The concentrations of seventy-one hydrocarbons (HC) from C2 to C15 were measured simultaneously at two sites in Kaohsiung city in the morning (07-10), the afternoon (13-16), and the evening (18-21) on 14 days in spring 2003. Results show that the most abundant species of Kaohsiung¡¦s air is toluene (43.36-54.49 £gg m-3), followed by i-pentane, 1,2,4-trimethylbenzene, benzene, n-butane, propane and acetylene, in the range 10.36¡V17.11 £gg m-3. The concentrations of 14 halocarbons are in the range 0.25¡V4.57 £gg m-3. Alkanes (around 44.8%) represent the largest proportion of the total HC, followed by aromatics (35.1%), alkenes (15.5%) and halocarbons (5.4%). The afternoon HC concentrations are much lower than those in the morning and at night, due to relatively intense photochemical reaction and favorable dispersion conditions from noon to afternoon. Notable increases in daily HC concentrations are consistent with high temperature, and low HC concentrations on Sunday coincide with low traffic volume. Photochemical activity is investigated, and HC concentrations are found to decline as the NO2/NOx ratio increases. Correlation analyses imply that vehicle exhaust is the dominant source of atmospheric hydrocarbons in Kaohsiung. The profiles of traffic exhausts were also measured for 25 HC species during the morning and afternoon rush hours on four different days in all three traffic tunnels in Kaohsiung City. Results show that VOC concentrations increase with traffic flow rate, and emission profiles in the three tunnels are mostly in the range C2 ¡V C6. Besides the traffic conditions and vehicle type, the pattern of emissions in each tunnel was also influenced by other factors, such as vehicle age, nearby pollution sources, and the spatial or temporal variation of HC in the urban atmosphere. The ozone formation potential (OFP) in each tunnel was assessed based on the maximum incremental reactivities of the organic species, demonstrating that OFP increases with traffic flow rate. Vehicle distribution influences the contributions of organic group to OFP in a tunnel. Meanwhile, when ranked in descending order of contribution to OFP in all tunnels, the organic groups followed the sequence alkenes, aromatics, and alkanes. The possible source categories affecting the atmospheric HC species were further analyzed using factor analysis. Results showed that the major sources of ambient HC at the Nan-Chie and Hsiung-Kong sites are: vehicle exhaust, petrol/diesel exhaust, industrial processes (for example, plastic/rubber process), combustion exhaust, solvent fugitive or business/consume exhaust. Based on the results of factor analysis, source profiles (or fingerprints) were selected and receptor modeling was conducted based on chemical mass balance (CMB). Results of receptor modeling indicated that, at Nan-Chie site, vehicle exhaust (46.33% and 56.36%) represent the largest proportion of total HC, followed by industrial processes (29.63% and 22.37%) in the morning (07-10) and the evening (18-21), respectively; but were industrial process (40.39%) and solvent fugitive exhaust (30.61%) in the afternoon (13-16). Similarly at Hsiung-Kong site, vehicle exhaust (around 46.19% and 49.29%) represent the largest proportion of total HC, followed by industrial processes (23.19% and 26.11%) in the morning and evening, respectively; but were solvent fugitive exhaust (38.85%), vehicle exhaust (28.95%) and industrial process (25.19%) in the afternoon. It is evident that relatively low traffic volumes in the afternoon at both sites reduce the contribution of traffic exhaust to ambient HC.