Ambient TSP concentration and dustfall in major cities of China: Spatial distribution and temporal variability

Based on environmental monitoring data in 93 major cities and meteorological records at 398 weather stations in China from 1981 to 2007, total suspended particle (TSP) concentration, the intensity of dustfall, and sand and dust storm frequency (F_d) were analysed. During the past 27 years, the annual average TSP concentration (C_TSP) in 93 cities was 402 μg m^?3. Annual average C_TSP decreased from the north to the south and from inland to the coast areas with a peak value of 628.8 μg m^?3 in Lanzhou. In the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, annual average C_TSP was 628.7, 319.2, and 250.1 μg m^?3, respectively. Annual average intensity of dustfall (I_d) was 240.5 t km^?2 a^?1, decreased from northern to southern China and from inland to the coast areas with the maximum value of 717.2 t km^?2 a^?1 in Baotou. In the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s, annual average I_d was 334.8, 220.9, 146 t km^?2 a^?1 respectively. Annual average I_d in the Loess Plateau region was commonly higher than 200 t km^?2 a^?1. The annual average F_d decreased from arid regions in northwestern China to humid areas in southeastern China with two sand and sand storm centers existing in Xinjiang Taklamakan Desert and western Inner Mongolia. The annual average F_d in the 1980s, 1990s, 2000s was 16, 8, 6 days respectively, decreased steadily from 18 days in 1981–5 days in 2007. Annual average I_d had a positive linear relation to annual average C_TSP (R² = 0.96). Annual average F_d had a positive relation with annual average C_TSP (R² = 0.97) as well as annual average I_d (R² = 0.94). TSP was the chief pollutant influencing Air Pollution Index (API) in northern China in spring and winter seasons. Sand and dust storm might be a major factor affecting the temporal variability and spatial distribution of TSP and dustfall in China.     

Soil CO2 fluxes from direct seeding rice fields under two tillage practices in central China

Agricultural practices affect the production and emission of carbon dioxide (CO₂) from paddy soils. It is crucial to understand the effects of tillage and N fertilization on soil CO₂ flux and its influencing factors for a better comprehension of carbon dynamics in subtropical paddy ecosystems. A 2-yr field study was conducted to assess the effects of tillage (conventional tillage [CT] and no-tillage [NT]) and N fertilization (0 and 210 kg N ha^?1) on soil CO₂ fluxes during the 2008 and 2009 rice growing seasons in central China. Treatments were established following a split-plot design of a randomized complete block with tillage practices as the main plot and N fertilizer level as the split-plot treatment. The soil CO₂ fluxes were measured 24 times in 2008 and 17 times in 2009. N fertilization did not affect soil CO₂ emissions while tillage affected soil CO₂ emissions, where NT had similar soil CO₂ emissions to CT in 2008, but in 2009, NT significantly increased soil CO₂ emissions. Cumulative CO₂ emissions were 2079–2245 kg CO₂–C ha^?1 from NT treatments, and 2084–2141 kg CO₂–C ha^?1 from CT treatments in 2008, and were 1257–1401 kg CO₂–C ha^?1 from NT treatments, and 1003–1034 kg CO₂–C ha^?1 from CT treatments in 2009, respectively. Cumulative CO₂ emissions were significantly related to aboveground biomass and soil organic C. Before drainage of paddy fields, soil CO₂ fluxes were significantly related to soil temperature with correlation coefficients (R) of 0.67–0.87 in 2008 and 0.69–0.85 in 2009; moreover, the Q₁₀ values ranged from 1.28 to 1.55 and from 2.10 to 5.21 in 2009, respectively. Our results suggested that NT rice production system appeared to be ineffective in decreasing carbon emission, which suggested that CO₂ emissions from integrated rice-based system should be taken into account to assess effects of tillage.     

Simulating chemistry–aerosol–cloud–radiation–climate feedbacks over the continental U.S. using the online-coupled Weather Research Forecasting Model with chemistry (WRF/Chem)

The chemistry–aerosol–cloud–radiation–climate feedbacks are simulated using WRF/Chem over the continental U.S. in January and July 2001. Aerosols can reduce incoming solar radiation by up to ?9% in January and ?16% in July and 2-m temperatures by up to 0.16 °C in January and 0.37 °C in July over most of the continental U.S. The NO₂ photolysis rates decrease in July by up to ?8% over the central and eastern U.S. where aerosol concentrations are high but increase by up to 7% over the western U.S. in July and up to 13% over the entire domain in January. Planetary boundary layer (PBL) height reduces by up to ?23% in January and ?24% in July. Temperatures and wind speeds in July in big cities such as Atlanta and New York City reduce at/near surface but increase at higher altitudes. The changes in PBL height, temperatures, and wind speed indicate a more stable atmospheric stability of the PBL and further exacerbate air pollution over areas where air pollution is already severe. Aerosols can increase cloud optical depths in big cities in July, and can lead to 500–5000 cm^?3 cloud condensation nuclei (CCN) at a supersaturation of 1% over most land areas and 10–500 cm^?3 CCN over ocean in both months with higher values over most areas in July than in January, particularly in the eastern U.S. The total column cloud droplet number concentrations are up to 4.9 × 10⁶ cm^?2 in January and up to 11.8 × 10⁶ cm^?2 in July, with higher values over regions with high CCN concentrations and sufficient cloud coverage. Aerosols can reduce daily precipitation by up to 1.1 mm day^?1 in January and 19.4 mm day^?1 in July thus the wet removal rates over most of the land areas due to the formation of small CCNs, but they can increase precipitation over regions with the formation of large/giant CCN. These results indicate potential importance of the aerosol feedbacks and an urgent need for their accurate representations in current atmospheric models to reduce uncertainties associated with climate change predictions.     

Emission factors and particulate matter size distribution of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from residential coal combustions in rural Northern China

Coal consumption is one important contributor to energy production, and is regarded as one of the most important sources of air pollutants that have considerable impacts on human health and climate change. Emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from coal combustion were studied in a typical stove. Emission factors (EFs) of 16 EPA priority PAHs from tested coals ranged from 6.25 ± 1.16 mg kg^?1 (anthracite) to 253 ± 170 mg kg^?1 (bituminous), with NAP and PHE dominated in gaseous and particulate phases, respectively. Size distributions of particulate phase PAHs from tested coals showed that they were mostly associated with particulate matter (PM) with size either between 0.7 and 2.1 μm or less than 0.4 μm (PM_0.4). In the latter category, not only were more PAHs present in PM_0.4, but also contained higher fractions of high molecular weight PAHs. Generally, there were more than 89% of total particulate phase PAHs associated with PM_2.5. Gas-particle partitioning of freshly emitted PAHs from residential coal combustions were thought to be mainly controlled by absorption rather than adsorption, which is similar to those from other sources. Besides, the influence of fuel properties and combustion conditions was further investigated by using stepwise regression analysis, which indicated that almost 57 ± 10% of total variations in PAH EFs can be accounted for by moisture and volatile matter content of coal in residential combustion.     

剩余污泥减量化工艺条件优化研究

运用超声处理连续流活性污泥系统中不同种类的污泥,并将其回流至原系统中,研究其剩余污泥减量化效果。按正交实验设计并进行试验,确定最优工艺条件。结果表明:当声能密度为0.6 W/mL,作用时间为5 min,超声污泥为混合污泥,回流比为7∶120时,减量效果最佳。且在该条件下经一周期的运行,污泥减量效果达到96.24%,COD由进水的830 mg/L降至44 mg/L,NH4+-N和TN分别由进水的62.43 mg/L和103.19 mg/L,降解到2.31 mg/L和6.52 mg/L,达到《城镇污水处理厂污染物排放标准》(GB18918-2002)一级排放标准。     

地下渗滤系统处理农村生活污水的研究

在天津武清区一村落构建了2个并行的地下渗滤系统,考察了其对农村生活污水的处理效果。该系统水力负荷为10 cm/d,处理能力为50 t/d。填充介质选用土壤、陶粒、炉渣和两种自然有机质,按5∶2∶2∶1的比例配置的人工土层。结果表明地下渗滤系统对污水中各种主要污染因子均有一定的去除效果,在进水COD和C/N较低的不利条件下,COD、总磷、氨氮、总氮、悬浮物均得到有效去除,出水中各项污染指标平均浓度均达到《城镇污水处理厂污染物排放标准》中的一级A标准;具体到不同的污染指标,添加了不同有机质的2个并行系统的处理效果也有所不同。总体上看,地下渗滤系统作为农村生活污水的处理设施有很好的应用前景。     

1949年以来中国环境与发展关系的演变

从IPAT方程出发,发现了环境影响随着经济发展或时间的演变依次遵循三个"倒U型"曲线规律,即环境影响强度的倒U型曲线、人均环境影响的倒U型曲线和环境影响总量的倒U型曲线。根据此规律,可以将该演化过程划分为四个阶段即:环境影响强度高峰前阶段、环境影响强度高峰到人均环境影响量高峰阶段、人均环境影响量高峰到环境影响总量高峰阶段以及环境影响总量稳定下降阶段。在环境演变的不同阶段,主要驱动力存在着明显的差异。在环境影响强度高峰前阶段,资源消耗或污染物排放增长更多地由资源或污染密集型技术进步驱动;在资源消耗或污染物强度高峰到人均资源消耗或污染物排放高峰阶段,主要由经济增长驱动;而在人均资源消耗或污染物排放高峰到资源消耗或污染物排放总量高峰阶段以及总量高峰以后的发展阶段,则主要由节约高效技术或污染减排技术进步来驱动。实证分析表明,中国目前环境与发展关系基本上处于经济增长主要驱动的环境影响强度高峰向人均环境影响高峰过渡阶段,这同时意味着中国要在短期内实现人均环境影响和环境影响总量高峰的跨越是异常困难的。     

资源型城市贵阳市的生态可持续发展研究

生态可持续发展是资源型城市可持续发展的基础。应用生态足迹的方法,对资源型城市贵阳市的生态可持续发展做了定量评估,并分析了影响贵阳市生态可持续发展的社会经济驱动力。贵阳市1999年-2007年间生态足迹从1.447 hm2/cap增长到2.472hm2/cap,而生态承载力从0.551 hm2/cap下降至0.509 hm2/cap,生态足迹远超出生态承载力,生态系统处于不可持续发展状况。但贵阳市生态效率在不断改善,从1999年的0.500万元GDP/hm2生态足迹增长到2007年的0.787万元GDP/hm2生态足迹,生态系统改善仍存在一定契机。人口增加、能耗增加等因素会导致贵阳市生态足迹增加,而增加农作物播种面积则可减少生态足迹。应用生态足迹的方法,有利于分析资源型城市可持续发展的相关问题,最后就如何缓解贵阳市生态系统压力,促进贵阳市生态可持续发展进行了探讨。     

基于GIS的景观生态功能指标分析

针对当前我国规划及战略环评指标体系中缺乏直接反映生态功能指标的问题,提出可通过系统研究区域景观生态结构与景观功能变化间的关系,由斑块面积指数计算生物生产力、由景观香农多样性指数和景观香农均匀度指数反映生态质量,以此表征景观生态功能。以地理信息系统（GIS）为平台,提出了利用基于斑块面积而得到的景观要素转移矩阵及基于年鉴统计而得到的景观单位面积生物生产力的转移矩阵来计算生物生产力的方法,并在统计若干研究流域景观格局异质性指数文献的基础上发掘了景观多样性指数、景观均匀度指数与生态质量间的关系。最后,以江苏省沿江地区2000、2004年的数据开展了实例分析,结果表明,提出的生物生产力和生态质量这两个指标确实能反映区域景观功能的变化,在今后的规划和战略环评中具有一定的应用前景.     

泰州市建设用地扩展规律与格局演化研究

以多时相Landsat、TM/ETM卫星影像为数据源,运用GIS软件提取泰州市建设用地1988～2008年5个时相的用地信息,运用扩展强度指数、扩展速度指数、空间自相关等方法分析泰州市建设用地扩展时空特征和演化规律。结果表明:(1)泰州建设用地扩展经历了缓慢扩展、中速扩展、缓慢扩展3个阶段,显示了建设用地逐步走向集约利用的趋势;(2)在分析泰州建设用地不同扩展阶段的基础上,发现泰州建设用地扩展模式正处于从点状扩展向点轴扩展转变阶段,并出现了网络化扩展的端倪;(3)运用空间自相关分析了泰州建设用地扩展热点演化过程,发现扩展热点呈现跳跃迁移的特征,热点区与冷点区出现交替演化,Moran散点图体现了泰州市建设用地扩展处于空间极化的状态,外围城镇受中心城镇增长极带动发展的扩展模式。