Organic aerosol (OA) components account for a large, sometimes even the dominant, fraction

of air particulate -matter. It contributes more than 20–50% to the total fine aerosol mass at
continental mid-latitudes (Saxena & Hildemann, 1996; Putaud et al., 2004). Usually, organic
aerosol particles originate from direct emissions as primary aerosol particles, as well as
chemical reactions and gas-to-particle conversion in the atmosphere formed as a secondary
aerosol. However, our understanding of the physicochemical properties of OA is not very
good. Organic aerosols also influence the physical and chemical properties of the aerosol
particles and thus affect the atmosphere and climate through interaction with reactive trace
gases, water vapor, clouds, precipitation, and radiation. They influence the human health and
have impacts on respiratory and cardiovascular functions. Hundreds of atmospheric organic
compound compounds have been detected there (Hamilton et al., 2004; Murphy, 2005). This
direct and indirect effects estimate is extremely difficult (McFiggans et al., 2006).

A non-negligible portion of organic aerosol (OA) is known to be water-soluble (Duarte et al.,

2007). The characterization of water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC) is important because it
is believed to act as the cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) (Shilling et al., 2007). Among
WSOC, a substantial fraction of WSOC consists of humic-like substances (HULIS) (Saxena
& Hildemann, 1996; Kavouras et al., 1998; Facchini et al., 1999; Graber). HULIS is a class
of macromolecular compounds of the organic fraction in carbonaceous aerosols emitted
primarily during biomass burning and formed in situ within the atmospheric processes.
Fermo et al. (2009) reported that HULIS represents over 50% of the organic carbon mass of
urban aerosols in Italy, and in some cases, they are account for more than 70% of the total
WSOC mass concentration (Kiss et al., 2002; Feczko et al., 2007; Utry et al., 2013). Many
previous studies described the sources and formation of HULIS aerosols (De Haan et al.,
2009; Galloway et al., 2009; Shapiro et al., 2009; Utry et al., 2013). In recent years, several
studies have applied various analytical techniques to characterize HULIS and boost
understanding of its chemical structure. However, the impacts of HULIS on the environment
and climate have not been well known compared with other components, such as inorganic
aerosols.
Considering its optical properties, HULIS is believed to play an important role in atmospheric
heating and cooling through direct light absorption in the ultraviolet and visible ranges (Dinar
et al., 2006). Among the characteristic characteristics of HULIS, hygroscopicity and light

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absorption are important properties that determine the optical properties and radiative forcing
(RF). For example, the HULIS hygroscopicity can influence the direct radiative effect by
increasing the water contents in the aerosol, which changes the composition and optical
properties of the aerosol itself.
In this work, the uncertainty of optical properties for organic aerosols is sensitively studied,
especially for HULIS aerosol. Based on the one-year measurement data, in PM2.5 from
Anmyundo, Korea, soluble and insoluble organic aerosols, HULIS, and elemental carbon are
analyzed. The effects on the optical properties of the polydispersity were also considered
using the lognormal polydispersed size distribution.