In recent years, the celebration activities of various types of folk-custom festivals in Taiwan have already been getting more and more attention from civilians. Festivities throughout the whole island are traditionally accompanied by loud and brightly colored firework displays. Among these activities, the firework display during the Chinese Lantern Festival in Kaohsiung City is one of the largest festivals in Taiwan every year. Therefore, it is important to investigate the influences of firework displays on ambient air quality during the Chinese Lantern Festival in Kaohsiung City. Field measurement of ambient gaseous pollutants and particulate matter (PM) was conducted on February 9-12, 2009, the Chinese Lantern Festival, in Kaohsiung City. Moreover, three kinds of firework powders obtained from the same factory producing Kaohsiung Lantern Festival fireworks were burned in a combustion chamber to determine the physicochemical properties of firework aerosols. Metallic elements were analyzed with an inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES). Ionic species and carbonaceous contents in the PM samples were analyzed with an ion chromatography (IC) and an elemental analyzer (EA), respectively. Finally, the source identification and apportionment of PM were analyzed by principal component analysis (PCA), enrichment factor (EF), and receptor modeling (CMB). For inorganic gaseous pollutants, the concentration peaks of NO, NO2, O3, CO were observed during the firework periods, and the concentration peak of NO was approximately 8.8 times higher than those during the non-firework periods. This study further revealed that, even at nighttime, ambient O3 could be reduced dramatically during the firework periods, whenas NO2 concentration increased concurrently, due to titration effects resulting from the prompt reaction of NO with O3 to form NO2 and O2. For organic gaseous pollutants, the concentration peak of toluene during the firework periods was approximately 2.2-4.1 times higher than those during the non-firework periods. Several metallic elements of PM during the firework display periods were obviously higher than those during the non-firework periods. On February 10, the concentrations of Mg, K, Pb, and Sr in PM2.5 were 10 times higher than those during the non-firework periods. Besides, the Cl-/Na+ ratio was slightly smaller than 1 in Kaohsiung Harbor, but it was approximately 3 during the firework display periods since Cl- came form chlorine content in firework aerosols at this time. Moreover, OC/EC ratio increased up to 2.8. In addition to the analysis of gaseous pollutants and PM during the Chinese Lantern Festival in Kaohsiung City, this study burned firework powders in a self-designed combustion chamber to measure the physicochemical properties of firework aerosols. In the results, K, Mg, Cl-, OC were major contents (<10%) in the aerosols produced from the burning firework powders. Moreover, Cl-/Na+ and OC/EC ratio were 15.0~23.4 and 2.9~3.2, respectively. Consequently, Cl-/Na+ and OC/EC ratio can be used as two important indicators of firework displays. Results obtained from PCA and CMB receptor modeling showed that the major sources of aerosols during the firework display periods were firework displays, motor/diesel vehicle exhanst, soil dusts, and marine aerosols. Besides, the firework displays on February 10 contributed approximately 25.2% and 16.6% of PM10 at two sampling sites, respectively.

In recent years, the rapid development of economy and industry in Xiamen Bay causes serious environmental problems, particularly poor air quality and visibility impairment. There are no large-scale industrial emission sources in Kinmen Island, however, its ambient air quality is always the poorest in Taiwan. Moreover, ambient air quality monitoring data showed that PM10 concentrations varied in daytime and at nighttime. Consequently, this study tired to ascertain the potential causes for this phenomenon. This study selected ten particulate matter (PM) sampling sites at Xiamen Bay, including five sites at Kinmen Island and five sites at metro Xiamen. Particulate matter sampling was conducted in daytime (8:00-17:00) and at nighttime (17:00-8:00), which included regular and intensive sampling. Regular sampling was conducted to collect PM10 with high-volume samplers three times a month from April 2009 to April 2010, while intensive sampling was conducted to collect fine (PM2.5) and coarse (PM2.5-10) particles with dichotomous samplers and particle size distribution with a MOUDI at site B2 for consecutive 5 days in the spring and winter of 2009~2010. After sampling, the physicochemical properties of PM, including mass concentrations, particle size distribution, water- soluble ionic species, metallic elements, and carbonaceous contents were further analyzed. The level of atmospheric PM is affected by meteorological condition, thus PM10 concentrations in winter and fall was much higher than those in spring and summer. Results from backward trajectories showed that the concentrations of PM10 blown from the north were generally higher than those from the south. Furthermore, t-test analysis indicated that PM10 concentrations in daytime and at nighttime at site B3 were significantly different (p-value<0.05). During the intensive sampling periods, PM10 concentrations were mainly affected by coarse particles compared to fine particles. The highest concentration for fine and coarse particle modes occurred at the size ranges of 0.32~0.56 £gm and 3.2~5.6 £gm, respectively. The most abundant water-soluble ionic species of PM10 were secondary inorganic aerosols (SO42-, NO3-, and NH4+) which accounted for 85% of total ions. The daytime and nighttime PM10 concentration ratios (D/N) for Mg, K, Ca, Cr, Mn, Fe, Zn, Al, Cu, As, and V were in the same order of magnitude, however, the D/N ratios of Cd, Pb, Ni, and Ti in spring and summer varied higher than an order of magnitude, indicating that the emission sources of PM were different in daytime and at nighttime. Correlation analysis of OC and EC showed that OC and EC at nighttime had a higher correlation than those in daytime, while OC and EC had a higher correlation in Kinmen Island than those in metro Xiamen, indicating carbonaceous sources must be different in summer and winter at Xiamen Bay. Enrichment factor analysis revealed that ceramic industry, stone processing, and cement industry had higher correlation with PM10 concentration than utility power plants. Crustal dusts consisted of road dusts, farmland dusts, and constructive dusts, while biomass burning was not a negligible sources. Results obtained from PCA and CMB receptor modeling showed that major sources of PM in Xiamen Bay were secondary inorganic aerosols, fuel and biomass burning, marine aerosols, vehicular exhansts, and soil dusts. Besides, stone processing, cement industry, ceramic industry, and utility power plants had the highest contribution in winter. Their contributions in daytime and at nighttime were 38% and 45%, respectively.