Airborne particle number concentrations in China: A critical review

Particle number concentration (PNC) is an important parameter for evaluating the environmental health and climate effects of particulate matter (PM). A good understanding of PNC is essential to control atmospheric ultrafine particles (UFP) and protect public health. In this study, we reviewed the PNC studies in the literature aimed to gain a comprehensive understanding about the levels, trends, and sources of PNC in China. The PNC levels at the urban, suburban, rural, remote, and coastal sites in China were 8500–52,200, 8600–30,300, 8600–28,400, 2100–16,100, and 5700-19,600 cm−3, respectively. The wide ranges of PNC indicate significant heterogeneity in the spatial distribution of PNC, but also are partly due to the different measurement techniques deployed in different studies. In general, it still can be concluded that the PNC levels at urban > suburban > rural > coastal > remote sites. Except for Mt. Waliguan (a remote site of 3816 m a.s.l.), other cities had the highest PNC in spring or winter and the lowest in summer or autumn. Long-term changes of PNCs in Beijing and Nanjing indicated that PNCs of Nucleation and Aitken modes had substantially declined following stricter emission controls in recent years, but more frequent new particle formation (NPF) events were observed due to reduction in coagulation sink. Overall, traffic emission was the most dominant source of PNC in more than 94.4% of the selected cities around the world, while combustion2 (the energy production and industry related combustion source), background aerosol, and nucleation sources were also important contributors to PNC. This study provides insights about PNC and its sources around the world, especially in China. A few recommendations were suggested to further improve the understanding of PNC and to develop effective PNC control strategies.