During winter 2013–2014 aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) measurements were conducted for the first time with a novel PM_2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 µm) lens in two major cities of China: Xi'an and Beijing. We denote the periods with visibility below 2 km as extreme haze and refer to the rest as reference periods. During the measurements in Xi'an an extreme haze covered the city for about a week and the total non-refractory (NR)-PM_2.5 mass fraction reached peak concentrations of over 1000 µg m⁻³. During the measurements in Beijing two extreme haze events occurred, but the temporal extent and the total concentrations reached during these events were lower than in Xi'an. Average PM_2.5 concentrations of 537 ± 146 and 243 ± 47 µg m⁻³ (including NR species and equivalent black carbon, eBC) were recorded during the extreme haze events in Xi'an and Beijing, respectively. During the reference periods the measured average concentrations were 140 ± 99 µg m⁻³ in Xi'an and 75 ± 61 µg m⁻³ in Beijing. The relative composition of the NR-PM_2.5 evolved substantially during the extreme haze periods, with increased contributions of the inorganic components (mostly sulfate and nitrate). Our results suggest that the high relative humidity present during the extreme haze events had a strong effect on the increase of sulfate mass (via aqueous phase oxidation of sulfur dioxide). Another relevant characteristic of the extreme haze is the size of the measured particles. During the extreme haze events, the AMS showed much larger particles, with a volume weighted mode at about 800 to 1000 nm, in contrast to about 400 nm during reference periods. These large particle sizes made the use of the PM_2.5 inlet crucial, especially during the severe haze events, where 39 ± 5 % of the mass would have been lost in the conventional PM₁ (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤ 1 µm) inlet. A novel positive matrix factorization procedure was developed to apportion the sources of organic aerosols (OA) based on their mass spectra using the multilinear engine (ME-2) controlled via the source finder (SoFi). The procedure allows for an effective exploration of the solution space, a more objective selection of the best solution and an estimation of the rotational uncertainties. Our results clearly show an increase of the oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA) mass during extreme haze events. The contribution of OOA to the total OA increased from the reference to the extreme haze periods from 16.2 ± 1.1 to 31.3 ± 1.5 % in Xi'an and from 15.7 ± 0.7 to 25.0 ± 1.2 % in Beijing. By contrast, during the reference periods the total OA mass was dominated by domestic emissions of primary aerosols from biomass burning in Xi'an (42.2 ± 1.5 % of OA) and coal combustion in Beijing (55.2 ± 1.6 % of OA). These two sources are also mostly responsible for extremely high polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations measured with the AMS (campaign average of 2.1 ± 2.0 µg m⁻³ and frequent peak concentrations above 10 µg m⁻³). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first data set where the simultaneous extraction of these two primary sources could be achieved in China by conducting on-line AMS measurements at two areas with contrasted emission patterns.

In January 2013, North China Plain experienced several serious haze events. Cimel sunphotometer measurements at seven sites over rural, suburban and urban regions of North China Plain from 1 to 30 January 2013 were used to further our understanding of spatial-temporal variation of aerosol optical parameters and aerosol radiative forcing (ARF). It was found that Aerosol Optical Depth at 500 nm (AOD_{500 nm}) during non-pollution periods at all stations was lower than 0.30 and increased significantly to greater than 1.00 as pollution events developed. The Angstrom exponent (Alpha) was larger than 0.80 for all stations most of the time. AOD_{500 nm} averages increased from north to south during both polluted and non-polluted periods on the three urban sites in Beijing. The fine mode AOD during pollution periods is about a factor of 2.5 times larger than that during the non-pollution period at urban sites but a factor of 5.0 at suburban and rural sites. The fine mode fraction of AOD_{675 nm} was higher than 80% for all sites during January 2013. The absorption AOD_{675 nm} at rural sites was only about 0.01 during pollution periods, while ~0.03–0.07 and 0.01–0.03 during pollution and non-pollution periods at other sites, respectively. Single scattering albedo varied between 0.87 and 0.95 during January 2013 over North China Plain. The size distribution showed an obvious tri-peak pattern during the most serious period. The fine mode effective radius in the pollution period was about 0.01–0.08 μm larger than during non-pollution periods, while the coarse mode radius in pollution periods was about 0.06–0.38 μm less than that during non-pollution periods. The total, fine and coarse mode particle volumes varied by about 0.06–0.34 μm³, 0.03–0.23 μm³, and 0.03–0.10 μm³, respectively, throughout January 2013. During the most intense period (1–16 January), ARF at the surface exceeded −50 W m⁻², −180 W m⁻², and −200 W m⁻² at rural, suburban, and urban sites, respectively. The ARF readings at the top of the atmosphere were approximately −30 W m⁻² in rural and −40–60 W m⁻² in urban areas. Positive ARF at the top of the atmosphere at the Huimin suburban site was found to be different from others as a result of the high surface albedo due to snow cover.

Advanced inversion Multi-term approach utilizing multiple a priori constraints is proposed. The approach is used as a base for the first unified algorithm GRASP that is applicable to diverse remote sensing observations and retrieving a variety of atmospheric properties. The utilization of GRASP for diverse remote sensing observations is demonstrated.