Chemical composition and characteristics of main water soluble ions in atmospheric aerosol over the western Yellow Sea during winter

The total suspended particulates(TSP) samples in atmospheric aerosol were collected in western the Yellow Sea in winter 2012 to study the main water-soluble ion concentrations of Cl^-, NO₃^-, SO₄^2-, Na⁺, K⁺, NH₄⁺, Mg²⁺, Ca²⁺ and CH₃SO₃^-(MSA) as well as their chemical characteristics and to discuss the influence of human activities on coastal atmospheric aerosol.The results showed that the concentrations of secondary ions(nss-SO₄^2-, NO₃^- and NH₄⁺) in aerosol were the highest, accounting for 69.4% of the total determined ions.At the same time, Cl^- showed a certain degree of enrichment due to the influence of human activities, and the average value of enrichment factor was 34.6%.The concentrations of MSA were relatively low, with an average of 0.014±0.012 μg/m³.The analysis of sulfate source showed that the contribution of sea-salt sulfate was 7.3% to the total SO₄^2-, while biogenic sulfate accounted for 5.0% of nss-SO₄^2-, indicating that human input was the main source of sulfate in aerosol over the Yellow Sea during winter.In addition, the proportion of NO₃^- in inorganic nitrogen in aerosol is 62.56%～83.03%.