Secondary aerosol formation in winter haze over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region,China

• Characteristics and interannual variation of aerosol pollution are illustrated. • Mechanisms of secondary aerosol formation in winter haze of North China are reviewed. • Directions in future studies of secondary aerosol formation are provided. Severe haze pollution occurs frequently in the winter over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region (China), exerting profound impacts on air quality, visibility, and human health. The Chinese Government has taken strict mitigation actions since 2013 and has achieved a significant reduction in the annual mean PM_2.5 concentration over this region. However, the level of secondary aerosols during heavy haze episodes showed little decrease during this period. During heavy haze episodes, the concentrations of secondary aerosol components, including sulfate, nitrate and secondary organics, in aerosol particles increase sharply, acting as the main contributors to aerosol pollution. To achieve effective control of particle pollution in the BTH region, the precise and complete secondary aerosol formation mechanisms have been investigated, and advances have been made about the mechanisms of gas phase reaction, nucleation and heterogeneous reactions in forming secondary aerosols. This paper reviews the research progress in aerosol chemistry during haze pollution episodes in the BTH region, lays out the challenges in haze formation studies, and provides implications and directions for future research.     

Modeling radiative effects of haze on summer-time convective precipitation over North China: a case study

We modeled the impact of haze radiative effects on precipitation in North China. Shortwave heating induced by haze radiative effects would reduce heavy rainfalls. Convection was the key factor that whether precipitation was enhanced or suppressed. Precipitation was often suppressed where CAPE, RH and updraft velocities were high. The impact of haze radiative effect on summertime 24-h convective precipitation over North China was investigated using WRF model (version 3.3) through model sensitivity studies between scenarios with and without aerosol radiative effects. The haze radiative effect was represented by incorporating an idealized aerosol optical profile, with AOD values around 1, derived from the aircraft measurement into the WRF shortwave scheme. We found that the shortwave heating induced by aerosol radiative effects would significantly reduce heavy rainfalls, although its effect on the post-frontal localized thunderstorm precipitation was more diverse. To capture the key factors that determine whether precipitation is enhanced or suppressed, model grids with 24-h precipitation difference between the two scenarios exceeding certain threshold (>30 mm or<-30 mm) were separated into two sets. Analyses of key meteorological variables between the enhanced and suppressed regimes suggested that atmospheric convection was the most important factor that determined whether precipitation was enhanced or suppressed during summertime over North China. The convection was stronger over places with precipitation enhancement over 30 mm. Haze weakened the convection over places with precipitation suppression exceeding 30 mm and caused less water vapor to rise to a higher level and thus further suppressed precipitation. The suppression of precipitation was often accompanied with relatively high convective available potential energy (CAPE), relative humidity (RH) and updraft velocities.     

Characterization of bacterial communities during persistent fog and haze events in the Qingdao coastal region

• Light haze had little effect on bacterial communities. • Fog and heavy haze had significant effects on these communities. • Air pollution exerted a greater influence than particle size on bacterial community. Here, we report the characteristics of bacterial communities in aerosols with different particle sizes during two persistent fog and haze events in December of 2015 and 2016 in Qingdao, China. In the early stage of pollution, the accumulation of PM_2.5 led to the accumulation of microorganisms, thus increasing the bacterial richness and diversity of fine particle sizes. With the persistence and aggravation of pollution, the toxic effect was strengthened, and the bacterial richness and diversity of each particle size decreased. When the particle concentration was highest, the richness and diversity were low for each particle size. Light haze had little influence on bacterial communities. The occurrence of highly polluted humid weather and heavy haze resulted in significant changes in bacterial community diversity, composition and structure, and air pollution exerted a greater influence than particle size on bacterial community structure. During persistent fog and haze events, with the increase of pollutants, bacteria associated with each particle size may be extensively involved in aerosol chemistry, but the degree of participation varies, which requires further study.     

New insights into the formation of ammonium nitrate from a physical and chemical level perspective

● Factor analysis of ammonium nitrate formation based on thermodynamic theory. ● Aerosol liquid water content has important role on the ammonium nitrate formation. ● Contribution of coal combustion and vehicle exhaust is significant in haze periods. High levels of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) is linked to poor air quality and premature deaths, so haze pollution deserves the attention of the world. As abundant inorganic components in PM_2.5, ammonium nitrate (NH₄NO₃) formation includes two processes, the diffusion process (molecule of ammonia and nitric acid move from gas phase to liquid phase) and the ionization process (subsequent dissociation to form ions). In this study, we discuss the impact of meteorological factors, emission sources, and gaseous precursors on NH₄NO₃ formation based on thermodynamic theory, and identify the dominant factors during clean periods and haze periods. Results show that aerosol liquid water content has a more significant effect on ammonium nitrate formation regardless of the severity of pollution. The dust source is dominant emission source in clean periods; while a combination of coal combustion and vehicle exhaust sources is more important in haze periods. And the control of ammonia emission is more effective in reducing the formation of ammonium nitrate. The findings of this work inform the design of effective strategies to control particulate matter pollution.     

Water spray geoengineering to clean air pollution for mitigating haze in China’s cities

In the past 30 years, China has suffered from air pollution and heavy haze created by fast industrial growth and economic expansion. This article reviews the techniques for remediation of air pollution. Then, I propose a geoengineering method for mitigating air pollution and haze in China’s cities by using water to scavenge air pollution. Here, water should be sprayed into the atmosphere like watering garden. The scientific rationale and mechanism for the geoengineering scheme are explained. It is found that precipitation scavenging coefficients are very sensitive to the size distributions of both aerosol and raindrops, and rain intensity. I found that the water spray geoengineering method can reduce the PM_2.5 pollution in the atmosphere very efficiently to 35 μg m^?3 level in a very short time period from few minutes to hours or days, depending on the precipitation characteristics. In addition, the water spray geoengineering method has excellent advantages such as rapidity, already available technology, low cost, and a nature-like process. This proposed geoengineering scheme can be one of the answers for fighting air pollution in the cities globally.     

天津城区秋冬季黑碳气溶胶观测与分析

利用天津大气边界层观测站2010年9月—2011年1月黑碳气溶胶、PM2.5质量浓度、大气能见度及常规气象观测数据,研究天津城区秋冬季黑碳气溶胶污染特征.结果表明,天津秋冬季黑碳气溶胶质量浓度均值7.24μg.m-3和6.46μg.m-3,分别占PM2.5质量的9.42%和7.98%,其吸收作用分别贡献大气消光的17.2%和17.6%;采用最大频数浓度法计算黑碳浓度本底值为2.50μg.m-3;黑碳浓度的日变化特征与天气过程有关,雾和霾天气下黑碳浓度较高,降水利于清除黑碳污染,秋季高浓度黑碳除局地源污染外,可能还与河北、山西、天津等地燃烧秸秆有关.     

北京地区灰霾污染特征

灰霾天气能见度较低,除影响人们日常生产活动和交通运输外,空气中携带的有毒有害细粒子严重危害人们的生命健康。近几年,北京市加大治霾力度,虽取得一定成绩,但灰霾天气仍然频发。为进一步更好地治理北京灰霾,为制定政策提供依据,须了解北京地区灰霾污染特征,因此,对北京市2013年6月到2014年5月的气象观测数据和PM2.5质量浓度进行了统计分析。文章统计了不同强度灰霾的分布,分析了PM2.5质量浓度与能见度的相关关系,在此基础上,研究了PM2.5质量浓度影响能见度变化程度的分界点。研究结果表明：研究期间,北京地区出现灰霾时总计4572 h,发生频率为56.2%,灰霾日总计233 d,频率为64.4%,呈冬季〉春季〉夏季〉秋季;湿霾最易发生在夏季,干霾最易发生在冬季,分别占当季灰霾时的17.6%和59.0%;全年不同强度霾发生小时数呈现轻微霾〉重度霾〉轻度霾〉中度霾,其中,轻微霾时数1625 h,重度霾1163 h,轻度霾1101 h,中度霾683 h;研究期间PM2.5质量浓度呈夏季低冬季高的显著变化趋势,PM2.5日均质量浓度达一级空气质量标准59 d,达二级标准159 d,达标率分别为17.7%和47.74%;PM2.5小时质量浓度与能见度呈负相关性较高的幂函数关系（置信度取99%,P〈0.01）,无高湿条件影响下,空气中细颗粒物对能见度的影响更为直接;北京地区在改善能见度的过程中,通过降低1μg·m-3的PM2.5,使能见度改善大于或远大于1 km的概率仅为18.9%,而在50.4%的时段内仅能使能见度的改善小于或远小于0.1 km。     

沈阳地区霾的环境特征研究

利用沈阳市1961—2009年的气象资料,分析了霾天气出现的年季特征及其天气形势特征。利用边界层气象资料与污染物质量浓度资料对特定的霾过程从边界层到污染物质量浓度条件进行了分析。结果表明：沈阳地区霾的出现呈现逐年上升的趋势,近5 a平均每年为120 d左右,目前霾天数已经占到了全年的30%~40%。冬秋季节出现霾天气较多,秋冬两季霾日数占全年霾日总数的75%。凌晨到上午是霾出现的高发期,02—08时霾出现频率占总霾数的44.5%。霾的出现主要发生在冬秋季节冷空气势力不强,大气扩散能力较弱,边界层出现逆温时刻。接地逆温层厚度常常稳定在200~300 m高度左右,PM10质量浓度与能见度（霾）呈负相关,相关系数-0.402 7。风速与能见度（霾）呈正相关,相关系数为0.886 4。     

辽宁中部地区灰霾天气气候环境特征

利用的1961—2007年辽宁中部地区6个城市的地面常规气象资料以及2002—2007年的东亚地面和高空天气形势资料,2005—2007污染监测资料,统计分析了辽宁中部地区气候环境特征对灰霾天气形成的有利形势与不利的地面天气形势,对比颗粒物资料与实况资料分析了灰霾天气常见的天气形势。结果表明：由于特殊的环境特征与气象条件,灰霾易发时期为秋冬春季节。不利于大气扩散易形成灰霾天气的地面天气形势可分为高压类、低压类、均压类。蒙古高压、东北地形槽以及长白山小高压等局地不利的天气形式对灰霾天气产生有重要影响。常见灰霾天气形势为冷高压型、占65%左右,低压槽型、占13.5%,冷锋过境型,冷锋前部型以及长白山小高压等。     

广州市灰霾期间大气颗粒物中有机碳和元素碳的粒径分布

使用冲击式采样器(MOUDI)采集广州市灰霾形成过程的大气颗粒物.分析了有机碳(OC)和元素碳(EC).结果表明,灰霾期间大气主要消光部分积聚态颗粒物及其中的OC和EC,在PM10(可吸入颗粒物)中所占的比例及其绝对浓度要远高于正常天气.正常天气OC和EC呈双模态分布,严重灰霾天气EC的粒径分布呈单一模态分布,OC的粒径分布呈双模态分布,峰值都向大粒径方向偏移.结果显示,大气颗粒物、OC和EC在积聚态的大幅度增长是形成灰霾天气的重要原因.     

青岛春节期间大气颗粒物数浓度的变化特征

于2013年春节前后在青岛观测了不同粒径大气颗粒物数浓度,结合同期天气资料,探讨了雾、霾、降雨、降雪以及烟花爆竹燃放对环境空气中颗粒物数浓度的影响。结果表明,青岛环境空气中以〈1.0μm细颗粒物为主,对颗粒物总数浓度的贡献超过95%。雾霾天时,颗粒物数浓度明显高于晴天,尤其是细颗粒物数浓度升高显著,霾天时以0.3-1μm颗粒物的数浓度增幅最大,雾天时则以0.5-2.0μm颗粒物的数浓度增幅最大。降雨、降雪对颗粒物有一定的清除作用,其中对〉2.0μm粗颗粒物的清除作用最为明显。春节期间烟花爆竹的燃放对环境空气中〈1.0μm细颗粒物的贡献显著,所造成的颗粒物污染约为不燃放烟花爆竹时的3倍。     

Oxygen vacancy engineering of photocatalytic nanomaterials for enrichment,activation, and efficient removal of nitrogen oxides with high selectivity: a review

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Air pollution by trace levels of nitric oxide (NO) pollution is threatening human health by causing acid rain and haze pollution through photochemical reactions....     

Integrating models to predict regional haze from wildland fire

Visibility impairment from regional haze is a significant problem throughout the continental United States. A substantial portion of regional haze is produced by smoke from prescribed and wildland fires. Here we describe the integration of four simulation models, an array of GIS raster layers, and a set of algorithms for fire-danger calculations into a modeling framework for simulating regional-scale smoke dispersion. We focus on a representative fire season (2003) in the northwestern USA, on a 12 km domain, and track the simulated dispersion and concentration of PM_2.5 over the course of the season. Simulated visibility reductions over national parks and wilderness areas are within the ranges of measured values at selected monitoring sites, although the magnitudes of peak events are underestimated because these include inputs other than fire. By linking the spatial and temporal patterns of haze-producing emissions to climatic variability, particularly synoptic weather patterns, and the stochastic nature of fire occurrence across the region, we can provide a robust method for estimating the quantity and distribution of fire-caused regional haze under climate-warming scenarios.     

Non-stop industries were the main source of air pollution during the 2020 coronavirus lockdown in the North China Plain

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Despite large decreases of emissions of&nbsp;air pollution during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) lockdown in 2020, an unexpected regional severe haze...     

Spatial and temporal distributions of air pollutant emissions from open crop straw and biomass burnings in China from 2002 to 2016

Environmental Chemistry Letters - Open biomass burning (OBB) with a main contribution from open crop straw burning (OCSB) plays a key role in the formation of heavy haze episodes during harvest...     

龙凤山大气气溶胶散射特性观测分析

利用2018年龙凤山区域大气本底站(简称龙凤山站)气溶胶散射系数、PM₁₀质量浓度及常规气象观测资料,研究了东北本底地区气溶胶散射系数的变化特征.结果表明,2018年龙凤山站3个波长下气溶胶散射系数的均值为(194.1±202.4)Mm^-1(450 nm)、(133.4±139.2)Mm^-1(550 nm)、(81.8±85.3)Mm^-1(700 nm).龙凤山地区散射系数具有明显的日变化特征,且不同季节的日变化特征具有较大区别.龙凤山地区地处相对洁净的背景地区,气溶胶散射系数水平相对较低,春季受局地及长距离风沙的影响散射系数均值较高,冬季东北地区采暖燃烧排放量比较大,大气层相对稳定,不利于气溶胶污染物的扩散,冬季气溶胶散射系数最高.夏秋季受湿沉降与植被条件的影响气溶胶散射系数最低.散射系数与PM₁₀质量浓度相关性较好,相关系数r为0.82.龙凤山PM₁₀的质量散射效率为3.6 m²·g^-1(550 nm).2018年龙凤山PM₁₀气溶胶的散射Angstrom指数(SAE)平均值为1.96±0.25,表明在观测期间气溶胶主要是以较小的粒子主导,夏季的SAE最大,秋季的SAE最低,春季和冬季居中.     

Enrichment and transfer of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) through dust aerosol generation from soil to the air

● Compositional patterns of PAHs in dust aerosol vary from soil during dust generation. ● The EF of PAH in dust aerosol is affected by soil texture and soil PAH concentration. ● The sizes of dust aerosol play an important role in the enrichment of HMW-PAHs. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are major organic pollutants in soil. It is known that they are released to the atmosphere by wind via dust aerosol generation. However, it remains unclear how these pollutants are transferred through the air/soil interface. In this study, dust aerosols were generated in the laboratory using soils (sandy loam and loam) with various physicochemical properties. The PAH concentrations of these soils and their generated dust aerosol were measured, showing that the enrichment factors (EFs) of PAHs were affected by soil texture, PAH contamination level, molecular weight of PAH species and aerosol sizes. The PAHs with higher EFs (6.24–123.35 in dust PM_2.5; 7.02–47.65 in dust PM₁₀) usually had high molecular weights with more than four aromatic rings. In addition, the positive correlation between EFs of PAHs and the total OC_aerosol content of dust aerosol in different particle sizes was also statistically significant (r = 0.440, P < 0.05). This work provides insights into the relationship between atmospheric PAHs and the contaminated soils and the transfer process of PAHs through the soil-air interface.     

春节燃放爆竹对大气气溶胶水溶性无机离子的影响

2007年冬季在兰州市区进行了连续30天的大气气溶胶观测取样,重点对春节燃放与非燃放烟花爆竹期间,大气气溶胶水溶性阴离子(F-、Cl-、NO2-、Br-、NO3-、PO34-、SO23-、SO24-)和水溶性阳离子(Li+、Na+、NH4+、K+、Mg2+、Ca2+)的污染状况做了研究。结果显示:春节燃放烟花爆竹会使大气污染加重,大气气溶胶质量浓度日均值比非燃放期上升了22.4%,其中使气溶胶粗颗粒(TSP)上升5.5%,气溶胶细颗粒(PM10)上升55.1%,呈细粒污染加重现象。部分水溶性离子浓度在燃放期间明显升高。上升幅度最大的是K+,其次为SO32-、NO3-、NH4+、SO42-、Cl-、F-、Mg2+、Li+、NO2-等离子。除夕夜采集的大气气溶胶样品,粗细颗粒中K+浓度分别为27.413μg/m3和26.180μg/m3,比非燃放期平均含量高出10.70倍和11.52倍。     

Improving simulations of sulfate aerosols during winter haze over Northern China: the impacts of heterogeneous oxidation by NO2

Incorporating the missing heterogeneous oxidation of S(IV) by NO₂ into the WRF-Chem model. Sulfate production is not sensitive to increase in SO₂ emission. The newly added reaction reproduces sulfate concentrations well during winter haze. We implemented the online coupled WRF-Chem model to reproduce the 2013 January haze event in North China, and evaluated simulated meteorological and chemical fields using multiple observations. The comparisons suggest that temperature and relative humidity (RH) were simulated well (mean biases are -0.2K and 2.7%, respectively), but wind speeds were overestimated (mean bias is 0.5 m?s⁻¹). At the Beijing station, sulfur dioxide (SO₂) concentrations were overpredicted and sulfate concentrations were largely underpredicted, which may result from uncertainties in SO₂ emissions and missing heterogeneous oxidation in current model. We conducted three parallel experiments to examine the impacts of doubling SO₂ emissions and incorporating heterogeneous oxidation of dissolved SO₂ by nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) on sulfate formation during winter haze. The results suggest that doubling SO₂ emissions do not significantly affect sulfate concentrations, but adding heterogeneous oxidation of dissolved SO₂ by NO₂ substantially improve simulations of sulfate and other inorganic aerosols. Although the enhanced SO₂ to sulfate conversion in the HetS (heterogeneous oxidation by NO₂) case reduces SO₂ concentrations, it is still largely overestimated by the model, indicating the overestimations of SO₂ concentrations in the North China Plain (NCP) are mostly due to errors in SO₂ emission inventory.