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Secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) account for a large fraction of atmospheric aerosol mass and play significant roles in visibility impairment by scattering solar radiation. However, comprehensive evaluations of SOA scattering abilities under ambient relative humidity (RH) conditions on the basis of field measurements are still lacking due to the difficulty of simultaneously direct quantifications of SOA scattering efficiency in dry state and SOA water uptake abilities. In this study, field measurements of aerosol chemical and physical properties were conducted in winter in Guangzhou (lasting about 3 months) using a humidified nephelometer system and aerosol chemical speciation monitor. A modified multilinear regression model was proposed to retrieve dry-state mass scattering efficiencies (MSEs, defined as scattering coefficient per unit aerosol mass) of aerosol components. The more oxidized oxygenated organic aerosol (MOOA) with an O/C ratio of 1.17 was identified as the most efficient light scattering aerosol component. On average, 34 % mass contribution of MOOA to total submicron organic aerosol mass contributed 51 % of dry-state organic aerosol scattering. The overall organic aerosol hygroscopicity parameter κOA was quantified directly through hygroscopicity closure, and hygroscopicity parameters of SOA components were further retrieved using a multilinear regression model by assuming hydrophobic properties of primary organic aerosols. The highest water uptake ability of MOOA among organic aerosol factors was revealed with κMOOA reaching 0.23, thus further enhancing the fractional contribution of MOOA in ambient organic aerosol scattering. In particular, the scattering abilities of MOOA were found to be even higher than those of ammonium nitrate under RH of %, which was identified as the most efficient inorganic scattering aerosol component, demonstrating that MOOA had the strongest scattering abilities in ambient air (average RH of 57 %) during winter in Guangzhou. During the observation period, secondary aerosols contributed dominantly to visibility degradation (∼70 %), with substantial contributions from MOOA (16 % on average), demonstrating significant impacts of MOOA on visibility degradation. The findings of this study demonstrate that more attention needs to be paid to SOA property changes in future visibility improvement investigations. Also, more comprehensive studies on MOOA physical properties and chemical formation are needed to better parameterize its radiative effects in models and implement targeted control strategies on MOOA precursors for visibility improvement.

This paper analyzes observation data in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region from 2012 to 2013, and explores the impact of typhoon periphery on high ozone and high aerosol pollution episodes (double high episodes). Observation analysis show that severe tropical storms to severe typhoons are mainly located in the range of 10°N-30°N, 116°E-135°E when double high episodes occur. Meanwhile, obvious high temperature, low humidity, low wind speed, high actinic flux, high aerosol optical depth (AOD), and high single scattering albedo (SSA) can be observed in double high episodes. The diurnal cycle of the PM2.5 is significant in double high episodes, and the average peak concentration in the afternoon can exceed 90 μg/m3. The diurnal cycle of PM2.5 in non–double high episodes is not significant, and the average value is about 34–39 μg/m3. The ozone peak concentration in double high episodes is 81–103 ppbv, which is about 27–40 ppbv higher than that of non–double high episodes. High correlation can be found between the aerosol and ozone diurnal cycles in double high episodes, and r2 reaches 0.76. In double high episodes, black carbon, nitrate, and sea salt decrease while sulfate, ammonium, secondary organic carbon, and total PM2.5 significantly increase in the afternoon. The growth of PM2.5 in double high episodes is mainly contributed by scattered fine particles from photochemical processes and transmission. The mechanisms that control the double high episodes in the PRD are described below. Ozone and aerosol begin to accumulate under unfavorable meteorological conditions. Via local photochemical processes and external transport, the scattered aerosol increases and leads to an increase in multiple scattering and actinic radiation, which is in turn more favorable for photochemical reaction and further increases the ozone concentration. Meanwhile, high oxidizability promotes the formation of scattered aerosol, creating positive feedback. In addition, the scattered aerosol increases backscattering, which increases the photolysis rate and ozone concentration in the middle and upper boundary layer. Meanwhile, downdraft and turbulence transports high-concentration ozone to the ground.

Weekday/weekend mixing ratios of ozone (O3) and the O3 precursors of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) were recorded at the Guangzhou Panyu Atmospheric Composition Station (GPACS), a suburban site in Guangzhou, during the summer (June, July, and August) and autumn (September, October, and November) of 2011. In both summer and autumn, weekday/weekend O3 differences in the morning and at midday largely depend on how much the O3 precursors are affected by anthropogenic emissions. In the mornings (6:00–9:00 LT), pollutants (i.e. NOx and NMHCs) were more strongly influenced by vehicular emissions in autumn than in summer. In autumn, O3 titration and lower NOx on weekends in NMHCs-limited regimes lead to more rapid O3 production, which resulted in the O3 weekend effect during autumn morning. No O3 weekend effect occurred on summer mornings because O3 formation was in a NOx-limited regime, although O3 titration still existed. At midday (10:00–16:00 LT), the increase of biogenic NMHCs emissions reversed the sensitivity of O3 production from NMHCs-to NOx-sensitive. The weekday/weekend diurnal pattern of vehicular sources was the same at midday, more intense other human industrial activities in autumn not only gave rise to the higher mixing ratios of high-reactive anthropogenic NMHCs (e.g. aromatics) on weekdays, but also could affected the temperature in the city, leading to higher isoprene mixing ratio on weekdays. All these factors are likely to contribute to the O3 weekday effect in autumn. Meanwhile no weekday O3 effect occurred in summer due to the low-intensity industrial anthropogenic activities. Our results show that high-reactive NMHCs and NOx control can be effective for reducing peak O3 mixing ratios in Guangzhou. Further investigation based on numerical models is required to reach more robust conclusions.

Although existing research generally has found that corporate social responsibility (CSR) has a positive impact on organizations and individuals, researchers should still be alert to the potential risks it may bring. This study will explore why employee-oriented corporate social responsibility (employee-oriented CSR) triggers unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). Based on the social identity theory, this study establishes a moderated mediation model to explore the impact mechanism of employee-oriented CSR on UPB. We collected survey data from 298 employees of manufacturing organizations to test our research model. The regression statistics results indicate that employee-oriented CSR can indirectly (via perceived insider status (PIS)) affect employees’ UPB. Moreover, ethical climate rules negatively moderate the relationship between PIS and UPB, and negatively moderate the indirect effect of employee-oriented CSR on UPB. This study promotes a full understanding of the impact of CSR, expands the micro-foundation of CSR, and extends the research on the antecedents of employees’ UPB by revealing the social-psychological mechanism of employee-oriented CSR impact UPB, and also gives specific suggestions to put into practice.

Absorbing aerosols can significantly modulate short-wave solar radiation in the atmosphere, affecting regional and global climate. The aerosol absorption coefficient (AAC) is an indicator that assesses the impact of absorbing aerosols on radiative forcing. In this study, the near-surface AAC and absorption Ångström exponent (AAE) in the urban area of Nanjing, China, are characterized on the basis of measurements in 2012 and 2013 using the seven-channel Aethalometer (model AE-31, Magee Scientific, USA). The AAC is estimated with direct and indirect corrections, which result in consistent temporal variations and magnitudes of AAC at 532 nm. The mean AAC at 532 nm is about 43.23 ± 28.13 M m−1 in the urban area of Nanjing, which is much lower than that in Pearl River Delta and the same as in rural areas (Lin'an) in Yangtze River Delta. The AAC in the urban area of Nanjing shows strong seasonality (diurnal variations); it is high in cold seasons (at rush hour) and low in summer (in the afternoon). It also shows synoptic and quasi-2-week cycles in response to weather systems. Its frequency distribution follows a typical log-normal pattern. The 532 nm AAC ranging from 15 to 65 M m−1 dominates, accounting for more than 72 % of the total data samples in the entire study period. Frequent high pollution episodes, such as those observed in June 2012 and in winter 2013, greatly enhanced AAC and altered its temporal variations and frequency distributions. These episodes are mostly due to local emissions and regional pollution. Air masses flowing from northern China to Nanjing can sometimes be highly polluted and lead to high AAC at the site. AAE at 660/470 nm from the Schmid correction (Schmid et al., 2006) is about 1.56, which might be more reasonable than from the Weingartner correction (Weingartner et al., 2003). Low AAEs mainly occur in summer, likely due to high relative humidity (RH) in the season. AAC increases with increasing AAE at a fixed aerosol loading. The RH–AAC relationship is more complex. Overall, AAC peaks at RH values of around 40 % (1.3 < AAE < 1.6), 65 % (AAE < 1.3 and AAE > 1.6), and 80 % (1.3 < AAE < 1.6).

An online coupled regional climate-chemistry model called RegCCMS is used to investigate the interactions between anthropogenic aerosols and the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) over East Asia. The simulation results show that the mean aerosol loading and optical depth over the region are 17.87 mg/m2 and 0.25, respectively. Sulfate and black carbon (BC) account for approximately 61.2% and 7.8% of the total aerosols, respectively. The regional mean radiative forcing (RF) is approximately −3.64, −0.55, and +0.88 W/m2 at the top of the atmosphere for the total aerosol effect, the total aerosol direct effect, and the BC direct effect, respectively. The surface direct RF of BC accounts for approximately 31% of the total RF of all aerosols. Because of the total aerosol effect, both the energy budgets and air temperature are considerably reduced in the region with high aerosol loadings, leading to decreases in the land-ocean air temperature gradient in summer. The total column-absorbed solar radiation and surface air temperature decrease by 8.4 W/m2 and 0.31 K, respectively. This cooling effect weakens horizontal and vertical atmospheric circulations over East Asia. The wind speed at 850 hPa decreases by 0.18 m/s, and the precipitation decreases by 0.29 mm/d. The small responses of solar radiation, air temperature, and atmospheric circulations to the BC warming effect are opposite to those of the total aerosol effect. The BC-induced enhancement of atmospheric circulation can increase local floods in south China, while droughts in north China may worsen in response to the BC semidirect effect. The total aerosol effect is much more significant than the BC direct effect. The East Asian summer monsoon becomes weaker due to the total aerosol effect. However, this weakness could be partially offset by the BC warming effect. Sensitivity analyses further indicate that the influence of aerosols on the EASM might be more substantial in years when the southerlies or southwesterlies at 850 hPa are weak compared with years when the winds are strong. Changes in the EASM can induce variations in the distribution and magnitude of aerosols. Aerosols in the lower troposphere over the region can increase by 3.07 and 1.04 µg/m3 due to the total aerosol effect and the BC warming effect, respectively.

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region has experienced a rapid urbanization process accompanied with economic development during last decades. To investigate impacts of urbanization on regional climate and air quality, two-month (January and July 2010) simulations with two different land-use scenarios (USGS and MODIS land-use types) are conducted using the Advanced Weather Research and Forecasting/Chemistry (WRF/Chem) modeling system in this study. Results show that the conversion of vegetated and irrigated cropland into urban type significantly changes 2-m temperature and 10-m wind speed, which are obtained from differences of two simulations based on significance t-test at 95% confidence level. Changes of land-use cause an increase in 2-m temperature with maximum (minimum) value of 2.3 °C (0.9 °C) over urbanized area, a decrease in 10-m wind speed with magnitude of 0.6–1.2 m s−1 for both the two months. Planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) differences show a maximum increase of 425 m during daytime in July, and the increases are about 100 m during nighttime for both January and July. Urbanization reduces near-surface PM10 concentration due to increase of PBLH, with maximum decrease of 57.6 μg m−3 during nighttime in July. The biggest increase of O3 is around 6.8 ppb during daytime in July and the difference is about 1.7–2.3 ppb in January. Vertical profiles show that PM10 concentrations decrease due to increase of mixing height during both daytime and nighttime. While for O3 concentration, urbanization causes an increase during daytime due to higher air temperature and decrease of wind speed and leads to a decrease during nighttime. Overall, influences of urbanization on climate and air quality are important and significant over YRD region, which must be considered in any climate and air quality assessment.

As a short-lived climate forcing agent, black carbon (BC) aerosol plays an important role in climate change, atmospheric environment, and human health. In this study, continuous measurements of BC and trace gases were made at an urban site in Nanjing, Yangtze River Delta (YRD) of China in 2012. The annual mean BC concentration in Nanjing was found to be 4157 ± 2626 ng/m3, with a range of 221–24,686 ng/m3. The value was much lower than that in most megacities of China and also lower than that in LinAn, a rural site in YRD. BC concentrations in Nanjing showed strong seasonality, high in spring and autumn and low in summer. The concentrations also varied diurnally, high at rush hours and low in the afternoon. The diurnal cycles of BC loadings in winter to spring 2012 were similar to those in 2011 in magnitude and shape. BC concentrations followed a typical lognormal pattern, with over 75% of data samples between 1000 and 6000 ng/m3. The maximum frequency occurred in low BC concentrations in summer and high BC concentrations in other seasons. In Nanjing, high levels of BC were mainly caused by local and regional emissions. Low levels of BC were mostly associated with winds from northern and eastern directions of Nanjing. BC and CO varied similarly with season, having a correlation coefficient over 0.7 in most seasons. Annual mean ΔBC/ΔCO was about 7 ng/m3/ppb, implying that the sources of the BC likely came from combustions of bio-fuel, industry-coal, and vehicle-gasoline. Serious pollution episodes with high levels of BC were detected in early June at the site. Analysis suggested that the episodes were due to biomass burning in northwestern region of Nanjing. During this period, ΔBC/ΔCO reached about 9.7 ng/m3/ppb and much higher BC levels were found at mid-night.

Continuous measurements of atmospheric aerosols were made in Nanjing, a megacity in China, from 18 January to 18 April, 2011 (Phase 1) and from 22 April 2011 to 21 April 2012 (Phase 2). Aerosol characteristics, optical properties, and direct radiative forcing (DRF) were studied through interpretations of these measurements. We found that during Phase 1, mean PM2.5, black carbon (BC), and aerosol scattering coefficient (Bsp) in Nanjing were 76.1 ± 59.3 μg m−3, 4.1 ± 2.2 μg m−3, and 170.9 ± 105.8 M m−1, respectively. High pollution episodes occurred during Spring and Lantern Festivals when hourly PM2.5 concentrations reached 440 μg m−3, possibly due to significant discharge of fireworks. Temporal variations of PM2.5, BC, and Bsp were similar to each other. It is estimated that inorganic scattering aerosols account for about 49 ± 8.6% of total aerosols while BC only accounted for 6.6 ± 2.9%, and nitrate was larger than sulfate. In Phase 2, optical properties of aerosols show great seasonality. High relative humidity (RH) in summer (June, July, August) likely attributed to large optical depth (AOD) and small Angstrom exponent (AE) of aerosols. Due to dust storms, AE of total aerosols was the smallest in spring (March, April, May). Annual mean 550-nm AOD and 675/440-nm AE were 0.6 ± 0.3 and 1.25 ± 0.29 for total aerosols, 0.04 ± 0.02 and 1.44 ± 0.50 for absorbing aerosols, 0.48 ± 0.29 and 1.64 ± 0.29 for fine aerosols, respectively. Annual single scattering albedo of aerosols ranged from 0.90 to 0.92. Real time wavelength-dependent surface albedo from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) was used to assess aerosol DRFs. Both total and absorbing aerosol DRFs had significant seasonal variations in Nanjing and they were the strongest in summer. Annual mean clear sky TOA DRF (including daytime and nighttime) of total and absorbing aerosols was about −6.9 and +4.5 W m−2, respectively. Aerosol DRFs were found to be sensitive to surface albedo. Over brighter surfaces, solar radiation was more absorbed by absorbing aerosols and less scattered by scattering aerosols.

A Regional Climate Chemistry Modeling System that employed empirical parameterizations of aerosol-cloud microphysics was applied to investigate the spatial distribution, radiative forcing (RF), and climate effects of black carbon (BC) over China. Results showed high levels of BC in Southwest, Central, and East China, with maximum surface concentrations, column burden, and optical depth (AOD) up to 14 μg m−3, 8 mg m−2, and 0.11, respectively. Black carbon was found to result in a positive RF at the top of the atmosphere (TOA) due to its direct effect while a negative RF due to its indirect effect. The regional-averaged direct and indirect RF of BC in China was about +0.81 and −0.95 W m−2, respectively, leading to a net RF of −0.15 W m−2 at the TOA. The BC indirect RF was larger than its direct RF in South China. Due to BC absorption of solar radiation, cloudiness was decreased by 1.33 %, further resulting in an increase of solar radiation and subsequently a surface warming over most parts of China, which was opposite to BC’s indirect effect. Further, the net effect of BC might cause a decrease of precipitation of −7.39 % over China. Investigations also suggested large uncertainties and non-linearity in BC’s indirect effect on regional climate. Results suggested that: (a) changes in cloud cover might be more affected by BC’s direct effect, while changes in surface air temperature and precipitation might be influenced by BC’s indirect effect; and (b) BC second indirect effect might have more influence on cloud cover and water content compared to first indirect effect. This study highlighted a substantial role of BC on regional climate changes.

To constrain temporal–spatial patterns of the Kwangsian and Indosinian orogenic events and the Phanerozoic tectonic evolution of the eastern South China Block, this paper documents the zircon U–Pb geochronology of the high-grade metamorphic rocks for key outcrops in the eastern SCB and the P–T path for the Indosinian metamorphic amphibolites. Our data show that the representative amphibolites from the originally-defined Badou, Mayuan, Chencai, Zhoutan and Yunkai Groups and associated granulites yielded zircon U–Pb metamorphic ages of 428–468 Ma. The weighted mean ages of 221–246 Ma are also given by the metamorphic zircons from amphibolites and granulites in the Yunkai, Shiwandashan, northern Wuyi and southern Hunan regions. The two age groups are followed by the 40Ar/39Ar plateau ages of 406–438 Ma and 195–217 Ma for synkinematic minerals from major shear zones in the eastern South China Block, respectively. The age-spans of 406–468 Ma and 195–246 Ma roughly coincide with the formation time of the Kwangsian (396–462 Ma) and Indosinian (202–248 Ma) granites of the eastern South China Block, respectively. The strongly compressive deformation, metamorphism and granitic magmatism are roughly contemporaneous for the Kwangsian and Indosinian tectonothermal events in the eastern South China Block. They occurred over a similar spatial extent, only reaching westward to the Jiangnan–Xuefeng Domains across the Jiangshan–Shaoxing Fault. The amphibolites from Zhouyuan (SW Zhejiang Province) of the Cathaysia Block, which have the Indosinian zircon U–Pb metamorphic ages of 243–246 Ma, underwent three episodes of metamorphism (M1–M3) and yielded a near-isothermal decompression clockwise P–T path. In combination with other geological data, it is proposed that the ages of ca. 430 Ma and ca.230 Ma might be interpreted as the transformational time from the prograde- to retro-metamorphism for the Kwangsian and Indosinian events, respectively. The Kwangsian and Indosinian orogenic events occurred in a similar tectonic setting where the Cathaysia and Yangtze Blocks remained contiguous, and both involved initial crustal thickening followed by rapid exhumation and final cooling, respectively. Their occurrence can be attributed to intra-plate deformation and orogenesis without the Phanerozoic subduction of the Cathaysia Block underneath the Yangtze Block, in response to the far-field stress fields for the subduction/collision beyond the southern margin of the South China Block. Our geochronological data for the amphibolites and granulites also indicate the development of abundant Neoproterozoic (ca. 800 Ma) mafic magmatism in the Cathaysia interior.