Chemical characteristics and sources of organic acids in precipitation at a semi-urban site in Southwest China

In order to investigate the chemical characteristics and sources of organic acids in precipitation in Southwest China, 105 rainwater samples were collected at a semi-urban site in Anshun from June 2007 to June 2008. Organic acids and major anions were analyzed along with pH and electrical conductivity. The pH values varied from 3.57 to 7.09 for all the rainfall events sampled, with an average of 4.67 which was typical acidic value. Formic, acetic and oxalic acids were found to be the predominant carboxylic acids and their volume weighted average (VWA) concentrations were 8.77, 6.93 and 2.84 μmol l−1, respectively. These organic acids were estimated to account for 8.1% to the total free acidity (TFA) in precipitation. The concentrations of the majority organic acids at studied site had a clear seasonal pattern, reaching higher levels during the non-growing season than those in growing season, which was attributed to dilution effect of heavy rainfall during the growing season. The seasonal variation of wet deposition flux of these organic acids confirmed higher source strength of biogenic emissions from vegetation during the growing season. Formic-to-acetic acids ratio (F/A), an indicator of primary versus secondary sources of these organic acids, suggested that primary sources from vehicular emission, biomass burning, soil and vegetation emissions were dominant sources. In addition, the lowest concentrations of organic acids were found under type S, when air masses originated from the marine (South China Sea) during Southern Asian Monsoon period. And the highest concentrations were observed in precipitation events from Northeast China (type NE), prevailing mostly during winter with the lowest rainfall.