Sources of fine particle composition in New York city

Fine particle composition data from samples collected at Queens College during July 2001 were studied using positive matrix factorization (PMF). The sampling systems are an integrated filter sampler with a 6-h sampling time interval, an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) with a 10-min sampling time interval and a particle-into-liquid sampler with ion chromatography (PILS-IC) with 15-min sampling time interval. The data from the AMS and the PILS-IC were aggregated to 6-h average values for the PMF calculation. Sulfate, ammonium, and nitrate data were compared among the different instruments. The PMF method uses the estimated errors in the data to provide optimal point-by-point weighting and permits efficient treatment of missing and below detection limit values. Six source categories were resolved from the data. They are: secondary sulfate with high concentration SO ₄ ^2-; secondary nitrate with the presence of high concentration NO ₃ ^-; motor vehicle emissions with high concentration of OC and Zn; road dust represented by Al, Ca, Fe, and K; sea salt with high concentration of Cl and Na; and oil combustion marked by the presence of Ni and V.