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    Nano-hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (nano-HTDMA) for investigating hygroscopic properties of sub-10nm aerosol nanoparticles
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : Copernicus, 2020) Lei, Ting; Ma, Nan; Hong, Juan; Tuch, Thomas; Wang, Xin; Wang, Zhibin; Pöhlker, Mira; Ge, Maofa; Wang, Weigang; Mikhailov, Eugene; Hoffmann, Thorsten; Pöschl, Ulrich; Su, Hang; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Cheng, Yafang
    Interactions between water and nanoparticles are relevant for atmospheric multiphase processes, physical chemistry, and materials science. Current knowledge of the hygroscopic and related physicochemical properties of nanoparticles, however, is restricted by the limitations of the available measurement techniques. Here, we present the design and performance of a nano-hygroscopicity tandem differential mobility analyzer (nano-HTDMA) apparatus that enables high accuracy and precision in hygroscopic growth measurements of aerosol nanoparticles with diameters less than 10 nm. Detailed methods of calibration and validation are provided. Besides maintaining accurate and stable sheath and aerosol flow rates (1 %), high accuracy of the differential mobility analyzer (DMA) voltage (0:1 %) in the range of 0-50V is crucial for achieving accurate sizing and small sizing offsets between the two DMAs (1:4 %). To maintain a stable relative humidity (RH), the humidification system and the second DMA are placed in a well-insulated and air conditioner housing (0:1 K). We also tested and discussed different ways of preventing predeliquescence in the second DMA. Our measurement results for ammonium sulfate nanoparticles are in good agreement with Biskos et al. (2006b), with no significant size effect on the deliquescence and efflorescence relative humidity (DRH and ERH, respectively) at diameters down to 6 nm. For sodium sulfate nanoparticles, however, we find a pronounced size dependence of DRH and ERH between 20 and 6 nm nanoparticles. © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
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    The potential of elastic and polarization lidars to retrieve extinction profiles
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : Copernicus, 2020) Giannakaki, Elina; Kokkalis, Panos; Marinou, Eleni; Bartsotas, Nikolaos S.; Amiridis, Vassilis; Ansmann, Albert; Komppula, Mika
    A new method, called ElEx (elastic extinction), is proposed for the estimation of extinction coefficient lidar profiles using only the information provided by the elastic and polarization channels of a lidar system. The method is applicable to lidar measurements both during daytime and nighttime under well-defined aerosol mixtures. ElEx uses the particle backscatter profiles at 532 nm and the vertically resolved particle linear depolarization ratio measurements at the same wavelength. The particle linear depolarization ratio and the lidar ratio values of pure aerosol types are also taken from literature. The total extinction profile is then estimated and compared well with Raman retrievals. In this study, ElEx was applied in an aerosol mixture of marine and dust particles at Finokalia station during the CHARADMExp campaign. Any difference between ElEx and Raman extinction profiles indicates that the nondust component could be probably attributed to polluted marine or polluted continental aerosols. Comparison with sun photometer aerosol optical depth observations is performed as well during daytime. Differences in the total aerosol optical depth are varying between 1.2 % and 72 %, and these differences are attributed to the limited ability of the lidar to correctly represent the aerosol optical properties in the near range due to the overlap problem. © 2020 Author(s).
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    Optimizing the detection, ablation, and ion extraction efficiency of a single-particle laser ablation mass spectrometer for application in environments with low aerosol particle concentrations
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : Copernicus, 2020) Clemen, Hans-Christian; Schneider, Johannes; Klimach, Thomas; Helleis, Frank; Köllner, Franziska; Hünig, Andreas; Rubach, Florian; Mertes, Stephan; Wex, Heike; Stratmann, Frank; Welti, André; Kohl, Rebecca; Frank, Fabian; Borrmann, Stephan
    The aim of this study is to show how a newly developed aerodynamic lens system (ALS), a delayed ion extraction (DIE), and better electric shielding improve the efficiency of the Aircraft-based Laser ABlation Aerosol MAss spectrometer (ALABAMA). These improvements are applicable to single-particle laser ablation mass spectrometers in general. To characterize the modifications, extensive sizeresolved measurements with spherical polystyrene latex particles (PSL; 150-6000 nm) and cubic sodium chloride particles (NaCl; 400-1700 nm) were performed. Measurements at a fixed ALS position show an improved detectable particle size range of the new ALS compared to the previously used Liu-type ALS, especially for supermicron particles. At a lens pressure of 2.4 hPa, the new ALS achieves a PSL particle size range from 230 to 3240 nm with 50% detection efficiency and between 350 and 2000 nm with 95% detection efficiency. The particle beam divergence was determined by measuring the detection efficiency at variable ALS positions along the laser cross sections and found to be minimal for PSL at about 800 nm. Compared to measurements by singleparticle mass spectrometry (SPMS) instruments using Liutype ALSs, the minimum particle beam divergence is shifted towards larger particle sizes. However, there are no disadvantages compared to the Liu-type lenses for particle sizes down to 200 nm. Improvements achieved by using the DIE and an additional electric shielding could be evaluated by size-resolved measurements of the hit rate, which is the ratio of laser pulses yielding a detectable amount of ions to the total number of emitted laser pulses. In particular, the hit rate for multiply charged particles smaller than 500 nm is significantly improved by preventing an undesired deflection of these particles in the ion extraction field. Moreover, it was found that by using the DIE the ion yield of the ablation, ionization, and ion extraction process could be increased, resulting in up to 7 times higher signal intensities of the cation spectra. The enhanced ion yield results in a larger effective width of the ablation laser beam, which in turn leads to a hit rate of almost 100% for PSL particles in the size range from 350 to 2000 nm. Regarding cubic NaCl particles the modifications of the ALABAMA result in an up to 2 times increased detection efficiency and an up to 5 times increased hit rate. The need for such instrument modifications arises in particular for measurements of particles that are present in low number concentrations such as ice-nucleating particles (INPs) in general, but also aerosol particles at high altitudes or in pristine environments. Especially for these low particle number concentrations, improved efficiencies help to overcome the statistical limitations of single-particle mass spectrometer measurements. As an example, laboratory INP measurements carried out in this study show that the appli- cation of the DIE alone increases the number of INP mass spectra per time unit by a factor of 2 to 3 for the sampled substances. Overall, the combination of instrument modifications presented here resulted in an increased measurement efficiency of the ALABAMA for different particle types and particles shape as well as for highly charged particles. © 2020 Copernicus GmbH. All rights reserved.
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    Application of the shipborne remote sensing supersite OCEANET for profiling of Arctic aerosols and clouds during Polarstern cruise PS106
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : Copernicus, 2020) Griesche, Hannes J.; Seifer, Patric; Ansmann, Albert; Baars, Holger; Velasco, Carola Barrientos; Bühl, Johannes; Engelmann, Ronny; Radenz, Martin; Zhenping, Yin; Macke, Andreas
    From 25 May to 21 July 2017, the research vessel Polarstern performed the cruise PS106 to the high Arctic in the region north and northeast of Svalbard. The mobile remote-sensing platform OCEANET was deployed aboard Polarstern. Within a single container, OCEANET houses state-of-the-art remote-sensing equipment, including a multiwavelength Raman polarization lidar PollyXT and a 14-channel microwave radiometer HATPRO (Humidity And Temperature PROfiler). For the cruise PS106, the measurements were supplemented by a motion-stabilized 35 GHz cloud radar Mira-35. This paper describes the treatment of technical challenges which were immanent during the deployment of OCEANET in the high Arctic. This includes the description of the motion stabilization of the cloud radar Mira-35 to ensure vertical-pointing observations aboard the moving Polarstern as well as the applied correction of the vessels heave rate to provide valid Doppler velocities. The correction ensured a leveling accuracy of ±0.5◦ during transits through the ice and an ice floe camp. The applied heave correction reduced the signal induced by the vertical movement of the cloud radar in the PSD of the Doppler velocity by a factor of 15. Low-level clouds, in addition, frequently prevented a continuous analysis of cloud conditions from synergies of lidar and radar within Cloudnet, because the technically determined lowest detection height of Mira-35 was 165 m above sea level. To overcome this obstacle, an approach for identification of the cloud presence solely based on data from the near-field receiver of PollyXT at heights from 50 m and 165 m above sea level is presented. We found low-level stratus clouds, which were below the lowest detection range of most automatic ground-based remote-sensing instruments during 25 % of the observation time. We present case studies of aerosol and cloud studies to introduce the capabilities of the data set. In addition, new approaches for ice crystal effective radius and eddy dissipation rates from cloud radar measurements and the retrieval of aerosol optical and microphysical properties from the observations of PollyXT are introduced. © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
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    Climate and air quality impacts due to mitigation of non-methane near-term climate forcers
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2020) Allen, Robert J.; Turnock, Steven; Nabat, Pierre; Neubauer, David; Lohmann, Ulrike; Olivié, Dirk; Oshima, Naga; Michou, Martine; Wu, Tongwen; Zhang, Jie; Takemura, Toshihiko; Schulz, Michael; Tsigaridis, Kostas; Bauer, Susanne E.; Emmons, Louisa; Horowitz, Larry; Naik, Vaishali; van Noije, Twan; Bergman, Tommi; Lamarque, Jean-Francois; Zanis, Prodromos; Tegen, Ina; Westervelt, Daniel M.; Le Sager, Philippe; Good, Peter; Shim, Sungbo; O’Connor, Fiona; Akritidis, Dimitris; Georgoulias, Aristeidis K.; Deushi, Makoto; Sentman, Lori T.; John, Jasmin G.; Fujimori, Shinichiro; Collins, William J.
    It is important to understand how future environmental policies will impact both climate change and air pollution. Although targeting near-term climate forcers (NTCFs), defined here as aerosols, tropospheric ozone, and precursor gases, should improve air quality, NTCF reductions will also impact climate. Prior assessments of the impact of NTCF mitigation on air quality and climate have been limited. This is related to the idealized nature of some prior studies, simplified treatment of aerosols and chemically reactive gases, as well as a lack of a sufficiently large number of models to quantify model diversity and robust responses. Here, we quantify the 2015-2055 climate and air quality effects of non-methane NTCFs using nine state-of-the-art chemistry-climate model simulations conducted for the Aerosol and Chemistry Model Intercomparison Project (AerChemMIP). Simulations are driven by two future scenarios featuring similar increases in greenhouse gases (GHGs) but with weak (SSP3-7.0) versus strong (SSP3-7.0-lowNTCF) levels of air quality control measures. As SSP3-7.0 lacks climate policy and has the highest levels of NTCFs, our results (e.g., surface warming) represent an upper bound. Unsurprisingly, we find significant improvements in air quality under NTCF mitigation (strong versus weak air quality controls). Surface fine particulate matter (PM2:5) and ozone (O3) decrease by 2:20:32 ugm3 and 4:60:88 ppb, respectively (changes quoted here are for the entire 2015-2055 time period; uncertainty represents the 95% confidence interval), over global land surfaces, with larger reductions in some regions including south and southeast Asia. Non-methane NTCF mitigation, however, leads to additional climate change due to the removal of aerosol which causes a net warming effect, including global mean surface temperature and precipitation increases of 0:250:12K and 0:030:012mmd1, respectively. Similarly, increases in extreme weather indices, including the hottest and wettest days, also occur. Regionally, the largest warming and wetting occurs over Asia, including central and north Asia (0:660:20K and 0:030:02mmd1), south Asia (0:470:16K and 0:170:09mmd1), and east Asia (0:460:20K and 0:150:06mmd1). Relatively large warming and wetting of the Arctic also occur at 0:590:36K and 0:040:02mmd1, respectively. Similar surface warming occurs in model simulations with aerosol-only mitigation, implying weak cooling due to ozone reductions. Our findings suggest that future policies that aggressively target non-methane NTCF reductions will improve air quality but will lead to additional surface warming, particularly in Asia and the Arctic. Policies that address other NTCFs including methane, as well as carbon dioxide emissions, must also be adopted to meet climate mitigation goals. © Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
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    The dual-field-of-view polarization lidar technique: A new concept in monitoring aerosol effects in liquid-water clouds - Case studies
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2020) Jimenez, Cristofer; Ansmann, Albert; Engelmann, Ronny; Donovan, David; Malinka, Aleksey; Seifert, Patric; Wiesen, Robert; Radenz, Martin; Yin, Zhenping; Bühl, Johannes; Schmidt, Jörg; Barja, Boris; Wandinger, Ulla
    In a companion article (Jimenez et al., 2020), we introduced a new lidar method to derive microphysical properties of liquid-water clouds (cloud extinction coefficient, droplet effective radius, liquid-water content, cloud droplet number concentration Nd) at a height of 50-100m above the cloud base together with aerosol information (aerosol extinction coefficients, cloud condensation nuclei concentration NCCN) below the cloud layer so that detailed studies of the influence of given aerosol conditions on the evolution of liquid-water cloud layers with high temporal resolution solely based on lidar observations have become possible now. The novel cloud retrieval technique makes use of lidar observations of the volume linear depolarization ratio at two different receiver field of views (FOVs). In this article, Part 2, the new dual-FOV polarization lidar technique is applied to cloud measurements in pristine marine conditions at Punta Arenas in southern Chile. A multiwavelength polarization Raman lidar, upgraded by integrating a second polarization-sensitive channel to permit depolarization ratio observations at two FOVs, was used for these measurements at the southernmost tip of South America. Two case studies are presented to demonstrate the potential of the new lidar technique. Successful aerosol-cloud-interaction (ACI) studies based on measurements with the upgraded aerosol-cloud lidar in combination with a Doppler lidar of the vertical wind component could be carried out with 1 min temporal resolution at these pristine conditions. In a stratocumulus layer at the top of the convective boundary layer, we found values of Nd and NCCN (for 0.2% water supersaturation) ranging from 15-100 and 75-200 cm-3, respectively, during updraft periods. The studies of the aerosol impact on cloud properties yielded ACI values close to 1. The impact of aerosol water uptake on the ACI studies was analyzed with the result that the highest ACI values were obtained when considering aerosol proxies (light-extinction coefficient par or NCCN) measured at heights about 500m below the cloud base (and thus for dry aerosol conditions). © 2020 BMJ Publishing Group. All rights reserved.
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    CRI-HOM: A novel chemical mechanism for simulating highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) in global chemistry-aerosol-climate models
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2020) Weber, James; Archer-Nicholls, Scott; Griffiths, Paul; Berndt, Torsten; Jenkin, Michael; Gordon, Hamish; Knote, Christoph; Archibald, Alexander T.
    We present here results from a new mechanism, CRI-HOM, which we have developed to simulate the formation of highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) from the gas-phase oxidation of-pinene, one of the most widely emitted biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) by mass. This concise scheme adds 12 species and 66 reactions to the Common Representative Intermediates (CRI) mechanism v2.2 Reduction 5 and enables the representation of semi-explicit HOM treatment suitable for long-term global chemistry-aerosol-climate modelling, within a comprehensive tropospheric chemical mechanism. The key features of the new mechanism are (i) representation of the autoxidation of peroxy radicals from the hydroxyl radical and ozone initiated reactions of-pinene, (ii) formation of multiple generations of peroxy radicals, (iii) formation of accretion products (dimers), and (iv) isoprene-driven suppression of accretion product formation, as observed in experiments. The mechanism has been constructed through optimisation against a series of flow tube laboratory experiments. The mechanism predicts a HOM yield of 2 %-4.5% under conditions of low to moderate NOx , in line with experimental observations, and reproduces qualitatively the decline in HOM yield and concentration at higher NOx levels. The mechanism gives a HOM yield that also increases with temperature, in line with observations, and our mechanism compares favourably to some of the limited observations of [HOM] observed in the boreal forest in Finland and in the southeast USA. The reproduction of isoprene-driven suppression of HOMs is a key step forward as it enables global climate models to capture the interaction between the major BVOC species, along with the potential climatic feedbacks. This suppression is demonstrated when the mechanism is used to simulate atmospheric profiles over the boreal forest and rainforest; different isoprene concentrations result in different [HOM] distributions, illustrating the importance of BVOC interactions in atmospheric composition and climate. Finally particle nucleation rates calculated from [HOM] in present-day and preindustrial atmospheres suggest that "sulfuric-acid-free"nucleation can compete effectively with other nucleation pathways in the boreal forest, particularly in the pre-industrial period, with important implications for the aerosol budget and radiative forcing. © Author(s) 2020.
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    Detection and attribution of aerosol-cloud interactions in large-domain large-eddy simulations with the ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic model
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2020) Costa-Surós, Montserrat; Sourdeval, Odran; Acquistapace, Claudia; Baars, Holger; Carbajal Henken, Cintia; Genz, Christa; Hesemann, Jonas; Jimenez, Cristofer; König, Marcel; Kretzschmar, Jan; Madenach, Nils; Meyer, Catrin I.; Schrödner, Roland; Seifert, Patric; Senf, Fabian; Brueck, Matthias; Cioni, Guido; Engels, Jan Frederik; Fieg, Kerstin; Gorges, Ksenia; Heinze, Rieke; Kumar Siligam, Pavan; Burkhardt, Ulrike; Crewell, Susanne; Hoose, Corinna; Seifert, Axel; Tegen, Ina; Quaas, Johannes
    Clouds and aerosols contribute the largest uncertainty to current estimates and interpretations of the Earth's changing energy budget. Here we use a new-generation large-domain large-eddy model, ICON-LEM (ICOsahedral Non-hydrostatic Large Eddy Model), to simulate the response of clouds to realistic anthropogenic perturbations in aerosols serving as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN). The novelty compared to previous studies is that (i) the LEM is run in weather prediction mode and with fully interactive land surface over a large domain and (ii) a large range of data from various sources are used for the detection and attribution. The aerosol perturbation was chosen as peak-aerosol conditions over Europe in 1985, with more than fivefold more sulfate than in 2013. Observational data from various satellite and ground-based remote sensing instruments are used, aiming at the detection and attribution of this response. The simulation was run for a selected day (2 May 2013) in which a large variety of cloud regimes was present over the selected domain of central Europe. It is first demonstrated that the aerosol fields used in the model are consistent with corresponding satellite aerosol optical depth retrievals for both 1985 (perturbed) and 2013 (reference) conditions. In comparison to retrievals from groundbased lidar for 2013, CCN profiles for the reference conditions were consistent with the observations, while the ones for the 1985 conditions were not. Similarly, the detection and attribution process was successful for droplet number concentrations: the ones simulated for the 2013 conditions were consistent with satellite as well as new ground-based lidar retrievals, while the ones for the 1985 conditions were outside the observational range. For other cloud quantities, including cloud fraction, liquid water path, cloud base altitude and cloud lifetime, the aerosol response was small compared to their natural vari ability. Also, large uncertainties in satellite and ground-based observations make the detection and attribution difficult for these quantities. An exception to this is the fact that at a large liquid water path value (LWP > 200 g m-2), the control simulation matches the observations, while the perturbed one shows an LWP which is too large. The model simulations allowed for quantifying the radiative forcing due to aerosol-cloud interactions, as well as the adjustments to this forcing. The latter were small compared to the variability and showed overall a small positive radiative effect. The overall effective radiative forcing (ERF) due to aerosol-cloud interactions (ERFaci) in the simulation was dominated thus by the Twomey effect and yielded for this day, region and aerosol perturbation-2:6 W m-2. Using general circulation models to scale this to a global-mean present-day vs. pre-industrial ERFaci yields a global ERFaci of-0:8 W m-2 © 2020 Author(s).
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    Mutual promotion between aerosol particle liquid water and particulate nitrate enhancement leads to severe nitrate-dominated particulate matter pollution and low visibility
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2020) Wang, Yu; Chen, Ying; Wu, Zhijun; Shang, Dongjie; Bian, Yuxuan; Du, Zhuofei; Schmitt, Sebastian H.; Su, Rong; Gkatzelis, Georgios I.; Schlag, Patrick; Hohaus, Thorsten; Voliotis, Aristeidis; Lu, Keding; Zeng, Limin; Zhao, Chunsheng; Alfarra, M. Rami; McFiggans, Gordon; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Kiendler-Scharr, Astrid; Zhang, Yuanhang; Hu, Min
    As has been the case in North America and western Europe, the SO2 emissions have substantially reduced in the North China Plain (NCP) in recent years. Differential rates of reduction in SO2 and NOx concentrations result in the frequent occurrence of particulate matter pollution dominated by nitrate (pNO−3) over the NCP. In this study, we observed a polluted episode with the particulate nitrate mass fraction in nonrefractory PM1 (NR-PM1) being up to 44 % during wintertime in Beijing. Based on this typical pNO−3-dominated haze event, the linkage between aerosol water uptake and pNO−3 enhancement, further impacting on visibility degradation, has been investigated based on field observations and theoretical calculations. During haze development, as ambient relative humidity (RH) increased from ∼10 % to 70 %, the aerosol particle liquid water increased from ∼1 µg m−3 at the beginning to ∼75 µg m−3 in the fully developed haze period. The aerosol liquid water further increased the aerosol surface area and volume, enhancing the condensational loss of N2O5 over particles. From the beginning to the fully developed haze, the condensational loss of N2O5 increased by a factor of 20 when only considering aerosol surface area and volume of dry particles, while increasing by a factor of 25 when considering extra surface area and volume due to water uptake. Furthermore, aerosol liquid water favored the thermodynamic equilibrium of HNO3 in the particle phase under the supersaturated HNO3 and NH3 in the atmosphere. All the above results demonstrated that pNO−3 is enhanced by aerosol water uptake with elevated ambient RH during haze development, in turn facilitating the aerosol take-up of water due to the hygroscopicity of particulate nitrate salt. Such mutual promotion between aerosol particle liquid water and particulate nitrate enhancement can rapidly degrade air quality and halve visibility within 1 d. Reduction of nitrogen-containing gaseous precursors, e.g., by control of traffic emissions, is essential in mitigating severe haze events in the NCP.
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    The impact of biomass burning and aqueous-phase processing on air quality: A multi-year source apportionment study in the Po Valley, Italy
    (Katlenburg-Lindau : EGU, 2020) Paglione, Marco; Gilardoni, Stefania; Rinaldi, Matteo; Decesari, Stefano; Zanca, Nicola; Sandrini, Silvia; Giulianelli, Lara; Bacco, Dimitri; Ferrari, Silvia; Poluzzi, Vanes; Scotto, Fabiana; Trentini, Arianna; Poulain, Laurent; Herrmann, Hartmut; Wiedensohler, Alfred; Canonaco, Francesco; Prévôt, André S.H.; Massoli, Paola; Carbone, Claudio; Facchini, Maria Cristina; Fuzzi, Sandro
    The Po Valley (Italy) is a well-known air quality hotspot characterized by particulate matter (PM) levels well above the limit set by the European Air Quality Directive and by the World Health Organization, especially during the colder season. In the framework of Emilia-Romagna regional project "Supersito", the southern Po Valley submicron aerosol chemical composition was characterized by means of high-resolution aerosol mass spectroscopy (HR-AMS) with the specific aim of organic aerosol (OA) characterization and source apportionment. Eight intensive observation periods (IOPs) were carried out over 4 years (from 2011 to 2014) at two different sites (Bologna, BO, urban background, and San Pietro Capofiume, SPC, rural background), to characterize the spatial variability and seasonality of the OA sources, with a special focus on the cold season. On the multi-year basis of the study, the AMS observations show that OA accounts for averages of 45 ± 8 % (ranging from 33 % to 58 %) and 46 ± 7 % (ranging from 36 % to 50 %) of the total non-refractory submicron particle mass (PM1-NR) at the urban and rural sites, respectively. Primary organic aerosol (POA) comprises biomass burning (23±13 % of OA) and fossil fuel (12±7 %) contributions with a marked seasonality in concentration. As expected, the biomass burning contribution to POA is more significant at the rural site (urban / rural concentration ratio of 0.67), but it is also an important source of POA at the urban site during the cold season, with contributions ranging from 14 % to 38 % of the total OA mass. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) contributes to OA mass to a much larger extent than POA at both sites throughout the year (69 ± 16 % and 83 ± 16 % at the urban and rural sites, respectively), with important implications for public health. Within the secondary fraction of OA, the measurements highlight the importance of biomass burning aging products during the cold season, even at the urban background site. This biomass burning SOA fraction represents 14 %-44 % of the total OA mass in the cold season, indicating that in this region a major contribution of combustion sources to PM mass is mediated by environmental conditions and atmospheric reactivity. © 2020 Author(s).