Aerosol Size Spectra and Particle Formation Events at Urban Shanghai in Eastern China

Aerosol number size distributions between 10 nm and 10 µm were measured from October 2008 to February 2009 in Shanghai, China. The average particle number, surface and volume concentrations were 1.3 × 104 1/cm3, 6.4 × 102 µm2/cm3 and 64 µm3/cm3, respectively. Aitken particles dominated the total number of particles, and accumulated particles were the greatest contributor to particle surface area. Particle number size distributions could be characterized by multi-lognormal functions. The average number size distributions of aerosols revealed a clear diurnal pattern of two peaks within 30–60 nm corresponding to the morning and afternoon traffic rush hours. All size particles had two peaks in mean number concentrations during the rush hours, and 10–20 nm and 20–50 nm particles had one additional peak in late morning. The new particle formation events were found on four days out of 73. The apparent formation rates varied from 0.2 to 0.5 cm3/s, and the growth rates of newly formed particles were 3.3–5.5 nm/h. Overall, the new particle formation events had a significant impact on particle size spectra in the nucleation and Atiken modes, but insignificant effects on particle surface and volume concentrations.