scholarly journals Ozone and fine particle in the western Yangtze River Delta: an overview of 1 yr data at the SORPES station

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (11) ◽  
pp. 5813-5830 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Ding ◽  
C. B. Fu ◽  
X. Q. Yang ◽  
J. N. Sun ◽  
L. F. Zheng ◽  
...  

Abstract. This work presents an overview of 1 yr measurements of ozone (O3) and fine particular matter (PM2.5) and related trace gases at a recently developed regional background site, the Station for Observing Regional Processes of the Earth System (SORPES), in the western part of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in eastern China. Ozone and PM2.5 showed strong seasonal cycles but with contrast patterns: O3 reached a maximum in warm seasons but PM2.5 in cold seasons. Correlation analysis suggests a VOC-sensitive regime for O3 chemistry and a formation of secondary aerosols under conditions of high O3 in summer. Compared with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards in China, our measurements report 15 days of O3 exceedance and 148 days of PM2.5 exceedance during the 1 yr period, suggesting a severe air pollution situation in this region. Case studies for typical O3 and PM2.5 episodes demonstrated that these episodes were generally associated with an air mass transport pathway over the mid-YRD, i.e., along the Nanjing–Shanghai axis with its city clusters, and showed that synoptic weather played an important role in air pollution, especially for O3. Agricultural burning activities caused high PM2.5 and O3 pollution during harvest seasons, especially in June. A calculation of potential source contributions based on Lagrangian dispersion simulations suggests that emissions from the YRD contributed to over 70% of the O3 precursor CO, with a majority from the mid-YRD. North-YRD and the North China Plain are the main contributors to PM2.5 pollution in this region. This work shows an important environmental impact from industrialization and urbanization in the YRD region, and suggests an urgent need for improving air quality in these areas through collaborative control measures among different administrative regions.

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 2835-2876 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. J. Ding ◽  
C. B. Fu ◽  
X. Q. Yang ◽  
J. N. Sun ◽  
L. F. Zheng ◽  
...  

Abstract. This work presents an overview of 1-yr measurements of ozone (O3) and fine particular matter (PM2.5) and related trace gases at a recently developed regional background site, the Station for Observing Regional Processes of the Earth System (SORPES), in the western part of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in East China. O3 and PM2.5 showed distinguished seasonal cycles but with contrast patterns: O3 reached a maximum in warm seasons but PM2.5 in cold seasons. Correlation analysis suggests a VOC-sensitive regime for O3 chemistry and also indicates a substantial formation of secondary aerosols under conditions of high O3 in summer. Compared with the National Ambient Air Quality Standards in China, our measurements report 15 days of O3 exceedance and 148 days of PM2.5 exceedance during the 1-yr period, suggesting a severe air pollution situation in this region. Case studies for typical O3 and PM2.5 episodes demonstrated that these episodes were generally associated with an air mass transport pathway over the mid-YRD, i.e. along the Nanjing-Shanghai axis with its city clusters, and showed that synoptic weather played an important role in air pollution, especially for O3. Agricultural burning activities caused high PM2.5 and O3 pollution during harvest seasons, especially in June. A calculation of potential source contributions based on Lagrangian dispersion simulations suggests that emissions from the YRD contributed to over 70% of the O3 precursor CO, with a majority from the middle-YRD. North-YRD and the North China Plain are the main contributors to PM2.5 pollution in this region, especially for the burning episode days. This work shows an important environmental impact from industrialization and urbanization in the YRD region, and suggests an urgent need for improving air quality in these areas through collaborative control measures among different administrative regions.


2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 21507-21540
Author(s):  
X. Fu ◽  
S. X. Wang ◽  
Z. Cheng ◽  
J. Xing ◽  
B. Zhao ◽  
...  

Abstract. During 1 to 6 May 2011, a dust event was observed in the Yangtze River Delta region (YRD). The highest PM10 concentration reached over 1000 μg m−3 and the visibility was below 3 km. In this study, the Community Multi-scale Air Quality modeling system (CMAQ5.0) coupled with an in-line windblown dust model was used to simulate the formation, spatial and temporal characteristics of this dust event, and analyze its impacts on deposition and photochemistry. The threshold friction velocity for loose smooth surface in the dust model was revised based on Chinese data to improve the model performance. The comparison between predictions and observations indicates the revised model can reproduce the transport and pollution of the event. The simulation results show that the dust event was affected by formation and transport of Mongolian cyclone and cold air. Totally about 695 kt dust particles (PM10) were emitted in Xinjiang Province and Mongolia during 28 to 30 April, the dust band swept northern, eastern China and then arrived in the YRD region on 1 May 2011. The transported dust particles increased the mean surface layer concentrations of PM10 in the YRD region by 372% during 1 to 6 May and the impacts weakened from north to south due to the removal of dust particles along the path. Accompanied by high PM concentration, the dry deposition, wet deposition and total deposition of PM10 in the YRD reached 184.7 kt, 172.6 kt and 357.32 kt, respectively. These deposited particles are very harmful because of their impacts on urban environment as well as air quality and human health when resuspending in the atmosphere. Due to the impacts of mineral dust on atmospheric photolysis, the concentrations of O3 and OH were reduced by 1.5% and 3.1% in the whole China, and by 9.4% and 12.1% in the YRD region, respectively. The work of this manuscript is meaningful for understanding the dust emissions in China as well as for the application of CMAQ in Asia. It is also helpful to understand the formation mechanism and impacts of dust pollution in the YRD.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 23657-23703
Author(s):  
L. Li ◽  
C. H. Chen ◽  
C. Huang ◽  
Y. J. Wang ◽  
H. Y. Huang ◽  
...  

Abstract. Regional trans-boundary air pollution has become an important issue in the field of air pollution modeling. This paper presents the results of the implementation of the MM5-CMAQ modeling system in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) for the months of January and July of 2004. The meteorological parameters are obtained by using the MM5 model. A new regional emission inventory with spatial and temporal allocations based on local statistical data has been developed to provide input emissions data to the MM5-CMAQ modeling system. The pollutant concentrations obtained from the MM5-CMAQ modeling system have been compared with observational data from the national air pollution monitoring network. It is found that air quality in winter in the YRD is generally worse than in summer, due mainly to unfavorable meteorological dispersion conditions. In winter the pollution transport from Northern China to the YRD reinforces the pollution caused by large local emissions. The monthly average concentration of SO2 in the YRD is 0.026 ± 0.011 mg m−3 in January and 0.017 ± 0.009 mg m−3 in July. Monthly average concentrations of NO2 in the YRD in January and July are 0.021 ± 0.009 mg m−3, and 0.014 ± 0.008 mg m−3 respectively. Visibility is also a problem, with average deciview values of 26.4 ± 2.95 dcv in winter and 17.6 ± 3.3 dcv in summer. The ozone concentration in the downtown area of a city like Zhoushan can be very high, with the highest simulated value reaching 107 ppb. Our results show that ozone and haze have become extremely important issues in the regional air quality. Thus, regional air pollution control is urgently needed to improve air quality in the YRD.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (21) ◽  
pp. 15811-15824 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaofeng Lv ◽  
Huan Liu ◽  
Qi Ying ◽  
Mingliang Fu ◽  
Zhihang Meng ◽  
...  

Abstract. With the fast development of seaborne trade and relatively more efforts on reducing emissions from other sources in China, shipping emissions contribute more and more significantly to air pollution. In this study, based on a shipping emission inventory with high spatial and temporal resolution within 200 nautical miles (Nm) to the Chinese coastline, the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was applied to quantify the impacts of the shipping sector on the annual and seasonal concentrations of PM2.5 for the base year 2015 in China. Emissions within 12 Nm accounted for 51.2 %–56.5 % of the total shipping emissions, and the distinct seasonal variations in spatial distribution were observed. The modeling results showed that shipping emissions increased the annual averaged PM2.5 concentrations in eastern China up to 5.2 µg m−3, and the impacts in YRD (Yangtze River Delta) and PRD (Pearl River Delta) were much greater than those in BTH (Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei). Shipping emissions influenced the air quality in not only coastal areas but also the inland areas hundreds of kilometers (up to 960 km) away from the sea. The impacts on the PM2.5 showed obvious seasonal variations, and patterns in the north and south of the Yangtze River were also quite different. In addition, since the onshore wind can carry ship pollutants to inland areas, the daily contributions of shipping emissions in onshore flow days were about 1.8–2.7 times higher than those in the rest of the days. A source-oriented CMAQ was used to estimate the contributions of shipping emissions from maritime areas within 0–12, 12–50, 50–100 and 100–200 Nm to PM2.5 concentrations. The results indicated that shipping emissions within 12 Nm were the dominant contributor, with contributions 30 %–90 % of the total impacts induced by emissions within 200 Nm, while a relatively high contribution (40 %–60 %) of shipping emissions within 20–100 Nm was observed in the north of the YRD region and south of Lianyungang, due to the major water traffic lanes far from land. The results presented in this work implied that shipping emissions had significant influence on air quality in China, and to reduce its pollution, the current Domestic Emission Control Area (DECA) should be expanded to at least 100 Nm from the coastline.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhaofeng Lv ◽  
Huan Liu ◽  
Qi Ying ◽  
Mingliang Fu ◽  
Zhihang Meng ◽  
...  

Abstract. With the fast development of seaborne trade and relatively more efforts on reducing emissions from other sources in China, shipping emissions contribute more and more significantly to air pollution. In this study, based on a shipping emission inventory with high spatial and temporal resolution within 200 nautical miles (Nm) to the Chinese coastline, the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was applied to quantify the impacts of the shipping sector on the annual and seasonal concentrations of PM2.5 for the base year 2015 in China. Emissions within 12 Nm accounted for 51.2 %–56.5 % of the total shipping emissions, and the distinct seasonal variations in spatial distribution were observed. The modeling results showed that shipping emissions increased the annual averaged PM2.5 concentrations in eastern China up to 5.2 μg/m3, and the impacts in YRD (Yangtze River Delta) and PRD (Pearl River Delta) were much greater than those in BTH (Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei). Shipping emissions influenced the air quality in not only coastal areas but also the inland areas hundreds of kilometers (up to 960 km) away from the sea. The impacts on the PM2.5 showed obvious seasonal variability, and patterns in the north and south of the Yangtze river were also quite different. In addition, since the onshore wind can carry ship pollutants to inland areas, the daily contributions of shipping emissions in onshore flow days were about 1.8–2.7 times higher than that in rest of days. A source-oriented CMAQ was used to estimate the contributions of shipping emissions from maritime areas within 0–12 Nm, 12–50 Nm, 50–100 Nm and 100–200 Nm to PM2.5 concentrations. The results indicated that shipping emissions within 12 Nm were the dominant contributor with contributions 30–90 % of the total impacts induced by emissions with 200 Nm. While a relative high contribution (40–60 %) of shipping emissions within 20–100 Nm was observed in the north of PRD region and south of Lianyungang, due to the major water traffic lanes far from land.


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1621-1639 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Li ◽  
C. H. Chen ◽  
J. S. Fu ◽  
C. Huang ◽  
D. G. Streets ◽  
...  

Abstract. Regional trans-boundary air pollution has become an important issue in the field of air pollution modeling. This paper presents the results of the implementation of the MM5-CMAQ modeling system in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) for the months of January and July of 2004. The meteorological parameters are obtained by using the MM5 model. A new regional emission inventory with spatial and temporal allocations based on local statistical data has been developed to provide input emissions data to the MM5-CMAQ modeling system. The pollutant concentrations obtained from the MM5-CMAQ modeling system have been compared with observational data from the national air pollution monitoring network. It is found that air quality in winter in the YRD is generally worse than in summer, due mainly to unfavorable meteorological dispersion conditions. In winter, the pollution transport from Northern China to the YRD reinforces the pollution caused by large local emissions. The monthly average concentration of SO2 in the YRD is 0.026 ± 0.011 mg m−3 in January and 0.017 ± 0.009 mg m−3 in July. Monthly average concentrations of NO2 in the YRD in January and July are 0.021 ± 0.009 mg m−3, and 0.014 ± 0.008 mg m−3, respectively. The monthly average concentration of PM10 in the YRD is 0.080 ± 0.028 mg m−3 in January and 0.025 ± 0.015 mg m−3 in July. Visibility is also a problem, with average deciview values of 26.4 ± 2.95 dcv in winter and 17.6 ± 3.3 dcv in summer. The ozone concentration in the downtown area of a city like Zhoushan can be very high, with the highest simulated value reaching 0.24 mg m−3. In January, the monthly average concentration of O3 in the YRD is 0.052 ± 0.011 mg m−3, and 0.054 ± 0.008 mg m−3 in July. Our results show that ozone and haze have become extremely important issues in the regional air quality. Thus, regional air pollution control is urgently needed to improve air quality in the YRD.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (5) ◽  
pp. 3385-3399 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaping Xu ◽  
Xuhui Lee ◽  
Wei Xiao ◽  
Chang Cao ◽  
Shoudong Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract. Observations of atmospheric CO2 mole fraction and the 13C ∕ 12C ratio (expressed as δ13C) in urban airsheds provide constraints on the roles of anthropogenic and natural sources and sinks in local and regional carbon cycles. In this study, we report observations of these quantities in Nanjing at hourly intervals from March 2013 to August 2015, using a laser-based optical instrument. Nanjing is the second largest city located in the highly industrialized Yangtze River Delta (YRD), eastern China. The mean CO2 mole fraction and δ13C were (439.7 ± 7.5) µmol mol−1 and (−8.48 ± 0.56) ‰ over this observational period. The peak monthly mean δ13C (−7.44 ‰, July 2013) was 0.74 ‰ higher than that observed at Mount Waliguan, a WMO (World Meteorological Organization) baseline site on the Tibetan Plateau and upwind of the YRD region. The highly 13C-enriched signal was partly attributed to the influence of cement production in the region. By applying the Miller–Tans method to nighttime and daytime observations to represent signals from the city of Nanjing and the YRD, respectively, we showed that the 13C ∕ 12C ratio of CO2 sources in the Nanjing municipality was (0.21 ± 0.53) ‰ lower than that in the YRD. Flux partitioning calculations revealed that natural ecosystems in the YRD were a negligibly small source of atmospheric CO2.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Junlan Feng ◽  
Yan Zhang ◽  
Shanshan Li ◽  
Jingbo Mao ◽  
Allison P. Patton ◽  
...  

Abstract. The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and the megacity of Shanghai are host to one of the busiest port clusters in the world, the region also suffers from high levels of air pollution. The goal of this study was to estimate the contributions of shipping to emissions, air quality, and population exposure and characterize their dependence on the geographic spatiality of ship lanes from the regional scale to city scale for 2015. The WRF-CMAQ model was used to simulate the influence of coastal and inland-water shipping, in port emissions, shipping-related cargo transport on air quality and, population-weighted concentrations, a measure of human exposure. Our results showed that the impact of shipping on air quality in the YRD was attributable primarily to shipping emissions within 12 NM of shore, but emissions coming from the coastal area of 24 to 96 NM still contributed substantially to ship-related PM2.5 concentrations in YRD. The overall contribution of ships to PM2.5 concentration in YRD could reach to 4.62 μg/m3 in summer when monsoon winds transport shipping emissions onshore. In Shanghai city, inland-water going ships were major contributors (40–80 %) to the shipping impact on urban air quality. Given the proximity of inland-water ships to urban populations of Shanghai, the emissions of inland-water ships contributed more to population-weighted concentrations. These research results provide scientific evidence to inform policies for controlling future shipping emissions; in particular, stricter standards could be considered for the ships on inland rivers and other waterways close to residential regions.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ka Lok Chan ◽  
Zhuoru Wang ◽  
Aijun Ding ◽  
Klaus-Peter Heue ◽  
Yicheng Shen ◽  
...  

Abstract. In this paper, we present long term observations of atmospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and formaldehyde (HCHO) in Nanjing using a Multi-AXis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) instrument. Ground based MAX-DOAS measurements were performed from April 2013 to February 2017. The MAX-DOAS measurements of NO2 and HCHO vertical column densities (VCDs) are used to validate OMI satellite observations over Nanjing. The comparison shows that the OMI observations of NO2 correlate well with the MAX-DOAS data with Pearson correlation coefficient (R) of 0.91. However, OMI observations are on average a factor of 3 lower than the MAX-DOAS measurements. Replacing the a priori NO2 profiles by the MAX-DOAS profiles in the OMI NO2 VCD retrieval would increase the OMI NO2 VCDs by ~ 30 % with correlation nearly unchanged. The comparison result of MAX-DOAS and OMI observations of HCHO VCD shows a good agreement with R of 0.75 and the slope of the regression line is 0.99. We developed a new technique to assemble the source contribution map using backward trajectory analysis. The age weighted backward propagation approach is applied to the MAX-DOAS measurements of NO2 and HCHO to reconstruct the spatial distribution of NO2 and HCHO over the Yangtze River Delta during summer and winter time. The reconstructed NO2 fields show a distinct agreement with OMI satellite observations. However, due to the short atmospheric lifetime of HCHO, the backward propagated HCHO data does not show a strong spatial correlation with the OMI HCHO observations. The result shows the MAX-DOAS measurements are sensitive to the air pollution transportation in the Yangtze River Delta, indicating the air quality in Nanjing is significantly influenced by regional transportation of air pollutants. The MAX-DOAS data are also used to evaluate the effectiveness of air pollution control measures implemented during the Youth Olympic Games 2014. The MAX-DOAS data show a significant reduction of ambient aerosol, NO2 and HCHO (30 %–50 %) during the Youth Olympic Games. Our results provide a better understanding of the transportation and sources of pollutants in over the Yangtze River Delta as well as the effect of emission control measures during large international event, which are important for the future design of air pollution control policies.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yijing Chen ◽  
Qianli Ma ◽  
Weili Lin ◽  
Xiaobin Xu ◽  
Jie Yao ◽  
...  

Abstract. This study analyzed the long-term variations in carbon monoxide (CO) mixing ratios from January 2006 to December 2017 at the Lin'an regional atmospheric background station (LAN; 30.3° N, 119.73° E, 138 m a.s.l.) in China's Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region. The CO mixing ratios were at their highest (0.69 ± 0.08 ppm) and lowest (0.54 ± 0.06 ppm) in winter and summer, respectively. The average daily variation of CO exhibited a double-peaked pattern, with peaks in the morning and evening and a valley in the afternoon. A significant downward trend of −11.3 ppb/yr of CO was observed from 2006 to 2017 at the LAN station, which was in accordance with the negative trend of the average CO mixing ratios and total column retrieved from the satellite data (the Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere, MOPITT) over the YRD region during the same period. The average annual CO mixing ratio at the LAN station in 2017 was 0.51 ± 0.04 ppm, which was significantly lower than that (0.71 ± 0.12 ppm) in 2006. The decrease in CO levels was largest in autumn (−15.7 ppb/yr), followed by summer (−11.1 ppb/yr), spring (−10.8 ppb/yr), and winter (−9.7 ppb/yr). Moreover, the CO levels under relatively polluted conditions (the annually 95th percentiles) declined even more rapidly (−22.4 ppb/yr, α = 0.05, r = −0.68) from 2006 (0.91 ppm) to 2017 (0.58 ppm) and the CO levels under clean conditions (the annually 5th percentiles) were relatively stable throughout the years. The long-term decline and short-term variations in the CO mixing ratios at the LAN station were mainly attributed to the implementation of the anthropogenic pollution control measures in the YRD region and to the events like Shanghai Expo in 2020 and Hangzhou G20 in 2016. The decreased CO level may influence atmospheric chemistry over the region. The average OH reactivity of CO at the LAN station is estimated to significantly drop from 4.1 ± 0.7 s-1 in 2006 to 3.0 ± 0.3 s-1 in 2017.


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