Search

In this study, 30 elements in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) were measured in 18 Chinese cities in 2013. Elemental pollution in northern, southwest, and central China were severe, attributing to excessive coal and biomass combustion in these regions. The concentrations of S, Cl, and K in these areas were 8.21 ± 3.90, 4.03 ± 1.96, and 1.59 ± 0.613 μg/m3, respectively, which were 1.6–2.7 times higher than those in other regions of China. In addition, the industrial emissions in northeast and north China were large, leading to the elevated heavy metal concentration of 1.32 ± 1.17 μg/m3, especially Zn, Pb, Cr, Cd, and Br. Soil dust was the highest in northwest China among the five regions with the concentration of crustal elements of 6.37 ± 4.51 μg/m3. Moreover, although the levels of elemental concentration in east and southeast China were relatively acceptable, regulators must pay attention to elevated level of V (0.009 ± 0.006 μg/m3) in these areas. Compared with 2003, several elements have deteriorated in some cities. For example, As increased by 70%, 18%, and 155% in Changchun, Beijing, and Jinchang, respectively. However, ~ 77% measured elements, e.g., Ti, Fe, and Pb markedly reduced in 2013, with reduction rates of 13–81%. These indicate that the government's policies related to particle-bound elements have shown certain positive environmental effects. For the health risks from the heavy metals in 2013, the non-cancer risks of As and Cd must not be neglected. The cancer risks of As and Pb were much higher than the international safety limit (10−4). More prominent health risks were found in southwest, central, and northwest China. Therefore, the government should accelerate the shift to cleaner energy in underdeveloped areas of China to obtain more environmental and health benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishment of the sources and mixing state of black carbon (BC) aerosol is essential for assessing its impact on air quality and climatic effects. A winter campaign (December 2017–January 2018) was performed in the North China Plain (NCP) to evaluate the sources, coating composition, and radiative effects of BC under the background of emission reduction. Results showed that the sources of liquid fossil fuels (i.e., traffic emissions) and solid fuels (i.e., biomass and coal burning) contributed 69 % and 31 % to the total equivalent BC (eBC) mass, respectively. These values were arrived at by using a combination of multi-wavelength optical approach with the source-based aerosol absorption Ångström exponent values. The air quality model indicated that local emissions were the dominant contributors to BC at the measurement site. However, regional emissions from NCP were a critical factor for high BC pollution. A single-particle aerosol mass spectrometer identified six classes of elemental carbon (EC)-containing particles. They included EC coated by organic carbon and sulfate (52 % of total EC-containing particles); EC coated by Na and K (24 %); EC coated by K, sulfate, and nitrate (17 %); EC associated with biomass burning (6 %); pure-EC (1 %); and others (1 %). Different BC sources exhibited distinct impacts on the EC-containing particles. A radiative transfer model showed that the amount of detected eBC can produce an atmospheric direct radiative effect of +18.0 W m -2 and a heating rate of 0.5 K d -1. This study shows that reductions of solid fuel combustion-related BC may be an effective way of mitigating regional warming in the NCP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sulfate aerosols have profound impacts on the climate, ecosystem, visibility, and public health, but the sulfate formation pathway remains elusive. In the present study, a source-oriented WRF-Chem model is applied to simulate a persistent air pollution episode from 4 to 15 July 2015 in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH), China, to study the contributions of four pathways to sulfate formation. When comparing simulations to measurements in BTH, the index of agreement (IOA) of meteorological parameters, air pollutants, and aerosol species generally exceeds 0.6. On average in BTH, the heterogeneous reaction of SO2 involving aerosol water and the SO2 oxidation by OH constitutes the two most important sulfate sources, with a contribution of about 35 %–38 % and 33 %–36 %, respectively. Primary sulfate emissions account for around 22 %–24 % of the total sulfate concentration. SO2 oxidation by stabilized Criegee intermediates (sCIs) also plays an appreciable role in sulfate formation, with a contribution of around 9 % when an upper limit of the reaction rate constant of sCIs with SO2 (κsCI+SO2=3.9×10-11 cm 3 s -1) and a lower limit of the reaction rate constant of sCIs with H2O (κsCI+H2O=1.97×10-18 cm 3 s -1) are used. Sensitivity studies reveal that there are still large uncertainties in the sulfate contribution of SO2 oxidation by sCIs. The sulfate contribution of the reaction is decreased to less than 3 % when κSCI+SO2 is decreased to 6.0×10-13 cm 3 s -1. Furthermore, when κsCI+H2O is increased to 2.38×10-15 cm 3 s -1 based on the reported ratio of κSCI+H2O to κSCI+SO2 (6.1×10-5), the sulfate contribution becomes insignificant at less than 2 %. Further studies need to be conducted to better determine κsCI+SO2 and κsCI+H2O to evaluate the effects of sCI chemistry on sulfate formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic aerosol (OA) constitutes a large fraction of fine particulate matter (PM) in the urban air. However, the chemical nature and sources of OA are not well constrained. Quantitative analysis of OA is essential for understanding the sources and atmospheric evolution of fine PM, which requires accurate quantification of some organic compounds (e.g., markers). In this study, two analytical approaches, i.e., thermal desorption (TD) gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and solvent extract (SE) GC-MS, were evaluated for the determination of n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and hopanes in ambient aerosol. For the SE approach, the recovery obtained is 89.3 %–101.5 %, the limits of detection (LODs) are 0.05–1.1 ng (1.5–33.9 ng m -3), repeatability is 3.5 %–14.5 % and reproducibility is 1.2 %–10.9 %. For the TD approach, the recovery is 57.2 %–109.8 %, the LODs are 0.1–1.9 ng (0.04–0.9 ng m -3), repeatability is 2.1 %–19.4 % and reproducibility is 1.1 %–12.9 %. Ambient aerosol samples were collected from Beijing, Chengdu, Shanghai and Guangzhou during the winter of 2013 and were analyzed by the two methods. After considering the recoveries, the two methods show a good agreement with a high correlation coefficient (R2 > 0.98) and a slope close to unity. The concentrations of n-alkanes, PAHs and hopanes are found to be much higher in Beijing than those in Chengdu, Shanghai and Guangzhou, most likely due to emissions from traffic and/or coal combustion for wintertime heating in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world's largest developing country, China has undergone ever-increasing demand for electricity during the past few decades. In 1996, China launched the Green Light Program (GLP), which became a national energy conservation activity for saving lighting electricity as well as an effective reduction of the coal consumption for power generation. Despite the great success of the GLP, its effects on haze have not been investigated and well understood. This study focused on assessing the potential coal saving induced by the improvement of luminous efficacy, the core of the GLP, and on estimating the consequent effects on the haze in the North China Plain (NCP), where a large number of power plants are located and are often engulfed by severe haze. The estimated potential coal saving induced by the GLP can reach a massive value of 120–323 million tons, accounting for 6.7 %–18.0 % of the total coal consumption for thermal power generation in China. There was a massive potential emission reduction of air pollutants from thermal power generation in the NCP, which was estimated to be 20.0–53.8 Gg for NOx and 6.9–18.7 Gg for SO2 in December 2015. The potential emission reduction induced by the GLP plays important roles in the haze formation, because the NOx and SO2 are important precursors for the formation of particles. To assess the impact of the GLP on haze, sensitivity studies were conducted by applying a regional chemical–dynamical model (WRF-CHEM). The model results suggest that in the case of lower-limit emission reduction, the PM2.5 concentration decreased by 2–5 µ g m -3 in large areas of the NCP. In the case of upper-limit emission reduction, there was much more remarkable decrease in PM2.5 concentration (4–10 µ g m -3). This study is a good example to illustrate that scientific innovation can induce important benefits for environment issues such as haze. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sources of particulate organic carbon (OC) with different volatility have rarely been investigated, despite the significant importance for better understanding of the atmospheric processes of organic aerosols. In this study we develop a radiocarbon-based (14C) approach for source apportionment of more volatile OC (mvOC) and apply to ambient aerosol samples collected in winter in six Chinese megacities. mvOC is isolated by desorbing organic carbon from the filter samples in helium (He) at 200 ∘ C in a custom-made aerosol combustion system for 14C analysis. Evaluation of this new isolation method shows that the isolated mvOC amount agrees very well with the OC1 fraction (also desorbed at 200 ∘ C in He) measured by a thermal–optical analyzer using the EUSAAR_2 protocol. The mvOC, OC and elemental carbon (EC) of 13 combined PM 2.5 samples in six Chinese cities are analyzed for 14C to investigate their sources and formation mechanisms. The relative contribution of fossil sources to mvOC is 59±11 %, consistently larger than the contribution to OC (48±16 %) and smaller than that to EC (73±9 %), despite large differences in fossil contributions in different cities. The average difference in the fossil fractions between mvOC and OC is 13 % (range of 7 %–25 %), similar to that between mvOC and EC (13 %, with a range 4 %–25 %). Secondary OC (SOC) concentrations and sources are modeled based on the 14C -apportioned OC and EC and compared with concentrations and sources of mvOC. SOC concentrations (15.4±9.0 µ g m -3) are consistently higher than those of mvOC (3.3±2.2 µ g m -3), indicating that only a fraction of SOC is accounted for by the more volatile carbon fraction desorbed at 200 ∘ C. The fossil fraction in SOC is 43 % (10 %–70 %), lower than that in mvOC (59 %, with a range of 45 %–78 %). Correlation between mvOC and SOC from nonfossil sources (mvOC nf vs. SOC nf) and from fossil sources (mvOC fossil vs. SOC fossil) is examined to further explore sources and formation processes of mvOC and SOC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PM2.5 is an important global air pollution issue. PM2.5 causes various problems on the environment and human health. Even though PM2.5 of the outdoor air is eliminated by particulate air filters, the chemicals adsorbed on the filtered PM2.5 can be outgassed and introduced into the semiconductor manufacturing facilities and processes, thus causing defects on the semiconductor chips by producing particles and haze as airborne molecular contamination. Therefore, estimating the amount of the outgassing from PM2.5 is a very important factor to control gaseous contaminants in the semiconductor industry. In this paper, the PM2.5 samples at different PM2.5 mass loadings were collected in Xi’an, China and evaluated using the soft X-ray radiolysis method for determining the relation between the outgassing and the PM2.5 mass loading. The PM2.5 samples were also analyzed by several methods for quantifying organic and elemental carbons, water soluble ions, and organic compounds in the PM2.5 samples. The outgassing measured by the soft X-ray method increased linearly with the PM2.5 mass loading, and the chemical analyses explained that the organic carbon (OC) was dominantly detected by the soft X-ray method in the current study. Moreover, the sampling location of the PM2.5 affected on the organic compounds of the PM2.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although stringent emission mitigation strategies have been carried out since 2013 in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH), China, heavy haze with high levels of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) still frequently engulfs the region during wintertime and the nitrate contribution to PM 2.5 mass has progressively increased. N2O5 heterogeneous hydrolysis is the most important pathway of nitrate formation at nighttime. In the present study, the WRF-Chem model is applied to simulate a heavy haze episode from 10 to 27 February 2014 in BTH to evaluate contributions of N2O5 heterogeneous hydrolysis to nitrate formation and effects of organic coating. The model generally performs reasonably well in simulating meteorological parameters, air pollutants, and aerosol species against observations in BTH. N2O5 heterogeneous hydrolysis with all the secondary organic aerosol assumed to be involved in coating considerably improves the nitrate simulations compared to the measurements in Beijing. On average, organic coating decreases nitrate concentrations by 8.4 % in BTH during an episode, and N2O5 heterogeneous hydrolysis with organic coating contributes about 30.1 % of nitrate concentrations. Additionally, the reaction also plays a considerable role in the heavy haze formation, with a PM 2.5 contribution of about 11.6 % in BTH. Sensitivity studies also reveal that future studies need to be conducted to predict the organic aerosol hygroscopicity for accurately representing the organic coating effect on N2O5 heterogeneous hydrolysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Organic aerosol (OA) concentrations are simulated over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region from 9 to 26 January 2014 using the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with chemistry (WRF-CHEM), with the goal of examining the impact of heterogeneous HONO sources on SOA formation and SOA formation from different pathways during wintertime haze days. The model generally shows good performance with respect to simulating air pollutants and organic aerosols against measurements in BTH. Model results show that heterogeneous HONO sources substantially enhance near-surface SOA formation, increasing the regional average near-surface SOA concentration by about 46.3 % during the episode. Oxidation and partitioning of primary organic aerosols treated as semi-volatile dominate SOA formation, contributing 58.9 % of the near-surface SOA mass in BTH. Irreversible uptake of glyoxal and methylglyoxal on aerosol surfaces constitutes the second most important SOA formation pathway during the episode, with the SOA contribution increasing from 8.5 % under non-haze conditions to 30.2 % under haze conditions. Additionally, direct emissions of glyoxal and methylglyoxal from residential sources contribute about 25.5 % of the total SOA mass on average in BTH. Our study highlights the importance of heterogeneous HONO sources and primary residential emissions of glyoxal and methylglyoxal to SOA formation over the BTH region in winter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The roles of anthropogenic emissions and weather conditions in air pollution over eastern China have been widely discussed but still controversial. Here we focus on the impact of the intraseasonal variability of midtropospheric weather circulations on air quality during 2015–2016 winter. We use the European Center for Medium‐Range Weather Forecasts reanalysis data to calculate westerly wind index (WI) and meridionality in the midtroposphere and also calculate the intensity of Siberian High at the surface. The results suggest that there were lower WI, higher meridionality, and strengthened Siberian High in January 2016 compared with the conditions in December 2015. Lower WI and higher meridionality imply for wavier midtropospheric weather circulations and stronger surface northerly winds, thereby causing more southward cold fresh air advection and resulting in the lower PM2.5 concentrations over eastern China in January 2016. Sensitivity experiments conducted by the Weather Research and Forecasting Chemical model show that the intraseasonal weather variability dominantly causes lower PM2.5 concentrations in January 2016. It not only counteracts increments in PM2.5 concentrations induced by the increased emission but also reduces PM2.5 concentrations by an extra 25–100 μg/m3. We also simulate two extreme weather patterns and compare their effects on PM2.5 concentrations. Difference in these two weather patterns induces changes in PM2.5 concentrations by 50–200 μg/m3 over eastern China and the maximal change exceeding 200 μg/m3. These findings suggest that understanding the variability of the dominant midtropospheric circulation is the key to successfully forecasting short‐term air quality over eastern China in winter. Plain Language Summary: The subseasonal variation of PM2.5 concentrations is dominantly induced by the intraseasonal variability of weather circulations during 2015–2016 winter. In the early winter (December 2015), a straight westerly wind prevails at the midtroposphere, confining cold air within the high latitudes and causing the accumulation of PM2.5 concentrations in eastern China, while in the late winter (January 2016), a north‐to‐south oriented airflow at the midtroposphere allows cold air advection to eastern China, reducing PM2.5 concentrations. Consequently, the intraseasonal weather variability leads to the maximal reduction of PM2.5 concentrations by 50–200 μg/m3. These findings suggest that understanding the variability of the midtroposphere circulation patterns is the key to successfully forecasting and improving air quality in winter. Key Points: Monthly emission change in 2015‐2016 winter results in an increment in PM2.5 concentrations by 10‐50 micrograms per cubic meter in eastern ChinaWeather variability not only offsets PM2.5 increments due to emission change but also reduces PM2.5 concentrations by an extra 25‐100 micrograms per meterMidtropospheric westerly wind circulations are the key to understanding subseasonal variations of PM2.5 concentrations [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The black carbon (BC) deposition on the ice core at Muztagh Ata Mountain, northern Tibetan Plateau, was analyzed. Two sets of measurements were used in this study, which included the air samplings of BC particles during 2004-2006 and the ice core drillings of BC deposition during 1986-1994. Two numerical models were used to analyze the measured data. A global chemical transportation model (MOZART-4) was used to analyze the BC transport from the source regions, and a radiative transfer model (SNICAR) was used to study the effect of BC on snow albedo. The results show that during 1991-1992, there was a strong spike in the BC deposition at Muztagh Ata, suggesting that there was an unusual emission in the upward region during this period. This high peak of BC deposition was investigated by using the global chemical transportation model (MOZART-4). The analysis indicated that the emissions from large Kuwait fires at the end of the first Gulf War in 1991 caused this high peak of the BC concentrations and deposition (about 3-4 times higher than other years) at Muztagh Ata Mountain, suggesting that the upward BC emissions had important impacts on this remote site located on the northern Tibetan Plateau. Thus, there is a need to quantitatively estimate the effect of surrounding emissions on the BC concentrations on the northern Tibetan Plateau. In this study, a sensitivity study with four individual BC emission regions (Central Asia, Europe, the Persian Gulf, and South Asia) was conducted by using the MOZART-4 model. The result suggests that during the "normal period" (non-Kuwait fires), the largest effect was due to the Central Asia source (44 %) during the Indian monsoon period, while during the non-monsoon period, the largest effect was due to the South Asia source (34 %). The increase in radiative forcing increase (RFI) due to the deposition of BC on snow was estimated by using the radiative transfer model (SNICAR). The results show that under the fresh snow assumption, the estimated increase in RFI ranged from 0.2 to 2.5W m-2, while under the aged snow assumption, the estimated increase in RFI ranged from 0.9 to 5.7W m-2. During the Kuwait fires period, the RFI values increased about 2-5 times higher than in the "normal period", suggesting a significant increase for the snow melting on the northern Tibetan Plateau due to this fire event. This result suggests that the variability of BC deposition at Muztagh Ata Mountain provides useful information to study the effect of the upward BC emissions on environmental and climate issues in the northern Tibetan Plateau. The radiative effect of BC deposition on the snow melting provides important information regarding the water resources in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intensive sampling campaign of airborne fine particles (PM2.5) was conducted at Sanya, a coastal city in Southern China, from January to February 2012. Chemical analyses and mass reconstruction were used identify potential pollution sources and investigate atmospheric reaction mechanisms. A thermodynamic model indicated that low ammonia and high relative humidity caused the aerosols be acidic and that drove heterogeneous reactions which led to the formation of secondary inorganic aerosol. Relationships among neutralization ratios, free acidity, and air-mass trajectories suggest that the atmosphere at Sanya was impacted by both local and regional emissions. Three major transport pathways were identified, and flow from the northeast (from South China) typically brought the most polluted air to Sanya. A case study confirmed strong impact from South China (e.g., Pearl River Delta region) (contributed 76.8% to EC, and then this result can be extended to primary pollutants) when the northeast winds were dominant. The Weather Research Forecasting Black carbon model and trace organic markers were used to apportion local pollution versus regional contributions. Results of the study offer new insights into the atmospheric conditions and air pollution at this coastal city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highly time-resolved measurements of nitrous acid (HONO) were carried out with a highly sensitive long path absorption photometer (LOPAP) at an urban site of Xi'an in Western China from 24 July to 6 August 2015 to investigate the atmospheric variations, sources, and formation pathways of HONO. The concentrations of HONO vary from 0.02 to 4.3 ppbv with an average of 1.12 ppbv for the entire measurement period. The variation trends of HONO and NO 2 are very similar and positively correlated which, together with the similar diurnal profiles of HONO/NO 2 ratio and HONO, suggest the importance of heterogeneous conversion of HONO from NO 2 . The nocturnal HONO level is governed by heterogeneous formation from NO 2 , followed by homogeneous formation of NO with OH and then by direct emissions. Further, it is found that the heterogeneous formation of HONO is largely affected by relative humidity and aerosol surface. Daytime HONO budget analysis indicates that an additional unknown source with HONO production rate of 0.75 ppbv h − 1 is required to explain the observed HONO concentration, which contributes 60.8% of the observed daytime HONO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PM 2.5 samples were collected in Sanya, China in summer and winter in 2012/2013. Organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), and non-polar organic compounds including n -alkanes ( n -C 14 - n -C 40 ) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were quantified. The concentrations of these carbonaceous matters were generally higher in winter than summer. The estimated secondary organic carbon (OC sec ) accounted for 38% and 54% of the total organic carbon (TOC) in winter and summer, respectively. The higher value of OC sec in addition to the presences of photochemically-produced PAHs in summer supports that photochemical conversions of organics are much active at the higher air temperatures and with stronger intense solar radiation. Carbon preference index (CPI) and percent contribution of wax n -alkanes suggest that anthropogenic sources were more dominant than derivation from terrestrial plants in Sanya. Diagnostic ratios of atmospheric PAHs further indicate that there was a wide mix of pollution sources in winter while fossil fuel combustion was the most dominant in summer. Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) analysis with 18 PAHs in the winter samples found that motor vehicle emissions and biomass burning were the two main pollution sources, contributing 37.5% and 24.6% of the total quantified PAHs, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]