A Special Issue of Atmospheric Environment on “Improving Regional Air Quality over the Pearl River Delta and Hong Kong: From Science to Policy”

2013 ◽  
Vol 76 ◽  
pp. 1-2 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter K.K. Louie ◽  
Liuju Zhong ◽  
Junyu Allen Zheng ◽  
Alexis K.H. Lau
2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 10755-10766 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Wu ◽  
D. Wu ◽  
Q. Fan ◽  
B. M. Wang ◽  
H. W. Li ◽  
...  

Abstract. The structure of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and its influence on regional air quality over the Pearl River Delta (PRD) were examined through two intensive observations in October 2004 and July 2006. Analytical results show the presence of two types of typical weather conditions associated with poor air quality over the PRD. The first is the warm period before a cold front (WPBCF) and the second is the subsidence period controlled by a tropical cyclone (SPCTC). Two typical low air quality situations, which are affected by WPBCF and SPCTC, and one high air quality situation were analysed in detail. Results showed that continuously low or calm ground winds resulted in the accumulation of pollutants, and sea-land breezes had an important role during low air quality conditions. Data on recirculation factors showed that recirculation was significant during low air quality conditions, and steady transportation occurred during high air quality conditions. The ventilation index and the 24 h average ventilation index during high air quality conditions were significantly higher than those during low air quality conditions. Deep and stable inversion layers inside the ABL remarkably affected low air quality. Surface and low-altitude inversions were usually observed during WPBCF, contrary to during SPCTC, during which only the low-altitude inversion appeared frequently.


2018 ◽  
Vol 180 ◽  
pp. 69-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cheuk Hei Marcus Tong ◽  
Steve Hung Lam Yim ◽  
Daniel Rothenberg ◽  
Chien Wang ◽  
Chuan-Yao Lin ◽  
...  

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anqi Lai ◽  
Yiming Liu ◽  
Xiaoyang Chen ◽  
Ming Chang ◽  
Qi Fan ◽  
...  

We replaced the outdated land-use of the Weather Research and Forecasting-Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model with a refined dataset, the Global Land Cover 2009 (GLC2009) dataset, to investigate the impact of land-use change on the regional atmospheric environment in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. Simulations of two months in 2014 (January and July) showed that land-use change increased the monthly averaged 2 m temperature by 0.24°C and 0.27°C in January and July, respectively. The relative humidity decreased by 2.02% and 2.23% in January and July, respectively. Due to the increase in ground roughness, the monthly averaged wind speed in January and July decreased by 0.19 m/s and 0.16 m/s. The planetary boundary layer height increased throughout the day and with larger relative increase during the nighttime. These subtle changes caused by land-use resulted in discernable changes in pollutant concentrations. Monthly averaged surface O3 concentration increased by 0.93 µg/m3 and 1.61 µg/m3 in January and July, while PM2.5 concentration decreased by 1.58 µg/m3 and 3.76 µg/m3, and the changes in pollutant concentrations were more noticeable during the nighttime. Overall, the impacts of land-use change on the atmospheric environment are obvious throughout the PRD region, especially in the urbanized areas.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (6) ◽  
pp. 1566-1593 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANGELINA Y. CHIN

AbstractThis paper explores how the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) has been trying to incorporate post-1997 Hong Kong into the framework of a Greater China. The construction of two ‘narratives’ are examined: the grand narrative of Chinese history in secondary school textbooks in Hong Kong; and the development of a new regional framework of the Pearl River Delta. The first narrative, which focuses on the past, signals the PRC government's desire to inculcate through education a deeper sense of collective identity as patriotic citizens of China amongst residents of Hong Kong. The second narrative, which represents a futuristic imagining of a regional landscape, rewrites the trajectory of Hong Kong by merging the city with the Pearl River Delta region. However, these narrative strategies have triggered ambivalent responses from people in Hong Kong, especially the generations born after 1980. In their discursive battles against merging with the mainland, activists have sought to instil a collective memory that encourages a counter-imagination of a particular kind of Hong Kong that draws from the pre-1997 past. This conflict pits activists and their supporters against officials in the local government working to move Hong Kong towards integration with greater Guangdong and China at large. But the local resistance discourses are inadequate because they are constrained by their own parochial visions and colonial nostalgia.


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