Source apportionment of fine particulate matter in the southeastern United States

Abstract

Particulate matter (PM) less than 2.5 μm in size (PM2.5)source apportionment by chemical mass balance receptor modeling was performed to enhance regional characterization of source impacts in the southeastern United States. Secondary particles, such as NH4HSO4, (NH4)2SO4,NH4NO3, and secondary organic carbon (OC) (SOC), formed by atmospheric photochemical reactions, contribute the majority (<50%) of ambient PM2.5 with strong seasonality. Source apportionment results indicate that motor vehicle and biomass burning are the two main primary sources in the southeast, showing relatively more motor vehicle source impacts rather than biomass burning source impacts in populated urban areas and vice versa in less urbanized areas. Spatial distributions of primary source impacts show that each primary source has distinctively different spatial source impacts. Results also find impacts from shipping activities along the coast. Spatiotemporal correlations indicate that secondary particles are more regionally distributed, as are biomass burning and dust, whereas impacts of other primary sources are more local.