scholarly journals How Did Distribution Patterns of Particulate Matter Air Pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) Change in China during the COVID-19 Outbreak: A Spatiotemporal Investigation at Chinese City-Level

Author(s):  
Zhiyu Fan ◽  
Qingming Zhan ◽  
Chen Yang ◽  
Huimin Liu ◽  
Meng Zhan

Due to the suspension of traffic mobility and industrial activities during the COVID-19, particulate matter (PM) pollution has decreased in China. However, rarely have research studies discussed the spatiotemporal pattern of this change and related influencing factors at city-scale across the nation. In this research, the clustering patterns of the decline rates of PM2.5 and PM10 during the period from 20 January to 8 April in 2020, compared with the same period of 2019, were investigated using spatial autocorrelation analysis. Four meteorological factors and two socioeconomic factors, i.e., the decline of intra-city mobility intensity (dIMI) representing the effect of traffic mobility and the decline rates of the secondary industrial output values (drSIOV), were adopted in the regression analysis. Then, multi-scale geographically weighted regression (MGWR), a model allowing the particular processing scale for each independent variable, was applied for investigating the relationship between PM pollution reductions and influencing factors. For comparison, ordinary least square (OLS) regression and the classic geographically weighted regression (GWR) were also performed. The research found that there were 16% and 20% reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 concentration across China and significant PM pollution mitigation in central, east, and south regions of China. As for the regression analysis results, MGWR outperformed the other two models, with R2 of 0.711 and 0.732 for PM2.5 and PM10, respectively. The results of MGWR revealed that the two socioeconomic factors had more significant impacts than meteorological factors. It showed that the reduction of traffic mobility caused more relative declines of PM2.5 in east China (e.g., cities in Jiangsu), while it caused more relative declines of PM10 in central China (e.g., cities in Henan). The reduction of industrial operation had a strong relationship with the PM10 drop in northeast China. The results are crucial for understanding how the decline pattern of PM pollution varied spatially during the COVID-19 outbreak, and it also provides a good reference for air pollution control in the future.

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 673
Author(s):  
Chen Yang ◽  
Meichen Fu ◽  
Dingrao Feng ◽  
Yiyu Sun ◽  
Guohui Zhai

Vegetation plays a key role in ecosystem regulation and influences our capacity for sustainable development. Global vegetation cover has changed dramatically over the past decades in response to both natural and anthropogenic factors; therefore, it is necessary to analyze the spatiotemporal changes in vegetation cover and its influencing factors. Moreover, ecological engineering projects, such as the “Grain for Green” project implemented in 1999, have been introduced to improve the ecological environment by enhancing forest coverage. In our study, we analyzed the changes in vegetation cover across the Loess Plateau of China and the impacts of influencing factors. First, we analyzed the latitudinal and longitudinal changes in vegetation coverage. Second, we displayed the spatiotemporal changes in vegetation cover based on Theil-Sen slope analysis and the Mann-Kendall test. Third, the Hurst exponent was used to predict future changes in vegetation coverage. Fourth, we assessed the relationship between vegetation cover and the influence of individual factors. Finally, ordinary least squares regression and the geographically weighted regression model were used to investigate the influence of various factors on vegetation cover. We found that the Loess Plateau showed large-scale greening from 2000 to 2015, though some regions showed decreasing vegetation cover. Latitudinal and longitudinal changes in vegetation coverage presented a net increase. Moreover, some areas of the Loess Plateau are at risk of degradation in the future, but most areas showed a sustainable increase in vegetation cover. Temperature, precipitation, gross domestic product (GDP), slope, cropland percentage, forest percentage, and built-up land percentage displayed different relationships with vegetation cover. Geographically weighted regression model revealed that GDP, temperature, precipitation, forest percentage, cropland percentage, built-up land percentage, and slope significantly influenced (p < 0.05) vegetation cover in 2000. In comparison, precipitation, forest percentage, cropland percentage, and built-up land percentage significantly affected (p < 0.05) vegetation cover in 2015. Our results enhance our understanding of the ecological and environmental changes in the Loess Plateau.


2014 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 54-71
Author(s):  
Hilton A. Cordoba ◽  
Russell L. Ivy

Modeling airline fares is quite challenging due to the constantly changing fare structure of the airlines in response to competitors, yield management principles, and a variety of political and economic changes, and has become more complex since deregulation. This paper attempts to add to the literature by providing a more in-depth look at fare structure using a multivariate approach. A total 6,200 routes between 80 primary U.S. airports are analyzed using linear and geographically weighted regression models. The results from the global models reinforce some of the expectations mentioned in the literature, while the local models provide an opportunity to analyze the spatial variation of influencing factors and predictability.


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