Contrasting compositions and sources of organic aerosol markers in summertime PM_2.5 from urban and mountainous regions in the North China Plain

Although the chemical compositions and sources of organic aerosols (OAs) have been extensively investigated at the summit of Mt. Tai in the North China Plain (NCP), their vertical distributions and characterizations in the Mt. Tai region is not well known. To better understand the vertical variations of OAs in the urban and mountainous atmosphere, PM_2.5 samples were collected simultaneously on a daytime/nighttime basis at two sites of different altitudes (Taian urban site: 20 m above ground; the summit of Mt. Tai: 1534 m a.s.l.) during the summer of 2016. The concentrations of all the determined chemical compounds (e.g., OC, EC, inorganic ions, saccharides, n-alkanes, PAHs and hopanes) except for biogenic secondary organic aerosol (BSOA) tracers decreased with the increase in sampling height, indicating the relatively larger contribution of anthropogenic pollutants to OAs at the lower heights. The relatively low concentration levels of biomass burning tracers (e.g., levoglucosan, galactosan and mannosan) and the insignificant correlations of levoglucosan with carbonaceous species demonstrated a negligible effect of biomass burning on the mountaintop atmosphere. The enhanced concentrations of BSOA tracers were observed with the increase of height, largely due to the more intensive secondary oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) under the stronger radiation conditions at the summit. The daytime concentrations of carbonaceous species, primary sugars, sugar alcohols, PAHs and low molecular weight n-alkanes were significantly higher than those in nighttime at Mt. Tai, suggesting that these chemical compounds at the summit of Mt.Tai aerosols were transported from the ground surface by valley breezes in daytime. There was no correlation between BSOA tracers and relative humidity (RH) or liquid water content (LWC) at both the sites, because both the high RH and LWC can suppress the acid-catalyzed formation of BSOA due to the dilution of the aerosol acidity.