Assessing Spatial and Temporal Patterns of Observed Ground-level Ozone in China

Abstract

Elevated ground-level ozone (O3), which is an important aspect of air quality related to public health, has been causing increasing concern. This study investigated the spatiotemporal distribution of ground-level O3 concentrations in China using a dataset from the Chinese national air quality monitoring network during 2013–2015. This research analyzed the diurnal, monthly and yearly variation of O3 concentrations in both sparsely and densely populated regions. In particular, 6 major Chinese cities were selected to allow a discussion of variations in O3 levels in detail, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, Lanzhou, Shanghai, and Urumchi, located on both sides of the Heihe-Tengchong line. Data showed that the nationwide 3-year MDA8 of ground-level O3 was 80.26 μg/m3. Ground-level O3 concentrations exhibited monthly variability peaking in summer and reaching the lowest levels in winter. The diurnal cycle reached a minimum in morning and peaked in the afternoon. Yearly average O3 MDA8 concentrations in Beijing, Chengdu, Lanzhou, and Shanghai in 2015 increased 12%, 25%, 34%, 22%, respectively, when compared with those in 2013. Compared with World Health Organization O3 guidelines, Beijing, Chengdu, Guangzhou, and Shanghai suffered O3 pollution in excess of the 8-hour O3 standard for more than 30% of the days in 2013 to 2015.

Characteristic and Spatiotemporal Variation of Air Pollution in Northern China Based on Correlation Analysis and Clustering Analysis of Five Air Pollutants

“…The variations of O 3 implied a different formation mechanism of O 3 pollution from the other four pollutants (R.‐J. Huang et al, 2014; W. Wang et al, 2017).…”

“…To mitigate air pollution in this area, the Chinese government implemented “Law on the Prevention and Control of Atmospheric Pollution” in 2015. In addition, “2+26” cities were selected with critical strategies in 2017 (H. Li et al, 2018), which were designed to manage the primary‐fuel quality, combustion technology, and emission index for residents and industries (Tan et al, 2016; W. Wang et al, 2017). There is no time to delay to assess the risks arising by air pollution and to improve the air quality for human health.…”

“…Dramatic increase trends of PM2.5 in China continued until 2007 (He et al, 2018; Ma et al, 2015; Van Donkelaar et al, 2014). Besides, ozone pollution has been an increasingly prominent in China and the national yearly concentrations of ozone in 2015 were higher than that in 2013 (W. Wang et al, 2017). Until now many studies revealed that PM 2.5 concentration had a close relationship with multiple geographic and socioeconomic factors (F. Huang et al, 2015; Lin et al, 2014).…”

“…In addition, the associations between PM 2.5 concentration and meteorological factors had also been investigated (Yang et al, 2017; H. Zhang, Wang, et al, 2017). However, few studies focused on the spatial and temporal distribution of air pollution in the Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei transmission corridor and the relationship among different pollutants, including PM 2.5 , SO 2 , NO 2 , CO, and O 3 (Editors, 2019; W. Wang et al, 2017; Westervelt et al, 2019). Additionally, it remains unclear which cities have similar pollution characteristic.…”

Primary and secondary sources of ambient formaldehyde in the Yangtze River Delta based on Ozone Mapping and Profiler Suite (OMPS) observations

“…In recent years, air pollution has become increasingly serious in China (Tang et al, 2012;Shi et al, 2014;Rohde and Muller, 2015), and it currently poses a grievous risk to human health (Wang and Mauzerall, 2006). Previous studies have indicated that air pollution has killed more people worldwide than tuberculosis, AIDS, breast cancer, and malaria (Yang et al, 2013;World Health Organization, 2014a, b).…”