Photochemical properties and source of pollutants during continuous pollution episodes in Beijing, October, 2011

Beijing sufered from serious air pollution in October, 2011 with the occurrence of three continuous episodes. Here we analyze the pollution status of particulate matter, the relationship between the gaseous pollutants, physical and chemical properties of single particles, and the profile of watersoluble ions in PM2.5during the three episodes. Regional and photochemically aged air masses, which were characterized as having high values of O3and SO2, were hypothesized to have played a dominant role in the first episode. After mixing local air masses with freshly-emitted primary pollutants, the concentration of NOx continued to increase and the size of SO4 2, NO3 and NH4 +in the particle population continued to become smaller. The amount of elemental carbon-rich and organic carbonrich particles in the scaled single particles(0.2–2 μm) and water-soluble K+in PM2.5also increased in the episodes. All the available information suggests that the biomass or fuel burning sources in or around Beijing may have had a huge impact on the last two episodes.     

Extreme Nitrogen Oxide and Ozone Concentrations in Athens Atmosphere in Relation to Meteorological Conditions

In the present study, we investigate the variation of NO _x (NO + NO₂) and O₃ concentrations and the relation between the extreme events (episodes) of NO _x and O₃ concentrations and the relevant meteorological conditions in the urban atmosphere of the Athens basin. Hourly data of NO, NO₂ and O₃ concentrations from 10 representative monitoring sites located in the Athens basin were used, covering the 10-year time period from 1994 to 2003. The results of our analysis show that the concentrations of air pollutants differ significantly from one monitoring site to another, due to the location and proximity of each station to the emission sources. For each site, there are also significant differences in NO _x and O₃ concentrations from day to day, as well as from month to month and/or from season to season. The annual and seasonal variations show higher NO values in winter and lower in summer. On the contrary, NO₂ and O₃ values are higher in summer (photochemical production of O₃) and lower in winter. These differences are attributed, to a large extent, to the prevailing synoptic and meteorological conditions, the most important between them being the wind direction and speed as well as the atmospheric pressure. Our analysis of the identified 179 extreme NO _x air pollution events shows that most of them took place under anticyclonic conditions, associated with calm or weak winds (speed <2.5 ms⁻¹) of mostly southern to southwestern directions, as well as with low air temperatures and intense stable surface atmospheric conditions. There exists a significant decreasing tendency in NO _x air pollution episodic events over the 10-year study period, resulting in very few to none events in the period from 2000 to 2003. As far as it concerns the extreme O₃ concentrations, 34 air pollution events were identified, occurring under high air temperatures, variable weak winds and intense solar irradiation. The trends of O₃ concentrations are stronger in suburban sites than in urban ones.     

Characteristics and formation mechanism of regional haze episodes in the Pearl River Delta of China

To investigate the characteristics and the specific mechanism of continuous haze,comprehensive measurements were conducted from 15 October to 19 November in the Atmospheric Environment Monitoring Super-Station in Heshan of Guangdong province.Five haze episodes occurred in October and November 2014 in the Pearl River Delta(PRD)region. The meteorological parameters, gas data, chemical compositions, and optical parameters of the aerosols were obtained. Among these events, the second haze episode,with the highest concentration of PM2.5 of 187.51 μg/m~3, was the most severe. NO~3-was always higher than SO_4~(2-), which indicated that motor vehicles played an important role in the haze, even though the oxidation rate from SO_2 to SO_4~(2-)was faster than that of NOXto NO_3~-. The difference between the hourly averages of Na+and K+during the haze episode and clean days was small, implying that straw combustion and sea salt had no significant effect on the occurrence of haze, and the backward trajectories of the air masses also conformed with this result. The air pollutants were difficult to disperse because of the significant decrease in the planetary boundary layer(PBL) height. Relative humidity played a crucial role in the formation of haze by leading to hygroscopic growth of the diameter of aerosols.     

Intensified wintertime secondary inorganic aerosol formation during heavy haze pollution episodes (HPEs) in Beijing, China

Air pollution in China is complex, and the formation mechanism of chemical components in particulate matter is still unclear. This study selected three consecutive heavy haze pollution episodes (HPEs) during winter in Beijing for continuous field observation, including an episode with heavy air pollution under red alert. Clean days during the observation period were selected for comparison. The HPE characteristics of Beijing in winter were: under the influence of adverse meteorological conditions such as high relative humidity, temperature inversion and low wind speed; and strengthening of secondary transformation reactions, which further intensified the accumulation of secondary aerosols and other pollutants, promoting the explosive growth of PM_2.5. PM_2.5/CO values, as indicators of the contribution of secondary transformation in PM_2.5, were approximately 2 times higher in the HPEs than the average PM_2.5/CO during the clean period. The secondary inorganic aerosols (sulfate nitrate and ammonium salt) were significantly enhanced during the HPEs, and the conversion coefficients were remarkably improved. In addition, it is interesting to observe that the production of sulfate tended to exceed that of nitrate in the late stage of all three HPEs. The existence of aqueous phase reactions led to the explosive growth sulfur oxidation ratio (SOR) and rapid generation of sulfate under high relative humidity (RH>70%).     

A CFD-based approach for gas detectors allocation

Accidental gas releases are detected by allocating sensors in optimal places to prevent escalation of the incident. Gas release effects are typically assessed based on calculating the dispersion from releasing points. In this work, a CFD-based approach is proposed to estimate gas dispersion and then to obtain optimal gas sensors allocation. The Ansys-Fluent commercial package is used to estimate concentrations in the open air by solving the governing equations of continuity, momentum, energy and species convection-diffusion combined with the realizable κ-ε model for turbulence viscosity effects. CFD dynamic simulations are carried out for potential gas leaks, assuming worst-case scenarios with F-stability and 2 m/s wind speed during a 4 min releasing period and considering 8 wind directions. The result is a scenario-based methodology to allocate gas sensors supported on fluid dynamics models. The three x–y–z geographical coordinates for the sensor allocation are included in this analysis. To highlight the methodology, a case study considers releases from a large container surrounded by different types of geometric units including sections with high obstacles, low obstacles, and no obstacles. A non-redundant set of perfect sensors are firstly allocated to cover completely the detection for all simulations releases. The benefits of redundant detection via a MooN voting arranging scheme is also discussed. Numerical results demonstrate the capabilities of CFD simulations for this application and highlight the dispersion effects through obstacles with different sizes.     

驻马店市区采暖季PM2.5时间和空间来源解析研究

为了明确驻马店市区PM_2.5污染特征及贡献源类,2019年1—3月在驻马店市区2个采样点采集PM_2.5样品,分析了其化学组分特征;结合PMF和后向轨迹模型构建了PM_2.5的时间和空间来源解析方法,并对该解析方法进行应用.结果表明:①采暖季,驻马店市区环境空气中ρ(PM_2.5)平均值为117 μg/m3,NO₃-和OC是其主导组分;ρ(OC)和ρ(EC)分别达18.2和5.2 μg/m3,且ρ(OC)/ρ(EC)平均值为3.5,说明机动车源和燃煤源的影响较明显.②ρ(SO₄2-)与ρ(NO₃-)相关性显著(R=0.80,P < 0.01),表明SO₄2-和NO₃-具有较高的同源性.③重污染过程中ρ(SNA)(SNA为SO₄2-、NO₃-和NH₄+三者统称)平均值为61.5 μg/m3,显著高于清洁期;重污染过程中硫氧化率(SOR)和氮氧化率(NOR)分别达0.42和0.39,说明存在明显的二次离子生成过程.④重污染过程中Si、Al、Mg等地壳类元素的浓度和占比均高于清洁期,说明重污染过程中扬尘源的贡献可能较高.⑤来源解析结果表明,二次源是采暖季PM_2.5的最大贡献源,贡献率为32.6%,其次为扬尘和生物质燃烧混合源(26.4%)、机动车源(21.4%)、燃煤源(13.2%)和工业源(6.3%);两次重污染过程中的最大贡献源分别为二次源(54.5%)和机动车源(46.2%),清洁期的主要贡献源主要为二次源(45.2%)和燃煤源(29.8%).从空间变化来看,扬尘和生物质燃烧混合源对天方二分厂的贡献率(29.3%)明显高于对彩印厂的贡献率(23.3%),而燃煤源对彩印厂的贡献率(16.5%)高于对天方二分厂的贡献率(10.1%),其他源类的贡献率相差不大.正东、东南以及西北方向是彩印厂和天方二分厂各类源的主要贡献方向.研究显示:二次源是采暖季、重污染期间和清洁期最大的贡献源;相比于清洁期,重污染期间扬尘和生物质燃烧混合源贡献增加.源类贡献存在空间差异,正东、东南及西北方向是采样点各类源主要贡献方向.