The seasonal variabilities in the concentration of atmospheric aerosols over Qingdao, China

Mass concentrations of Total Suspended Particles (TSP) and size-segregated particles were obtained from July 2001 to June 2002 in Qingdao to characterize the seasonal variations of atmospheric aerosols and to show the impact of dust events on the air quality in Qingdao. Data on size-segregated aerosols show that 73.74% of the TSP mass concentration is contributed by particles with diameters less than 11µm. Particles with diameters less than 1.1µm have a higher concentration during the winter. In spring, larger particles tend to have higher mass concentrations. Bimodal particle size distributions have been observed, with maxima around 4.7–7µm and 0.43–0.65µm in the winter season, and 7–11µm and 0.65–1.lµm in the autumn season. Measurements made during the dust events in March 2002 show high concentrations of particles in the size range 2.1–7µm.