Understanding atmospheric processes: insights from the comparison between Beijing and Hyytiälä
Abstract Besides primary emissions, transport and chemical production of particles in the atmosphere are crucial for both air quality and climate. We performed continuous measurements of meteorological conditions, concentrations of trace gases, oxidants and condensable vapors as well as basic characteristics of clusters, ions and aerosol particles in Hyytiälä (a forestry site), Finland, and Beijing (an urban site), China, from 2018 to 2022. Regarding air pollution and as sources of climate-active constituents, Hyytiälä and Beijing represent contrasting locations, motivating a detailed comparison between the two locations. We show our main findings on such comparison for selected variables, and over different time scales. Our results provide strong evidence that NPF is associated with sulphuric acid and highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) in Hyytiälä, while in Beijing NPF is associated with sulphuric acid dimers indicative of sulfuric acid-base (ammonia/amines) clustering. The median particle growth rates were quite similar at the two sites (4–6 nm/h), although their dependence on particle size differed. Our results demonstrate the importance of continuous and comprehensive atmospheric observations and illustrate that we can learn much by comparing such measurements between two sites with different emission and pollution characteristics.
Authors
- Markku Kulmala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3464-7825)
- Jingkun Jiang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6172-190X)
- Joni Kujansuu
- Jinwen Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-0041-7613)
- Li‐Hui Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1761-5063)
- Qiaozhi Zha (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6301-7086)
- Pauliina Schiestl‐Aalto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1369-1923)
- Ilona Ylivinkka (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5591-4876)
- Jin Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5364-8941)
- Zehao Zou
- Douglas R. Worsnop (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8928-8017)
- Feixue Zheng
- Tinghan Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4553-1860)
- Chenjie Hua
- Du Wei (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9482-9714)
- Men Xia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8534-3357)
- Chao Yan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5735-9597)
- Lubna Dada (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1105-9043)
- Nina Sarnela (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1874-3235)
- Zongcheng Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0723-4083)
- Runlong Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6630-0896)
- Santeri Tuovinen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8092-5358)
- Lauri Reino Ahonen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2534-6898)
- Weihang Feng
- Tom Kokkonen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4804-7516)
- Jing Cai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4480-6498)
- Kaspar Rudolf Dällenbach (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1246-6396)
- Xin Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3285-058X)
- Tuukka Petäjä (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1881-9044)
- Giancarlo Ciarelli (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0483-6449)
- Federico Bianchi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2996-3604)
- Veli‐Matti Kerminen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0706-669X)
- Jiali Xie
- Yuan Qi
- Guanwei Zhao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3311-9062)
- Yishuo Guo
- Yafang Cheng (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4912-9879)
- Hongyu Pang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3801-2624)
- Diego Aliaga (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6781-4568)
- Aijun Ding (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4481-5386)
- Myriam Agrò (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-3868-7127)
- Yiran Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7232-4969)
- Wenjun Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0003-2260-8973)
- Yusheng Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8610-5668)
- Peng Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0144-2575)
- Xinran Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9055-061X)
- Zhixin Zhao
- Shanshan Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9373-756X)
- Qi Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6744-172X)
- Wei Ma (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8975-1764)
- Wenxin Zhong (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0005-9455-1026)
- Tingyu Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0968-187X)
- Yuzheng Wang
- Yongchun Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9055-970X)
Institutions
- University of Helsinki (FI)
- Fudan University (CN)
- Paul Scherrer Institute (CH)
- Max Planck Institute for Chemistry (DE)
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (CN)
- Beijing University of Chemical Technology (CN)
- Nanjing University (CN)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- npj Clean Air
- Published
- 2025-09-16
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s44407-025-00020-x
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.60
Funders
- National Science Foundation
- Helsingin Yliopisto
- European Commission
- Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung
- Jane ja Aatos Erkon Säätiö
- Teknologiateollisuuden 100-Vuotisjuhlasäätiö
- Beijing University of Chemical Technology