Measurement of fine particulate matter water-soluble inorganic species and precursor gases in the Alberta Oil Sands Region using an improved semicontinuous monitor

Figures & data

Figure 1. Schematic figure of AIM-IC. PPWD = parallel-plate wet denuder; PPSC = particle supersaturation chamber.

Figure 2. Map of sampling locations in Alberta, Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Athabasca_Oil_Sands_map.png).

Figure 3. The time responses of the WBEA’s AIM-IC system to known concentrations of (a) SO₂, (b) HNO₃, and (c) NH₃. The y-axes represent known concentrations of each chemical species delivered to the instrument from permeation sources each hour.

Figure 4. Intercomparison between AIM-IC and ADSS measurements of (a) sulfate and (b) nitrate (r is the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient) at AMS 1.

Figure 5. Intercomparison between WBEA‘s AIM-IC and FRM measurements of (a) sulfate, (b) nitrate, and (c) ammonium (r is the Spearman rank-order correlation coefficient) at AMS 7.

Figure 6. 2013 monthly mean and median concentrations (µg m⁻³) of NH₃ and NH₄⁺ at AMS 7. Filled circles indicate the 95th and 5th percentiles for NH₄⁺ and open circles for NH₃. The total sample hours were 370, 520, 553, 690, 566, 586, 632, 606, and 737 for NH₃ and 335, 560, 554, 724, 567, 591, 639, 618, and 737 for NH₄⁺ in April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December, respectively.

Figure 7. NH₃ gas fraction from April to December 2013 at AMS 7. The NH₃ gas fraction is defined as [NH₃]/([NH₃]+[NH₄⁺]), molar fraction.

Table 1. Ambient NH₃, SO₂, and HNO₃ concentration (µg m⁻³)

Sampling Site	NH3	SO2	HNO3	Method	Reference
Helsinki, Finland (winter)	0.01		0.24	MARGA	Makkonen et al. (2012)
Helsinki, Finland (spring)	0.1		0.4
Singapore	3.24	4.52	0.7	MARGA	Khezri et al. (2013)
Rocky Mountain National Park	0.5			ADSS	Beem et al. (2010)
Rural grasslands (summer)^a	3			ADSS and Radiello passive sampler	Day et al. (2012)
Suburban-urban sites (summer)^a	4–11
Intensive livestock feeding and farming operations (summer)^a	30
Edmonton, AB (winter)	2.1			Honeycomb glass denuder sampling system	Dabek-Zlotorzynska et al. (2011)
Edmonton, AB (summer)	2
Toronto, ON (winter)	0.7
Toronto, ON (summer)	3.1
Montreal, QC (winter)	0.7
Montreal, QC (summer)	2.8
Halifax, NS (winter)	0.1
Halifax, NS (summer)	0.8
Atlantic Canada^b		2.1		FEM SO2 monitor	Environment Canada^c
Southern Quebec^b		4.5
Southern Ontario^b		7.7
Prairies and northern Ontario^b		2.4
British Columbia^b		4.52
Saturna, BC			0.795	Filter pack	Zbieranowski and Aherne (2011)
Experimental Lakes area, ON			0.293
Algoma, ON			0.703
Longwoods, ON			1.186
Egbert, ON			1.163
Chalk River, ON			0.496
Chapais, QC			0.156
Fort McMurray—summer^d	1.9	1.35	0.24	AIM-IC	This study
Fort McMurray—winter^e	1.3	1.35	0.1
Fort McMurray—annual^f	1.7	1.35	0.19

Notes: ^aNortheastern Colorado. ^b2011. ^chttp://www.ec.gc.ca. ^dFrom May to October 2013. ^eApril, November, and December in 2013. ^fFrom April to December 2013.

Figure 8. 2013 monthly mean and median concentrations (µg m⁻³) of SO₂ and SO₄²⁻ at AMS 7. Filled circles indicate the 95th and 5th percentiles for SO₄²⁻ and open circles for SO₂. The total sample hours were 370, 535, 553, 690, 562, 590, 631, 606, and 737 for SO₂ and 346, 560, 553, 724, 560, 591, 633, 618, and 737 for SO₄²⁻ in April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December, respectively.

Figure 9. Hourly concentrations of SO₄²⁻, NH₄⁺, and SO₂ on July 21, 2013, at AMS 7. Aerosol neutralization ratio (ANR) is the mole equivalent concentration ratio of base (NH₄⁺) to acids (SO₄²⁻ and NO₃⁻).

Figure 10. 2013 monthly mean and median concentrations (µg m⁻³) of HNO₃ and NO₃⁻ at AMS 7. Filled circles indicate the 95th and 5th percentiles for NO₃⁻ and open circles for HNO₃. The total sample hours were 370, 545, 553, 629, 562, 586, 631, 606, and 737 for HNO₃ and 346, 560, 554, 724, 567, 591, 637, 618, and 736 for NO₃⁻ in April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and December, respectively.

Figure 11. Diurnal profiles of HNO₃, NO₂, O₃, and GSR in (a) June, (b) August, (c) October, and (d) December of 2013 at AMS 7.

Figure 12. Hourly concentrations of NO₃⁻, SO₄²⁻, NH₄⁺, SO₂, and total PM_2.5 in June of 2011 at AMS 1.

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