Observational study of influence of aerosol hygroscopic growth on scattering coefficient over rural area near Beijing mega-city

We investigated aerosol hygroscopic growth property and its influence on scattering coefficient using M9003 nephelometers in coupling with humidity controlled inlet system at a rural site near Beijing mega-city from 24 April to 15 May 2006. Inlet relative humidity was controlled in an increasing range of 40%-90% while aerosol hygroscopic growth factor of scattering coefficient, f (RH=80%) as ratio of scattering coefficient at RH=80% to "dry" scattering coefficient (RH<40%) varied in a range of 1.07-2.35 during the measurement. Further analysis indicated that under dust episode, measured f (RH=80%) is 1.2 +/- 0.02, and estimated periodic mean value of f (RH=80%) was 1.31 +/- 0.03 under clean periods; during urban pollution periods, the aerosol displayed relative strong water absorbing properties with f (RH=80%) of about 1.57 +/- 0.02. An examination of chemical composition of daily filter samples highlighted that aerosol hygroscopicity was generally depressed with the increasing ratio of organic matter (OMC)/ammonium sulfate (AS) in particle mass, similar with the results of many previous studies. However, a special case with high value of f (RH=80%)=2.21 and high OMC/AS ratio was also observed, this exception reflected physico-chemical particularities of organic matter and its complex interaction with other compounds during this episode.