Seasonal variation of aerosol compositions in Shanghai, China: Insights from particle aerosol mass spectrometer observations

Highlights: • Aerosol chemical characteristics during seasonal observations in Shanghai were investigated. • Sulfate and nitrate dominated PM₁ concentration in the summer and winter of Shanghai, respectively. • The aqueous-phase processing played an important role in more aged SOA formation in Shanghai. The variations of non-refractory submicron aerosol (NR-PM₁) were characterized using an high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) and other online instruments measurements sampled at an urban site in Shanghai from 2016 to 2017. Spring (from 18 May to 4 June 2017), summer (from 23 August to 10 September 2017) and winter (from 28 November 2016 to 23 January 2017) seasons were chosen for detail investigating the seasonal variations in the aerosol chemical characteristics. The average PM₁ (NR-PM₁ + BC) mass concentration showed little difference in the three seasons in Shanghai. The average mass concentrations of total PM₁ during spring, summer, and winter observations in Shanghai were 23.9 ± 20.7 μg/m³, 28.5 ± 17.6 μg/m³, and 31.9 ± 22.7 μg/m³, respectively. The seasonal difference on chemical compositions was more significant between them. Organic aerosol (OA) and sulfate were dominant contributor of PM₁ in summer, whereas OA and nitrate primarily contribution to the increase of PM₁ mass loading in spring and winter. As an abundant component in PM₁ (accounting for 39%–49%), OA were resolved into two primary organic aerosol (POA) factors and two secondary aerosol (SOA) factors by using positive matrix factorization (PMF), of which OA was overwhelmingly dominated by the SOA (50–60%) across the three seasons in Shanghai. Correlation analysis with relative humidity and odd oxygen indicated that aqueous-phase processing and played an important role in more aged SOA formation in summer and winter. In spring, both aqueous-phase and photochemical processing contributed significantly to fresh SOA formation. Our results suggest the significant role of secondary particles in PM pollution in Shanghai and highlight the importance of control measures for reducing emissions of gaseous precursors, especially need to consider seasonal characteristics.