[Seasonal variations of HCOOH and HCHO in precipitation in Guiyang].

ABSTRACT

Formic acid and formaldehyde are the important and ubiquitous chemical constituents in the atmosphere. Precipitation in Guiyang, the capital city of Guizhou province, was analyzed with ICS-90 ion chromatography for their concentration changes in a year. The volume mean weight average concentration (VMWA) is (13.27 +/- 25.92) micromol/L and (7.89 +/- 8.92) micromol/L for formic acid and formaldehyde, respectively. Both species demonstrated higher concentration during winter-half-year than the summer-half-year. Day-time concentration is higher than the night-time, the diurnal variations for both chemical constituents indicate the sources from human activities and photochemical reactions. Regression analysis of concentration vs precipitation volume and deposition amount vs precipitation volume reveals that dilution and scavenging of precipitation in the below-cloud process are responsible for the changes of the concentrations. The significant correlation between formic acid and formaldehyde suggests similar sources or reaction relationship. The known aqueous oxidation of formaldehyde, however, can not be used to explain the link of the two compounds, and thus should not be the major source of formic acid in Guiyang, Instead, photochemical reactions of unsaturated hydrocarbons (natural or anthropological) were the major sources for formic acid and formaldehyde.