Size distributions of water-soluble organic carbon in ambient aerosols and its size-resolved thermal characteristics

Aerosol mass size distributions of water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) were studied at a coastal site in Hong Kong. Eleven sets of 72-h samples were collected using an eight-stage impactor sampler over three seasons in 2000–2001. Regardless of air mass origins being mainly marine or continental, WSOC exhibited bimodal size distributions with a dominant fine mode and a minor coarse mode in the size range of >0.43 μm. The two modes had a mass mean aerodynamic diameter (MMAD) of 0.7±0.1 and 4.0±0.3 μm, respectively. The fine WSOC accounted for the major proportion of the total WSOC, ranging from two-thirds to four-fifths. The WSOC mixtures were resolved into 3–5 peaks under controlled progressive heating and combustion conditions. A positive matrix factorization analysis deconvoluted the WSOC mixtures into three component groups of different thermal behaviors. The three groups of WSOC species were postulated to be low, medium, and high molecular weight (MW) polar compounds on the basis of their thermal evolution features. On average, they accounted for 21%, 39%, and 40% of fine WSOC (<2.1 μm) mass, respectively. Coarse WSOC (>2.1 μm) was largely made of the low MW polar compound group. The low MW group had a bimodal distribution with a dominant coarse mode, likely associated with sea salt aerosols. The medium and the high MW groups had a single mode distribution in the droplet mode, both with an average MMAD of 0.7±0.1 μm. Their droplet mode presence indicated that they were associated with cloud-processed particles. There is evidence to suggest that the high MW group was likely secondary in origin, formed during cloud processing.