Identification of potential sources and source regions of fine ambient particles measured at Gosan background site in Korea using advanced hybrid receptor model combined with positive matrix factorization

Abstract

The size- and time-resolved measurement of particulate trace elements was made using an eight-stage Davis Rotating Unit for Monitoring sampler and synchrotron X-ray fluorescence system from 29 March to 29 May in 2002 at Gosan, Korea, which is one of the representative background sites in east Asia. As a result, continuous 3-hour average concentrations were obtained for 19 elements including S, Si, Al, Fe, Ca, Cl, Cu, Zn, Ti, K, Mn, Pb, Ni, V, Se, As, Rb, Cr, and Br. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) method was applied to the size-resolved aerosol data sets in order to identify the possible sources and to estimate their contribution to particulate matter mass in each size range. Twelve sources were then resolved in the fine size range (0.07 - 1.15 μm), including continental aerosol, biomass burning, coal combustion, oil heating furnace, residual oil fired boiler, municipal incineration, nonferrous metal source, ferrous metal source, gasoline vehicle, diesel vehicle, copper smelter, and volcanic emission. A newly developed hybrid receptor model, concentration, retention time, and source emission weighted trajectory (CRSWT), was then applied to the source intensities derived from the PMF analysis by incorporating meteorological and source inventory information of the study region in order to suggest the regional information of long-range transported fine aerosol sources. The CRSWT model was able to resolve highly potential source areas and pathways for the fine ambient aerosol at the Gosan background site. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.