Impact of Asian dust and continental pollutants on cloud chemistry observed in northern Taiwan during the experimental period of ABC/EAREX 2005

Observations of particulate matter (PM), vertical cloud and aerosol structure and cloud water chemistry in northern Taiwan were conducted during the ABC/EAREX 2005 period. Five Asian continental outflow regimes reaching Taiwan were identified. One was coupled with a dust storm observed not only at Gosan, Korea, but also over Taiwan, suggesting the scope of its regional impact. The arrival of the dust event was determined by lidar, cloud water, and surface PM measurements. When continental outflow events correspond to the presence of significant dust concentrations, air quality can be drastically worsened due to high levels of PM. PM10 (PM with aerodynamic diameters < 10 μm), pH, conductivity, and ion concentrations of cloud water increased drastically near the dissipating stage of the frontal passage/cloud event for the dust case. Cloud water may have become acidified by pollution from industrial and urban regions along the coast of eastern China. Nevertheless, abundant Ca2+ contributed to the neutralization of acidic cloud water during the dust stage. The much higher aerosol and chemical loading injected into these clouds caused an enrichment effect in the cloud water, which can double the cloud loading of total ions, when Ca2+ increases by approximately 7 times.