Measurement report of the change of PM2.5 composition during the COVID-19 lockdown in urban Xi'an: Enhanced secondary formation and oxidation

2021

Enhanced secondary aerosol formation was observed during the COVID-19 lockdown in Xi'an, especially for polluted episodes. More oxidized‑oxygenated organic aerosol (MO-OOA) and sulfate showed the dominant enhancements, especially in large particle-mode. Meanwhile, relative humidity (RH) showed a positive promotion on the formation of sulfate and MO-OOA during the lockdown, but had no obvious correlation with less oxidized‑oxygenated organic aerosol (LO-OOA) or nitrate. Organosulfurs (OS) displayed a higher contribution (~58%) than inorganic sulfate to total sulfate enhancement in the polluted episode during the lockdown. Although the total nitrate (TN) decreased during the lockdown ascribin…