Dataset Information

Recent intensification of winter haze in China linked to foreign emissions and meteorology.

ABSTRACT: Wintertime aerosol pollution in the North China Plain has increased over the past several decades as anthropogenic emissions in China have increased, and has dramatically escalated since the beginning of the 21st century, but the causes and their quantitative attributions remain unclear. Here we use an aerosol source tagging capability implemented in a global aerosol-climate model to assess long-term trends of PM2.5 (particulate matter less than 2.5 ?m in diameter) in the North China Plain. Our analysis suggests that the impact of China's increasing domestic emissions on PM2.5 concentrations over the last two decades of 20th century was partially offset (13%) by decreasing foreign emission over this period. As foreign emissions stabilized after 2000, their counteracting effect almost disappeared, uncovering the impact of China's increasing domestic emissions that had been partially offset in previous years by reductions in foreign emissions. A slowdown in the impact from foreign emission reductions together with weakening winds explain 25% of the increased PM2.5 trend over 2000-2014 as compared to 1980-2000. Further reductions in foreign emissions are not expected to relieve China's pollution in the future. Reducing local emissions is the most certain way to improve future air quality in the North China Plain.

SUBMITTER: Yang Y

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5794776 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Recent intensification of winter haze in China linked to foreign emissions and meteorology.

Yang Yang Y Wang Hailong H Smith Steven J SJ Zhang Rudong R Lou Sijia S Qian Yun Y Ma Po-Lun PL Rasch Philip J PJ

Scientific reports 20180201 1

Wintertime aerosol pollution in the North China Plain has increased over the past several decades as anthropogenic emissions in China have increased, and has dramatically escalated since the beginning of the 21<sup>st</sup> century, but the causes and their quantitative attributions remain unclear. Here we use an aerosol source tagging capability implemented in a global aerosol-climate model to assess long-term trends of PM<sub>2.5</sub> (particulate matter less than 2.5 μm in diameter) in the N ...[more]

PMID: 29391444

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Project description:The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) spread rapidly worldwide in the first half of 2020. Stringent national lockdown policies imposed by China to prevent the spread of the virus reduced anthropogenic emissions and improved air quality. A weather research and forecasting model coupled with chemistry was applied to evaluate the impact of meteorology and emissions on air quality during the COVID-19 outbreak (from January 23 to February 29, 2020) in mid-eastern China. The results show that air pollution episodes still occurred on polluted days and accounted for 31.6%-60.5% of the total number of outbreak days in mid-eastern China from January 23 to February 29, 2020. However, anthropogenic emissions decreased significantly, indicating that anthropogenic emission reduction cannot completely offset the impact of unfavorable meteorological conditions on air quality. Favorable meteorological conditions in 2019 improved the overall air quality for a COVID-19 outbreak in 2019 instead of 2020. PM2.5 concentrations decreased by 4.2%-29.2% in Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, and Taiyuan, and increased by 6.1%-11.5% in Jinan and Zhengzhou. PM2.5 concentrations increased by 10.9%-20.5% without the COVID-19 outbreak of 2020 in mid-eastern China, and the frequency of polluted days increased by 5.3%-18.4%. Source apportionment of PM2.5 during the COVID-19 outbreak showed that industry and residential emissions were the dominant PM2.5 contributors (32.7%-49.6% and 26.0%-44.5%, respectively) followed by agriculture (18.7%-24.0%), transportation (7.7%-15.5%), and power (4.1%-5.9%). In Beijing, industrial and residential contributions to PM2.5 concentrations were lower (32.7%) and higher (44.5%), respectively, than in other cities (38.7%-49.6% for industry and 26.0%-36.2% for residential). Therefore, enhancing regional cooperation and implementing a united air pollution control are effective emission mitigation measures for future air quality improvement, especially the development of new technologies for industrial and cooking fumes.

Project description:With the implementation of COVID-19 restrictions and consequent improvement in air quality due to the nationwide lockdown, ozone (O3) pollution was generally amplified in China. However, the O3 levels throughout the Guangxi region of South China showed a clear downward trend during the lockdown. To better understand this unusual phenomenon, we investigated the characteristics of conventional pollutants, the influence of meteorological and anthropogenic factors quantified by a multiple linear regression (MLR) model, and the impact of local sources and long-range transport based on a continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) and the HYSPLIT model. Results show that in Guangxi, the conventional pollutants generally declined during the COVID-19 lockdown period (January 24 to February 9, 2020) compared with their concentrations during 2016-2019, while O3 gradually increased during the resumption (10 February to April 2020) and full operation periods (May and June 2020). Focusing on Beihai, a typical Guangxi region city, the correlations between the daily O3 concentrations and six meteorological parameters (wind speed, visibility, temperature, humidity, precipitation, and atmospheric pressure) and their corresponding regression coefficients indicate that meteorological conditions were generally conducive to O3 pollution mitigation during the lockdown. A 7.84 μg/m3 drop in O3 concentration was driven by meteorology, with other decreases (4.11 μg/m3) explained by reduced anthropogenic emissions of O3 precursors. Taken together, the lower NO2/SO2 ratios (1.25-2.33) and consistencies between real-time monitored primary emissions and ambient concentrations suggest that, with the closure of small-scale industries, residual industrial emissions have become dominant contributors to local primary pollutants. Backward trajectory cluster analyses show that the slump of O3 concentrations in Southern Guangxi could be partly attributed to clean air mass transfer (24-58%) from the South China Sea. Overall, the synergistic effects of the COVID-19 lockdown and meteorological factors intensified O3 reduction in the Guangxi region of South China.

Dataset Information

Recent intensification of winter haze in China linked to foreign emissions and meteorology.

Publications

Recent intensification of winter haze in China linked to foreign emissions and meteorology.

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