Transport, mixing, and feedback of dust, biomass burning and anthropogenic pollutants in eastern Asia: A case study

Abstract

15Anthropogenic fossil fuel (FF) combustion, biomass burning (BB) and desert dust are main sources of air pollutants around the globe. The emission of the three sources in Asia are all very intensive and their influences on air quality is very important, especially in spring. In this study, we investigate the vertical distribution, transport characteristics, source contribution, and meteorological feedback of the dust, BB and FF aerosols in a unique pollution episode occurred in eastern Asia based on various measurement data and modelling methods. Ground-based observations indicated a persistent pollution episode 20 dramatically changing from secondary fine particulate pollution to dust pollution in late March 2015 over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, eastern China. The online-coupled meteorology-chemistry-aerosol modelling together with Lagrangian particle dispersion simulations were conducted to investigate the vertical structure, transport characteristics and mechanisms of the multi-scale, multi-source, and multi-day air pollution episode. The regional polluted continental aerosols mainly accumulated near surface by local anthropogenic emissions mixed with dust aerosols, downwash from the upper planetary 25 boundary layer (PBL) and middle/lower troposphere (MLT), and further transported downwardly by large-scale cold fronts and warm conveyor belts. BB smoke from the Southeast Asia, mainly from forest burning in Indochina, were transported by westerlies around the altitude of 3 km from southern China to eastern China, further mixed with dust and FF aerosols in eastern China and experienced long-range transport over the subtropical Pacific Ocean. The three pollutant sources could all transport Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2018-466 Manuscript under review for journal Atmos. Chem. Phys. climate impacts of these pollution sources in regional even global scales.

Key Points in Air Pollution Meteorology

“…They concluded that cold fronts may be seen as potential carriers of atmospheric pollutants. Similarly, Zhou et al [ 32 ] considered the influence of large-scale cold fronts and warm conveyor belts on the transport of continental aerosols located near the surface mixed with aerosols from the upper planetary boundary layer and middle troposphere. Finally, Song et al [ 33 ] analysed a dust storm event in Northern China in early May 2017 and concluded that the front’s activity was associated with increased wind speed and dust emission.…”

Aerosol‐Radiation Interactions of Dust Storm Deteriorate Particle and Ozone Pollution in East China

“…In fact, particulate matter and ozone pollution could be frequently observed in this region due to high intensity of human activities (Fu et al., 2008; L. Li et al., 2011). Besides, YRD also suffers from long‐range transported mineral dust from inland source regions such as Gobi Desert, which is often mixed with anthropogenic pollutants (X. X. Zhang et al., 2018; Zhou et al., 2018). Such mixing can contribute to the deterioration of air quality in two ways.…”