) can affect regional and global climate by changing radiation balance and cloud properties, especially over the high altitude environ‐vulnerable region. To investigate the contributions of BB on atmospheric particulate matter trans‐the Tibetan Plateau (TP), the total suspended particle samples were collected at three high altitude sites over the northeastern (Qinghai lake, 3,200 m a.s.l.), central (Beiluhe, 4,659 m a.s.l.), and southwestern TP (Ngari, 4,360 m a.s.l.), respectively. Highly spatial variations of BB tracers (including levoglucosan, mannosan, and galactosan) were obtained. Elevated BB tracer concentrations were observed in the northeastern and southwestern sites compared to the central TP site. The heighten concentrations of particulate matter from biomass burning and organic carbon from biomass burning were obtained at Ngari (with 5260.3 and 2257.7 ng m−3) and Qinghai lake (with 1508.8 and 647.6 ng m−3) compared with those at Beiluhe (with 18.8 and 8.1 ng m−3), respectively. The results indicated that the BB contributions to aerosol were significant on the margin of the TP. In addition to the long‐range transport of BB pollutant, the local emissions may be an important contributor in the northeastern and southwestern TP. The present study can improve the understanding of BB characteristics and effects in the TP.

Keywords

• levoglucosan
• biomass burning
• the Tibetan Plateau