scholarly journals Typical types and formation mechanisms of haze in an eastern Asia megacity, Shanghai

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 21713-21767 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Huang ◽  
G. Zhuang ◽  
Y. Lin ◽  
J. S. Fu ◽  
Q. Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract. An intensive aerosol and gases campaign has been performed at Shanghai in the Yangtze River Delta region over Eastern China from late March to early June 2009. This study provided a complementary picture of typical haze types and formation mechanisms in megacities over China by using a synergy of ground-based monitoring, satellite observation and lidar inversion. During the whole study period, several extreme low visibility periods were observed with distinct characteristics, and three typical haze types were identified, i.e. secondary inorganic pollution, dust, and biomass burning. Sulfate, nitrate and ammonium accounted for a major part of PM2.5 mass during the secondary inorganic pollution, and the good correlation between SO2/NOx/CO and PM2.5 indicated that coal burning and vehicle emission were the major sources. Large-scale regions with high AOD and low Ångström exponent were detected by remote-sensing observation during the dust pollution episode, and this episode corresponded to coarse particles rich in mineral components such as Al and Ca with mineral aerosol contributing 76.8 % to TSP. The relatively low Ca/Al ratio of 0.75 combined with the air mass backward trajectory analysis suggested the dust source from Gobi Desert. Typical tracers for biomass burning from satellite observation (column CO and HCHO) and from ground measurement (CO, particulate K+, OC, and EC) were greatly enhanced during the biomass burning pollution episode. The exclusive linear correlation between CO and PM2.5 corroborated that organic aerosol dominated aerosol chemistry during biomass burning, and the high concentration and enrichment degree of arsenic (As) could be also partly derived from biomass burning. Aerosol optical profile observed by lidar demonstrated that aerosol was mainly constrained below the boundary layer and comprised of spheric aerosol (depolarization ratio <5 %) during the secondary inorganic and biomass burning episodes, while during the dust episode thick dust layer distributed at altitudes from near the ground to 1.4 km (average depolarization ratio = 0.122 ± 0.023) with dust accounting for 44–55 % of the total aerosol extinction coefficient. This study had illustrated a good picture of the typical haze types and proposed that identification of the complicated emission sources was important for the air quality improvement in megacities in China.

2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 105-124 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. Huang ◽  
G. Zhuang ◽  
Y. Lin ◽  
J. S. Fu ◽  
Q. Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract. An intensive aerosol and gases campaign was performed at Shanghai in the Yangtze River Delta region over Eastern China from late March to early June 2009. This study provided a complementary picture of typical haze types and the formation mechanisms in megacities over China by using a synergy of ground-based monitoring, satellite and lidar observations. During the whole study period, several extreme low visibility periods were observed with distinct characteristics, and three typical haze types were identified, i.e. secondary inorganic pollution, dust, and biomass burning. Sulfate, nitrate and ammonium accounted for a major part of PM2.5 mass during the secondary inorganic pollution, and the good correlation between SO2/NOx/CO and PM2.5 indicated that coal burning and vehicle emission were the major sources. Large-scale regions with high AOD (aerosol optical depths) and low Ångström exponent were detected by remote-sensing observation during the dust pollution episode, and this episode corresponded to coarse particles rich in mineral components such as Al and Ca contributing 76.8% to TSP. The relatively low Ca/Al ratio of 0.75 along with the air mass backward trajectory analysis suggested the dust source was from Gobi Desert. Typical tracers for biomass burning from satellite observation (column CO and HCHO) and from ground measurement (CO, particulate K+, OC, and EC) were greatly enhanced during the biomass burning pollution episode. The exclusive linear correlation between CO and PM2.5 corroborated that organic aerosol dominated aerosol chemistry during biomass burning, and the high concentration and enrichment degree of arsenic (As) could be also partly derived from biomass burning. Aerosol optical profile observed by lidar demonstrated that aerosol was mainly constrained below the boundary layer and comprised of spheric aerosol (depolarization ratio <5%) during the secondary inorganic and biomass burning episodes, while thick dust layer distributed at altitudes from near surface to 1.4 km (average depolarization ratio = 0.122 &amp;pm; 0.023) with dust accounting for 44–55% of the total aerosol extinction coefficient during the dust episode. This study portrayed a good picture of the typical haze types and proposed that identification of the complicated emission sources is important for the air quality improvement in megacities in China.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jian Wu ◽  
Shaofei Kong ◽  
Fangqi Wu ◽  
Yi Cheng ◽  
Shurui Zheng ◽  
...  

Abstract. Open biomass burning (OBB) has significant impacts on air pollution, climate change and potential human health. OBB has raised wide attention but with few focus on the annual variation of pollutant emission. Central and Eastern China (CEC) is one of the most polluted regions in China. This study aims to provide a state-of the-art estimation of the pollutant emissions from OBB in CEC from 2003 to 2015, by adopting the satellite observation dataset (the burned area product (MCD64Al) and the active fire product (MCD14 ML)), local biomass data (updated biomass loading data and high-resolution vegetation data) and local emission factors. Monthly emissions of pollutants were estimated and allocated into a 1 × 1 km spatial grid for four types of OBB including grassland, shrubland, forest and cropland. From 2003 to 2015, the emissions from forest, shrubland and grassland fire burning had a minor annual variation whereas the emissions from crop straw burning steadily increased. The cumulative emissions of OC, EC, CH4, NOX, NMVOC, SO2, NH3, CO, CO2 and PM2.5 were 3.64 × 103, 2.87 × 102, 3.05 × 103, 1.82 × 103, 6.4 × 103, 2.12 × 102, 4.67 × 103, 4.59 × 104, 9.39 × 105 and 4.13 × 102 Gg in these years, respectively. For cropland, corn straw burning was the largest contributor for all pollutant emissions, by 84 %–96 %. Among the forest, shrubland, grassland fire burning, forest fire burning emissions contributed the most and emissions from grassland fire was negligible due to few grass coverage in this region. High pollutant emissions were populated in the connection area of Shandong, Henan, Jiangsu and Anhui, with emission intensity higher than 100 ton per pixel, which was related to the frequent agricultural activities in these regions. The monthly emission peak of pollutants occurred in summer and autumn harvest periods including May, June, September and October, at which period ~ 50 % of pollutants were emitted for OBB. This study highlights the importance in controlling the crops straw burning emission. From December to March of the next year, the crop residue burning emissions decreased, while the emissions from forest, shrubland and grassland exhibited their highest values, leading to another small peak emissions of pollutants. Obvious regional differences in seasonal variations of OBB were observed due to different local biomass types and environmental conditions. Rural population, agricultural output, local burning habits, anthropological activities and management policies are all influence factors for OBB emissions. The successful adoption of double satellite dataset for long term estimation of pollutants from OBB with a high spatial resolution can support the assessing of OBB on regional air-quality, especially for harvest periods or dry seasons. It is also useful to evaluate the effects of annual OBB management policies in different regions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (22) ◽  
pp. 16345-16361 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derong Zhou ◽  
Ke Ding ◽  
Xin Huang ◽  
Lixia Liu ◽  
Qiang Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract. Anthropogenic fossil fuel (FF) combustion, biomass burning (BB) and desert dust are the main sources of air pollutants around the globe but are particularly intensive and important for air quality in Asia in spring. In this study, we investigate the vertical distribution, transport characteristics, source contribution and meteorological feedback of these aerosols in a unique pollution episode that occurred in eastern Asia based on various measurement data and modeling methods. In this episode, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in eastern China experienced persistent air pollution, dramatically changing from secondary fine particulate pollution to dust pollution in late March 2015. The Eulerian and Lagrangian models were conducted to investigate the vertical structure, transport characteristics and mechanisms of the multi-scale, multisource and multiday air pollution episode. The regional polluted continental aerosols mainly accumulated near the surface, mixed with dust aerosol downwash from the upper planetary boundary layer (PBL) and middle–lower troposphere (MLT), and further transported by large-scale cold fronts and warm conveyor belts. BB smoke from Southeast Asia was transported by westerlies around the altitude of 3 km from southern China, was further mixed with dust and FF aerosols in eastern China and experienced long-range transport over the Pacific. These pollutants could all be transported to the YRD region and cause a structure of multilayer pollution there. These pollutants could also cause significant feedback with MLT meteorology and then enhance local anthropogenic pollution. This study highlights the importance of intensive vertical measurement in eastern China and the downwind Pacific Ocean and raises the need for quantitative understanding of environmental and climate impacts of these pollution sources.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Derong Zhou ◽  
Ke Ding ◽  
Xin Huang ◽  
Lixia Liu ◽  
Qiang Liu ◽  
...  

Abstract. Anthropogenic fossil fuel (FF) combustion, biomass burning (BB) and desert dust are main sources of air pollutants around the globe. The emission of the three sources in Asia are all very intensive and their influences on air quality is very important, especially in spring. In this study, we investigate the vertical distribution, transport characteristics, source contribution, and meteorological feedback of the dust, BB and FF aerosols in a unique pollution episode occurred in eastern Asia based on various measurement data and modelling methods. Ground-based observations indicated a persistent pollution episode dramatically changing from secondary fine particulate pollution to dust pollution in late March 2015 over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, eastern China. The online-coupled meteorology–chemistry–aerosol modelling together with Lagrangian particle dispersion simulations were conducted to investigate the vertical structure, transport characteristics and mechanisms of the multi-scale, multi-source, and multi-day air pollution episode. The regional polluted continental aerosols mainly accumulated near surface by local anthropogenic emissions mixed with dust aerosols, downwash from the upper planetary boundary layer (PBL) and middle/lower troposphere (MLT), and further transported downwardly by large-scale cold fronts and warm conveyor belts. BB smoke from the Southeast Asia, mainly from forest burning in Indochina, were transported by westerlies around the altitude of 3 km from southern China to eastern China, further mixed with dust and FF aerosols in eastern China and experienced long-range transport over the subtropical Pacific Ocean. The three pollutant sources could all transport to eastern China, especially the YRD region around the latitude of 30° N, caused a structure of multi-layer pollutants and well mixed pollutants there. These solar absorption aerosols from FF, BB and dust could also cause significant feedback with MLT meteorology and then enhance local anthropogenic pollution. This study highlights the importance of intensive vertical measurement in the eastern China and the downwind Pacific Ocean with a focus of understanding the complex physical and chemical processes of various pollution sources, and also raises the needs of quantitative understanding of environmental and climate impacts of these pollution sources in regional even global scales.


Sensors ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (18) ◽  
pp. 5442
Author(s):  
Christina-Anna Papanikolaou ◽  
Elina Giannakaki ◽  
Alexandros Papayannis ◽  
Maria Mylonaki ◽  
Ourania Soupiona

The aim of this paper is to study the spatio-temporal evolution of a long-lasting Canadian biomass burning event that affected Europe in August 2018. The event produced biomass burning aerosol layers which were observed during their transport from Canada to Europe from the 16 to the 26 August 2018 using active remote sensing data from the space-borne system Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO). The total number of aerosol layers detected was 745 of which 42% were identified as pure biomass burning. The remaining 58% were attributed to smoke mixed with: polluted dust (34%), clean continental (10%), polluted continental (5%), desert dust (6%) or marine aerosols (3%). In this study, smoke layers, pure and mixed ones, were observed by the CALIPSO satellite from 0.8 and up to 9.6 km height above mean sea level (amsl.). The mean altitude of these layers was found between 2.1 and 5.2 km amsl. The Ångström exponent, relevant to the aerosol backscatter coefficient (532/1064 nm), ranged between 0.9 and 1.5, indicating aerosols of different sizes. The mean linear particle depolarization ratio at 532 nm for pure biomass burning aerosols was found equal to 0.05 ± 0.04, indicating near spherical aerosols. We also observed that, in case of no aerosol mixing, the sphericity of pure smoke aerosols does not change during the air mass transportation (0.05–0.06). On the contrary, when the smoke is mixed with dessert dust the mean linear particle depolarization ratio may reach values up to 0.20 ± 0.04, especially close to the African continent (Region 4).


2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 7319-7332 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Deng ◽  
G. Zhuang ◽  
K. Huang ◽  
J. Li ◽  
R. Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract. PM2.5 and TSP samples were collected at the summit of Mountain Tai (MT) (1534 m a.s.l.) in spring 2006/2007 and summer 2006 to investigate the characteristics of aerosols over central eastern China. For comparison, aerosol samples were also collected at Tazhong, Urumqi, and Tianchi in Xinjiang in northwestern China, Duolun and Yulin in northern China, and two urban sites in the megacities, Beijing and Shanghai, in 2007. Daily mass concentrations of TSP and PM2.5 ranged from 39.6–287.6 μg m−3 and 17.2–235.7 μg m−3 respectively at the summit of MT. Averaged concentrations of PM2.5 showed a pronounced seasonal variation with higher concentration in summer than spring. 17 water-soluble ions (SO42−, NO3−, Cl−, F−, PO43−, NO2−, CH3COO−, CH2C2O42−, C2H4C2O42−, HCOO−, MSA, C2O42−, NH4+, Ca2+, K+, Mg2+, Na+), and 19 elements of all samples were measured. SO42−, NO3−, and NH4+ were the major water-soluble species in PM2.5, accounting for 61.50 % and 72.65 % of the total measured ions in spring and summer, respectively. The average ratio of PM2.5/TSP was 0.37(2006) and 0.49(2007) in spring, while up to 0.91 in summer, suggesting that aerosol particles were primarily comprised of fine particles in summer and of considerable coarse particles in spring. Crustal elements (e.g., Ca, Mg, Al, Fe, etc.) showed higher concentration in spring than summer, while most of the pollution species (SO42−, NO3−, K+, NO2−, NH4+, Cl−, organic acids, Pb, Zn, Cd, and Cr) from local/regional anthropogenic emissions or secondary formation presented higher concentration in summer. The ratio of Ca/Al suggested the impact of Asian dust from the western deserts on the air quality in this region. The high concentration of K+ in PM2.5 (4.41 μg m−3) and its good correlation with black carbon (r = 0.90) and oxalic acid (r = 0.87) suggested the severe pollution from biomass burning, which was proved to be a main source of fine particles over central eastern China in summer. The contribution of biomass burning to the fine particle at MT accounted for 7.56 % in spring and 36.71 % in summer, and even reached to 81.58 % on a day. As and Pb were two of the most enriched elements. The long-range transport of aerosols spread the heavy pollution from coal-mining/coal-ash to everywhere over China. Anthropogenic air-pollution was evidently rather severe at MT, though it has been declared by UNESCO to be a World Heritage site.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (20) ◽  
pp. 11799-11808
Author(s):  
Feng Zhang ◽  
Qiu-Run Yu ◽  
Jia-Li Mao ◽  
Chen Dan ◽  
Yanyu Wang ◽  
...  

Abstract. The geographical distributions of summertime cirrus with different cloud top heights above the Tibetan Plateau are investigated by using the 2012–2016 Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) data. The cirrus clouds with different cloud top heights exhibit an obvious difference in their horizontal distribution over the Tibetan Plateau (TP). The maximum occurrence for cirrus with a cloud top height less than 9 km starts over the western plateau and moves up to the northern regions when cirrus is between 9 and 12 km. Above 12 km, the maximum occurrence of cirrus retreats to the southern fringe of the plateau. Three kinds of formation mechanisms – large-scale orographic uplift, ice particle generation caused by temperature fluctuation, and remnants of overflow from deep-convective anvils – dominate the formation of cirrus at less than 9 km, between 9 and 12 km, and above 12 km, respectively.


2010 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 20975-21021 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Deng ◽  
G. Zhuang ◽  
K. Huang ◽  
J. Li ◽  
R. Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract. PM2.5 and TSP samples were collected at the summit of Mountain Tai (MT) (1534 m a.s.l.) in spring 2006/2007 and summer 2006 to investigate the characteristics of aerosols over central eastern China. For comparison, aerosol samples were also collected at Tazhong, Urumqi, Tianchi in Xinjiang in northwestern China, Duolun and Yulin in northern China, and two urban sites in the megacities, Beijing and Shanghai, in spring 2007. Daily mass concentrations of TSP and PM2.5 ranged from 39.6–276.9 μg/m3 and 17.2–235.7 μg/m3 respectively at the summit of MT. Averaged concentrations of PM2.5 showed a pronounced seasonal variation with higher concentration in summer than spring. 17 water-soluble ions (SO42−, NO3−, Cl−, F−, PO43−, NO2−, CH3COO−, CH2C2O42−, C2H4C2O42−, HCOO−, MSA, C2O42−, NH4+, Ca2+, K+, Mg2+, Na+), and 19 elements of 176 samples from MT were measured. SO42−, NO3−, and NH4+ were the major water-soluble species in PM2.5, accounting for 61.5% and 73.8% of the total measured ions in spring and summer, respectively. The average ratio of PM2.5/TSP was 0.37(2006) and 0.49(2007) in spring, while up to 0.91 in summer, suggesting that aerosol particles were primarily comprised of fine particles in summer and of considerable coarse particles in spring. Crustal elements (e.g., Ca, Mg, Al, Fe, etc.) showed higher concentration in spring than summer, while most pollution species (SO42−, NO3−, K+, NO2−, NH4+, Cl−, organic acids, Pb, Zn, Cd, and Cr) from local/regional anthropogenic emissions and secondary formation presented higher concentration in summer. The ratio of Ca/Al and back trajectories of air mass suggested the impact of Asian dust from Gobi and deserts on the air quality in this region. The high concentration of K+ in aerosols (4.56 μg/m3) and its good correlation with black carbon (r = 0.90), oxalic acid (r = 0.87), and Cl− (r = 0.71) were due to the severe pollution from biomass burning, which was proved to be a main source of fine particles over central eastern China in summer. Biomass burning contributed 36.71% of PM2.5 in mass in summer. As and Pb were two of the most enriched elements, especially in spring both for TSP and PM2.5, which revealed that the long-range transport of aerosols spread the heavy pollution from coal burning everywhere over China. Anthropogenic aerosols at MT were evidently rather severe at MT, though it has been declared by UNESCO to be a World Heritage site.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feng Zhang ◽  
Qiu-Run Yu ◽  
Yanyu Wang ◽  
Qianshan He ◽  
Tiantao Cheng ◽  
...  

Abstract. Using the 5-year summer Cloud-Aerosol Lidar and Infrared Pathfinder Satellite Observation (CALIPSO) data, the geographical distributions of cirrus over the Tibetan Plateau have been studied according to the cloud top height. The cirrus number at the corresponding heights exhibit striking differences over the plateau. The maximum occurrence for cirrus top below 9 km starts over the western plateau and moves up to the northern regions when cirrus is between 9–12 km. Above 12 km, the maximum occurrence of cirrus retreats to the southern fringe of the plateau. These characteristics are linked to three kinds of formation mechanisms: large-scale orographic uplift, ice particles generation caused by gravity wave and remnants of overflow from deep convective anvils, respectively.


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