Impact of a dust storm on characteristics of particle matter (PM) in Guangzhou, China

A strong dust-storm (23–25 April, 2009) occurred in the provinces of Inner Mongolia, Gansu, and Shanxi, North China. Cities along the storm path (from north to south: Xi’ning, Lanzhou, Chengdu, Changsha, and Guangzhou) all experienced a sharp increase in particle matter (PM10) concentration. This is the first case that an Asian dust storm hit Guangzhou in Southern China. The impacts of dust storm on the characteristics of PM were investigated using samples collected in Guangzhou during 27–29 April, 2009. In addition, the mass concentration and chemical composition during a normal non-dust period (12–14 May, 2009) were compared with those in dust period. The results show that the concentration of PM10 during the dust episode (0.231 mg m−3) was twice higher than that in the non-dust episode (0.103 mg m−3). Chemical analysis showed that concentrations of metal elements, enrichment factors of metal elements, and soluble ions during the dust episode were very different from those of non-dust. The total concentration of metal elements content in PM10 was 53.5 μg m−3 in the dust episode, which is about two times higher than that in non-dust episode (28.5 μg m−3). Increases in concentrations of Na, Ti, Zn, Cu, and Cr ranged from zero to 100% during the dust episode. However, the enrichment factors in non-dust episode were higher than that in dust-storm period, indicating that the above five chemicals originated mainly from local sources in Guangzhou. The concentrations of K, Mg, Al, Fe, Mn, V, and Co increased by over 100% in the dust episode, indicating their origins of remote sources. In the dust period, some water-soluble ions increased in PM10, but the main components in PM10 were SO4 −, NO3 − and NH4 +. At last, we assessed the sources of dusts by analyzing synoptic situation and back trajectories of air mass in Guangzhou, and demonstrated that the main source of the dust storm was from Mongolia.