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Abstract. Water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) is a significant fraction oforganic carbon (OC) in atmospheric aerosols. WSOC is of great interest dueto its significant effects on atmospheric chemistry, the Earth's climate andhuman health. The stable carbon isotope ( δ13C ) can be used to trackthe potential sources and investigate atmospheric processes of organicaerosols. However, the previous methods measuring the δ13C values of WSOC in ambient aerosols require a large amount of carbon content, are time-consuming and require labor-intensive preprocessing. In this study,a method of simultaneously measuring the mass concentration and the δ13C values of WSOC from aerosol samples is established by coupling theGasBench II preparation device with isotopic ratio mass spectrometry. Theprecision and accuracy of isotope determination is better than 0.17 ‰ and 0.5 ‰, respectively, forsamples containing WSOC amounts larger than 5  µg . This method is then appliedfor the aerosol samples collected every 3 h during a severe wintertimehaze period in Nanjing, eastern China. The WSOC values vary between 3 and 32  µg  m −3 , whereas δ13C−WSOC ranges from −26.24  ‰ to −23.35  ‰. Three differentepisodes (Episode 1, Episode 2 and Episode 3) areidentified in the sampling period, showing a different tendency of δ13C−WSOC with the accumulation process of WSOC aerosols. Theincreases in both the WSOC mass concentrations and the δ13C−WSOC values in Episode 1 indicate that WSOC is subject toa substantial photochemical aging during the air mass transport. In Episode 2, the decline of the δ13C−WSOC is accompaniedby the increase in the WSOC mass concentrations, which is associated withregional-transported biomass burning emissions. In Episode 3, heavierisotope ( 13C ) is exclusively enriched in total carbon (TC) in comparison to WSOC aerosols. This suggests that the non-WSOC fraction in total carbon maycontain 13C -enriched components such as dust carbonate, which issupported by the enhanced Ca2+ concentrations and air masstrajectory analysis. The present study provides a novel method todetermine the stable carbon isotope composition of WSOC, and it offersa great potential to better understand the source emission, the atmosphericaging and the secondary production of water-soluble organic aerosols.

atmospheric chemistry and physics

High time-resolved measurement of stable carbon isotope composition in water-soluble organic aerosols: method optimization and a case study during winter haze in eastern China