Air quality and emissions in the Yangtze River Delta, China

Abstract

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 SO 2 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 NO 2 in the YRD in January and July are 0.021 ± 0.009 mg m −3 , and 0.014 ± 0.008 mg m −3 , respectively. The monthly average concentration of PM 10 in the YRD is 0.080 ± 0.028 mg m −3 in January and 0.025 ± 0.015 mg m −3 in July. 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 Correspondence to: C. H. Chen (chench@saes.sh.cn) Zhoushan can be very high, with the highest simulated value reaching 0.24 mg m −3 . In January, the monthly average concentration of O 3 in the YRD is 0.052 ± 0.011 mg m −3 , and 0.054 ± 0.008 mg m −3 in July. 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.

Characteristics of concentrations and chemical compositions for PM<sub>2.5</sub> in the region of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei, China

“…So data for PM 2.5 concentration and composition could not be systematically acquired in most parts of China by now. In China, studies for PM 2.5 have been gradually carried out since 2000, and mainly focused on the urban areas of the Pearl River Delta (Cao et al, 2004;Hagler et al, 2006;Duan et al, 2007;, the Yangtze River Delta (Ye et al, 2003;Yang et al, 2005;Wang et al, 2008;Li et al, 2011), and the BTH region.…”

Impacts of aerosol-radiation feedback on local air quality during a severe haze episode in Nanjing megacity, eastern China

“…Gridded and speciated anthropogenic emission inventory for Nanjing (Fig. S1) is developed by Li, Chen et al (2011). Biogenic emissions are calculated online using the Model of Emissions of Gases and Aerosols from Nature (Guenther et al, 2006).…”

Evolving deltas: Coevolution with engineered interventions

“…These characteristics make mid and low latitude deltas some of the most populated regions in the world, containing one in fourteen of the global population (Day et al, 2016). This in turn has meant that the land cover of many deltas has been significantly altered to primary agricultural uses and dense rural settlement: more recently major cities and megacities have developed on or adjacent to many deltas (Li et al, 2011, Comoretto et al, 2007, Comtois and Dong, 2007, Woodroffe et al, 2006, Saito, 2001.…”