scholarly journals Modeled changes in source contributions of particulate matter during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Yangtze River Delta, China

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (9) ◽  
pp. 7343-7355
Author(s):  
Jinlong Ma ◽  
Juanyong Shen ◽  
Peng Wang ◽  
Shengqiang Zhu ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract. Within a short time after the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei, the Chinese government introduced a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the pandemic. The quarantine measures have significantly decreased the anthropogenic activities, thus improving air quality. To study the impacts caused by the lockdown on specific source sectors and regions in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to investigate the changes in source contributions to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from 23 January to 28 February 2020, based on different emission control cases. Compared to case 1 (without emission reductions), the total PM2.5 mass for case 2 (with emission reductions) decreased by more than 20 % over the entire YRD, and the reduction ratios of its components were 15 %, 16 %, 20 %, 43 %, 34 %, and 35 % in primary organic aerosol (POA), elemental carbon (EC), sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and secondary organic aerosol (SOA), respectively. The source apportionment results showed that PM2.5 concentrations from transportation decreased by 40 %, while PM2.5 concentrations from the residential and power sectors decreased by less than 10 % due to the lockdown. Although all sources decreased, the relative contribution changed differently. Contributions from the residential sector increased by more than 10 % to 35 %, while those in the industrial sector decreased by 33 %. Considering regional transport, the total PM2.5 mass of all regions decreased 20 %–30 % in the YRD, with the largest decreased value of 5.0 µg m−3 in Henan, Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin (Ha-BTH). In Shanghai, the lower contributions from local emissions and regional transmission (mainly Shandong and Ha-BTH) led to the reduced PM2.5. This study suggests adjustments of control measures for various sources and regions.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinlong Ma ◽  
Juanyong Shen ◽  
Peng Wang ◽  
Shengqiang Zhu ◽  
Yu Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract. Within a short time after the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, Hubei, the Chinese government took a nationwide lockdown to prevent the spread of the pandemic. The quarantine measures have significantly decreased the anthropogenic activities, and thus improving the air quality. To study the impacts caused by the lockdown on specific source sectors and regions in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to investigate the changes in source contributions to fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from January 23 to February 28, 2020, based on different emission control cases. Compared to Case 1 (without emission reductions), the total PM2.5 mass for Case 2 (with emission reductions) decreased by larger than 20 % over the entire YRD and the reduction ratios of its components were 15 %, 16 %, 20 %, 43 %, 34 %, and 35 % in primary organic aerosol (POA), elemental carbon (EC), sulfate, nitrate, ammonium, and secondary organic aerosol (SOA), respectively. The source appointment results showed that PM2.5 concentrations from transportation decreased by 40 % while from residential and power decreased by less than 10 % due to the lockdown. Although all sources decreased, the relative contribution changed differently. Contributions of residential increased by more than 10 % to 35 %, while that of the industry decreased to 33 %. Considering the regional transport, the total PM2.5 mass of all regions decreased 20–30 % in the YRD with the largest decreased value of 5.0 μg m−3 in Henan, Hebei, Beijing, and Tianjin (Ha-BTH). In Shanghai, the lower contributions from local emissions and regional transmission (mainly Shandong and Ha-BTH) led to the reduced PM2.5. This study suggested adjustments of control measures for various sources and regions. Also, it was necessary to strengthen the regional collaboration at a large scale to improve the air quality in the YRD.


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.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (7) ◽  
pp. 4275-4294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu Zhao ◽  
Mengchen Yuan ◽  
Xin Huang ◽  
Feng Chen ◽  
Jie Zhang

Abstract. To explore the effects of data and method on emission estimation, two inventories of NH3 emissions of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in eastern China were developed for 2014 based on constant emission factors (E1) and those characterizing agricultural processes (E2). The latter derived the monthly emission factors and activity data integrating the local information of soil, meteorology, and agricultural processes. The total emissions were calculated to be 1765 and 1067 Gg with E1 and E2, respectively, and clear differences existed in seasonal and spatial distributions. Elevated emissions were found in March and September in E2, attributed largely to the increased top dressing fertilization and to the enhanced NH3 volatilization under high temperature, respectively. A relatively large discrepancy between the inventories existed in the northern YRD with abundant croplands. With the estimated emissions 38 % smaller in E2, the average of simulated NH3 concentrations with an air quality model using E2 was 27 % smaller than that using E1 at two ground sites in the YRD. At the suburban site in Pudong, Shanghai (SHPD), the simulated NH3 concentrations with E1 were generally larger than observations, and the modeling performance was improved, indicated by the smaller normalized mean errors (NMEs) when E2 was applied. In contrast, very limited improvement was found at the urban site JSPAES, as E2 failed to improve the emission estimation of transportation and residential activities. Compared to NH3, the modeling performance for inorganic aerosols was better for most cases, and the differences between the simulated concentrations with E1 and E2 were clearly smaller, at 7 %, 3 %, and 12 % (relative to E1) for NH4+, SO42-, and NO3-, respectively. Compared to the satellite-derived NH3 column, application of E2 significantly corrected the overestimation in vertical column density for January and October with E1, but it did not improve the model performance for July. The NH3 emissions might be underestimated with the assumption of linear correlation between NH3 volatilization and soil pH for acidic soil, particularly in warm seasons. Three additional cases, i.e., 40 % abatement of SO2, 40 % abatement of NOx, and 40 % abatement of both species, were applied to test the sensitivity of NH3 and inorganic aerosol concentrations to precursor emissions. Under an NH3-rich condition, estimation of SO2 emissions was detected to be more effective on simulation of secondary inorganic aerosols compared to NH3. Reduced SO2 would restrain the formation of (NH4)2SO4 and thereby enhance the NH3 concentrations. To improve the air quality more effectively and efficiently, NH3 emissions should be substantially controlled along with SO2 and NOx in the future.


2013 ◽  
Vol 182 ◽  
pp. 101-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhen Cheng ◽  
Shuxiao Wang ◽  
Jingkun Jiang ◽  
Qingyan Fu ◽  
Changhong Chen ◽  
...  

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