scholarly journals The influence of spatiality on shipping emissions, air quality and potential human exposure in Yangtze River Delta/Shanghai, China

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 ◽  
Vol 19 (9) ◽  
pp. 6167-6183 ◽  
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 regional emissions, air quality, and population exposure and to characterize the importance of the geographic spatiality of shipping lanes and different types of ship-related sources for the baseline year of 2015, which was prior to the implementation of China's Domestic Emission Control Areas (DECAs) in 2016. The WRF-CMAQ model, which combines the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) and the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model, was used to simulate the influence of coastal and inland-water shipping, port emissions and ship-related cargo transport on air quality and on the population-weighted concentrations (which is a measure of human exposure). Our results showed that the impact of shipping on air quality in the YRD was primarily attributable to shipping emissions within 12 NM (nautical miles) of shore, but emissions coming from the coastal area between 24 and 96 NM still contributed substantially to ship-related PM2.5 concentrations in the YRD. The overall contribution of ships to the PM2.5 concentration in the YRD could reach 4.62 µg m−3 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 the 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, in the YRD region, expanding the boundary of 12 NM from shore in China's current DECA policy to around 100 NM from shore would include most of shipping emissions affecting air pollutant exposure, and stricter fuel standards could be considered for the ships on inland rivers and other waterways close to residential regions.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 735
Author(s):  
Zeeshan Javed ◽  
Aimon Tanvir ◽  
Yuhang Wang ◽  
Ahmed Waqas ◽  
Mingjie Xie ◽  
...  

The emergence of the novel corona virus and the resulting lockdowns over various parts of the world have substantially impacted air quality due to reduced anthropogenic activity. The objective of this study is to investigate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown and Spring Festival on air quality of four major cities of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, including Shanghai, Nanjing, Hefei, and Hangzhou. In situ measurements were taken for nitrogen dioxide (NO2), particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3). In situ measurements from 1 January to 25 April were taken two years prior to COVID-19 (2018–19), during COVID-19 lockdown (2020), and one year after the COVID-19 (2021). The results indicated that the concentration of NO2 and PM2.5 dropped considerably during the lockdown days compared to normal days while the O3 concentration showed an upsurge. The NO2 showed reduction of about 54% on average during lockdown level 1 in 2020 whereas, PM 2.5 showed reduction of about 36% through the YRD. A substantial drop was observed in concentration of NO2 during the Spring Festival holidays throughout the YRD from 2019 to 2021.


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.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 722
Author(s):  
Dongsheng Chen ◽  
Dingyue Liang ◽  
Lei Li ◽  
Xiurui Guo ◽  
Jianlei Lang ◽  
...  

Ship-exhausted air pollutants could cause negative impacts on air quality, climate change, and human health. Increasing attention has been paid to investigate the impact of ship emissions on air quality. However, the conclusions are often based on a specific year, the extent to which the inter-annual variation in meteorological conditions affects the contribution is not yet fully addressed. Therefore, in this study, the Weather Research and Forecast model and the Community Multiscale Air Quality model(WRF/CMAQ) were employed to investigate the inter-annual variations in ship-contributed PM2.5 from 2010 to 2019. The Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in China was selected as the target study area. To highlight the impact of inter-annual meteorological variations, the emission inventory and model configurations were kept the same for the 10-year simulation. We found that: (1) inter-annual meteorological variation had an evident impact on the ship-contributed PM2.5 in most coastal cities around YRD. Taking Shanghai as an example, the contribution varied between 3.05 and 5.74 µg/m3, with the fluctuation rate of ~65%; (2) the inter-annual changes in ship’s contribution showed a trend of almost simultaneous increase and decrease for most cities, which indicates that the impact of inter-annual meteorological variation was more regional than local; (3) the inter-annual changes in the northern part of YRD were significantly higher than those in the south; (4) the most significant inter-annual changes were found in summer, followed by spring, fall and winter.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 8255-8259

Aerosols played an important role in climate change during recent years in China. Many kinds of researches in different areas in China, particularly over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in East China is measured during the period from January 2013 to December 2015. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) derived aerosol optical depth (AOD), particulate matter concentrations (PM2.5) and surface black carbon (BCS) was used in this study. Nanjing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, and Ningbo have been selected in this research as they are the major cities of the YRD region that represents different environments. Variation of AOD550, Ångström exponent (AE470-660) and PM2.5 are mainly discussed, and meanwhile, the relationship that exists between them and with the meteorology is also discussed in this work. Apart from this, the impact of visibility and water vapor are also considered to examine the influence on optical properties. The data and analysis indicate that urban cities have a higher value of AOD than rural background cities. High AOD was noticed in summer than in other seasons. AOD usually has a negative relationship with AE, except in summer. Similarly, the PM2.5 has a negative relationship with AOD, whereas, BCS has a positive correlation with AOD. Further, it was observed that the rise in temperature resulted in high AOD concentration. The visibility has negative effect on AOD, whereas, AQI follows similar pattern as that of visibility.


Land ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 106
Author(s):  
Jie Zhao ◽  
Cheng Li

A comprehensive understanding of the ecosystem services (ESs) trade-off/synergy relationships has become increasingly important for ecological management and sustainable development. This study employed the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in China as the study area and investigated the spatiotemporal changes in three ESs, namely, carbon storage (CS), water purification (WP), and habitat quality (HQ). A trade-off/synergy degree (TSD) indicator was developed that allowed for the quantification of the trade-off/synergy intensity, and the spatial pattern of the TSD between ESs in the YRD region to be analyzed. Furthermore, a geographically weighted regression (GWR) model was used to analyze the relationship between the influencing factors and trade-offs/synergies. The results revealed that CS, WP, and HQ decreased by 0.28%, 2.49%, and 3.38%, respectively, from 2005 to 2015. The TSD indicator showed that the trade-off/synergy relationships and their magnitudes were spatially heterogeneous throughout the YRD region. The coefficients of the natural and socioeconomic factors obtained from the GWR indicated that their impacts on the trade-offs/synergies vary spatiotemporally. The impact factors had both positive and negative effects on the trade-offs/synergies. The findings of this study could improve the understanding of the spatiotemporal dynamics of trade-offs/synergies and their spatially heterogeneous correlations with related factors.


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.


Author(s):  
Wei Zhao ◽  
Xuan Liu ◽  
Qingxin Deng ◽  
Dongyang Li ◽  
Jianing Xu ◽  
...  

China is urbanizing rapidly, but current research into the spatiotemporal characteristics of urbanization often ignores the spatial and evolutionary associations of cities. Using the theory of spatial polarization and diffusion, together with a systematic analysis method, this study examined the spatial development process of urbanization in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region of China during 1995–2015. Results showed clear patterns in the scale and hierarchy of regional urbanization. Shanghai ranked first as the regional growth pole, while Nanjing, Hangzhou, and Suzhou ranked second. The spatial linkage index of urbanization showed that 10 cities (including Shanghai, Suzhou, and Hangzhou) constituted the densest spatial linkage network. The diffused area often became spatially polarized before the polarization then weakened as a new diffusion stage developed. The study also revealed that the spatial correlation urbanization differences in the YRD generally decreased. The polarization index revealed increasing spatial integration and correlation of urbanization in the YRD. This study proved that each city had a different spatial role in relation to other cities during different stages of development. Investigation of the driving mechanism of regional urbanization indicated that industrial modernization and relocation within the region provided the main endogenous driving force for the formation of spatial polarization or diffusion. Our research provides important scientific support for regional development planning. Furthermore, our analysis of the impact of spatial correlation within cities or a region could provide an important reference in relation to the regional environment and public health.


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.


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