The spatiotemporal characteristics of the air pollutants in China from 2015 to 2019

Abstract

China's rapid industrialization and urbanization have led to poor air quality, and air pollution has caused great concern among the Chinese public. Most analyses of air pollution trends in China are based on model simulations or satellite data. Studies using field observation data and focusing on the latest data from environmental monitoring stations covering the whole country to assess the latest trends of different pollutants in different regions are relatively rare. The State Council of China promulgated the toughest-ever Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (Action Plan) in 2013. This led to a major improvement in air quality. We use the hourly Air Quality Index (AQI) and mass concentrations of PM 2.5 , PM 10 , CO, NO 2 , O 3 , and SO 2 in 362 cities from 2015 to 2019, obtained from the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, to study their temporal and spatial changes and assess the effectiveness of the policy on the atmospheric environment since its promulgation and implementation. We found that the national and regional air quality in China continues to improve, with PM 2.5 , PM 10 , AQI, CO, and SO 2 exhibiting negative trends. However, O 3 and NO 2 pollution is an urgent problem that needs to be solved and the current control strategy for PM 2.5 will only partially reduce the PM 2.5 pollution in the western region. Although the implementation of "Action Plan" measures has effectively improved air quality, China's air pollution is still serious and far from the WHO standard. Implementing measures for continuous and effective emissions control is still a top priority.

How Does Local Real Estate Investment Influence Neighborhood PM2.5 Concentrations? A Spatial Econometric Analysis

“…Recent studies have largely been concerned with the source and chemical composition of PM 2.5 [19][20][21], its impact on human health [5,[22][23][24][25], and its temporal-spatial distribution and driving factors [19,[26][27][28][29]. When it comes to pollution sources, research identifies that natural factors [30,31] and socioeconomic factors are key contributors to levels of PM 2.5 .…”

“…Each has its advantages and drawbacks, but it is worth noting that current methods have proven to be measurable and with specified analysis and software. For example, a great deal of academic work has involved grey relational analysis [41], geographically weighted regression (GWR) [42], visualization and spatial measurement methods using ArcGIS, MATLAB, STARS, and others [26,28,43], geographical detector models [44], Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) models [45][46][47], and the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) decomposition method [48]. Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory Models (HYSPLIT-4), Potential Source Contribution Function (PSCF), and Concentration Weighted Trajectory (CWT) are commonly associated with the trans-regional transportation of atmospheric particulates and the identification of potential source regions.…”

The Temporal And Spatial Changes Of Beijing’s Pm _2.5 Concentration And Its Relationship With Meteorological Factors From 2015 To 2020

“…The data used in this article can be downloaded from http://beijingair.sinaapp.com/. Other researchers who used these data (Guo et al 2020;Silver et al2018;Guo et al 2019;Fan et al2020;Rohde and Muller 2015;Liang et al2016;Leung et al 2018).…”

“…The temporal and spatial characteristics of air pollutants in China from 2015 to 2019 were studied, and except for O3, the mass concentration of PM 2.5 and other pollutants decreased (Guo et al 2020). Other authors have performed similar studies (Guo et al 2019;Fan et al 2020). However, most of them take the whole country as the research object and there are relatively few specific studies on PM 2.5 in Beijing using the new monitoring stations.…”

“…For example, according to data from 1,689 sites from 2015 to 2017, China's PM 2.5 and SO 2 showed a downward trend, O 3 showed an upward trend, and NO 2 showed little change (Silver et al 2018). The temporal and spatial characteristics of air pollutants in China from 2015 to 2019 were studied, and except for O3, the mass concentration of PM 2.5 and other pollutants decreased (Guo et al 2020). Other authors have performed similar studies (Guo et al 2019;Fan et al 2020).…”