Influence of trans-boundary air pollution on the urban atmosphere in Fukuoka, Japan

Abstract

To understand the influence of trans-boundary air pollution on the air quality of Fukuoka, the mass concentration and chemical composition of fine particulate matter (PM) were observed at urban (Fukuoka) and rural (Fukue Island) sites in the northern Kyushu area in Japan. Chemical composition was measured using an aerosol mass spectrometer. Organic aerosol (OA) data were analyzed by the positive matrix factorization (PMF) method. Sulfate and low-volatile oxygenated OA (LV-OOA) were dominant for all of the PM2.5 mass variations on Fukue Island, where the trans-boundary air pollution is dominant in the winter-spring season. In Fukuoka, however, sulfate accounted for the largest fraction of total chemical species under high PM2.5 mass concentrations (> 35 μg·m-3), while organics and nitrate made up a large fraction under low PM2.5 (< 10 μg·m-3). Under the high PM2.5 condition, LV-OOA was also dominant. This indicates that high PM2.5 mass concentrations were attributed to the long-range transport of air pollution. Although the trans-boundary air pollution prevails in the winter-spring season, high sulfate concentrations were observed in the summer of 2012. In addition to the volcanic activities and photochemical reactions, long-range, trans-boundary air pollutions are influential factors not only in winter-spring but also in summer.