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Atmospheric nitrogen deposition is an essential component of acid deposition and serves as one of main sources of nitrogen of the ecosystem. Along with rapidly developed economy, it is expected that the nitrogen deposition in Guangdong province is considerably large, due to substantial anthropogenic reactive nitrogen lost to the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region, one of the most developed region in China. However, characterization of chemical compositions of inorganic nitrogen (IN) deposition and quantification of nitrogen deposition fluxes in time and space in Guangdong province were seldom conducted, especially using a numerical modeling approach. In this study, we established a WRF/SMOKE-PRD/CMAQ model system and expanded 2006-based PRD regional emission inventories to Guangdong provincial ones, including SO 2 , NOx, VOC, PM 10 , PM 2.5 , and NH 3 emissions for modeling nitrogen deposition in Guangdong province. Observations, including meteorological observed data, rainfall data, ground-level criteria pollutant measurements, satellite-derived data, and nitrogen deposition fluxes from field measurements were employed in the evaluation of model performance. Results showed that annual nitrogen deposition fluxes in the PRD region and Guangdong province were 31.01 kg N hm −1 a −1 and 26.03 kg N hm −1 a −1 , dominated by NH x (including NH 3 and NH 4 + ), with a percentage of 63% and 71% of the total deposition flux of IN, respectively. The ratio of dry deposition to wet deposition was approximately 2:1 in the PRD region and about 3:2 in the whole Guangdong province. IN deposition was mainly distributed in the PRD region, Chaozhou, and Maoming, which was similar to the spatial distributions of NOx and NH 3 emissions. The spatial distributions of chemical compositions of IN deposition implied that NH 3 –N and NOx-N tended to deposit in places close to emission sources, while spatial distributions of aerosol NH 4 + − N and NO 3 − − N usually exhibited broader deposition areas, along with long-range transport of fine particles. Distinct temporal trends were found in IN components, especially for wet depositions, with peak values in August. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An emission pre-processing tool is generally needed to transform a bulk annual emission inventory into gridded, temporal (monthly, weekly, and hourly), and speciated emissions in order to use complex air quality models such as the Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to assess control strategies, forecast air quality, and investigate pollution formation and transport processes. To support the regional air quality modeling in the Pearl River Delta (PRD), we developed an emission pre-processing system, Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions-PRD (SMOKE-PRD), based on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)/SMOKE model. This paper introduces the methods and procedures for adapting the SMOKE model to the PRD regional bulk emissions. These include the compilation of the PRD local source-class clarification codes, the incorporation of the PRD local emission inventory, and the updating of spatial, temporal, and chemical speciation information. The SMOKE-PRD system was evaluated, and a case study on ozone simulation was conducted to demonstrate the applicability of the SMOKE-PRD system. Results show that the model can properly simulate temporal variations, spatial patterns, and peak values of O3 concentrations in the PRD region, suggesting the SMOKE-PRD system was successfully localized and can be used to provide model-ready emissions for regional air quality modeling in the PRD region. This work can be extended for adapting the SMOKE model to process emissions for modeling use in other regions of China. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In recent decades, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region located in south China has been experiencing severe air pollution, arising from the rapid increase in industry and motor vehicles. As a major contributing source to VOCs and NOx emissions, control of vehicular emissions plays a very important role in improving regional air quality. By taking 2015 as a target year, this paper assessed the impacts of five possible motor vehicle emission control measures and a combined policy scenario on ambient air quality in the PRD region, with the use of the Model-3/CMAQ (Community Multi-scale Air Quality) model. The results show: (1) an overall decreasing pattern in SO2, NO2 and PM10 concentrations was found in central-south metropolitan areas of the PRD region for all measures, but increased O3 concentrations may occur in these areas as well. The exception to this is that a slight decrease was observed for the cases of motorcycle restriction and introduction of HEV; (2) upgrading to National IV emission standards is the most effective individual measure and can reduce daily averaged NO2 and PM10 concentrations by 11.7ppbV and 21.3μgm−3, respectively; but involves an increase (at maximum) of 10.3ppbV in O3 concentration. Evaluation of the combined scenario indicates that solely controlling motor vehicle emissions is not sufficient to improve PRD regional air quality significantly. O3 and PM10 concentrations under the same VOC/NOx reduction ratios exhibit differently at different locations, suggesting that integrated and location-specific pollution control strategies, considering co-control of multi-pollutants, are needed in this region in order to decrease primary and secondary pollutant concentrations simultaneously. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]