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Characterization of particulate matter and its extinction ability during different seasons and weather conditions in Sinkiang, China: two case studies

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Abstract

The Sinkiang Uygur Autonomous Region is located in western China and the centre of the Asian–European continent, which frequently suffers from sandstorm disasters and haze weathers. A 1-year measurement campaign in two selected points in Shihezi and Urumqi of Sinkiang was conducted to characterise the effects of particle matters and factors on particle extinction under different weather conditions. Results showed that the average concentration of PM1–2.5 was 19.83, 9.230, 28.93 and 122.4 μg/m3 in Shihezi and 67.25, 16.80, 59.19 and 324.0 μg/m3 in Urumqi for spring, summer, autumn and winter, respectively. PM5–10 concentrations can reach up to 500.0 and 160.0 μg/m3 during polluted weather conditions in Shihezi and Urumqi, respectively. PM5–10 also accounted for the largest fraction in Shihezi and Urumqi for all types of weather, reaching up to 40.0% under dusty weather conditions. PM1–2.5 significantly increased during winter possibly due to the increased demand for heating compared with non-heating periods. PM0.5–1 is possibly produced from motor vehicle exhaust. Particle size is concluded to be the dominant factor for particle extinction capability under fine weather based on calculations of aerosol optical properties. The refractive index for a particle with a diameter of 100 μm (3.10–3.11i) is substantially larger than that with a diameter of 0.5000 μm (1.600–0.07000i), but the extinction capability of the latter is 1.30 times that of the former. Comparatively, when the mass concentration of coarse particles is over 17.0 times that of the fine particles, and then mass concentration becomes the dominant factor. Therefore, visibility is negatively correlated to particle mass variations during dust storms and hazy days but not for fine days.

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Funding

This study was financially sponsored by the National Science Foundation of China (No. 91543120 and No. 51308216), and Shanghai natural science fund (No. 14ZR1435600.)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, China

    Lina Wang, Shengqiang Zhu & Jianmin Chen

  2. Shanghai Institute of Eco-Chongming, Shanghai, 200062, China

    Lina Wang & Jianmin Chen

  3. Key Laboratory for Green Processing of Chemical Engineering of Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi, 832003, China

    Zilong Liu & Jianjiang Lu

  4. State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Risk Assessment and Control on Chemical Process, East China University of Science and Technology, Shanghai, 200237, China

    Zhiyuan Xiang & Jian Lan

  5. School of Municipal and Environmental Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

    Jing Liu

  6. China Jiliang University, Hangzhou, 310028, China

    Mingzhou Yu

  7. Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, LA1 4YQ, UK

    Ying Chen

Authors
  1. Lina Wang
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  2. Shengqiang Zhu
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  3. Zilong Liu
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  4. Jianjiang Lu
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  5. Zhiyuan Xiang
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  6. Jian Lan
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  7. Jing Liu
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  8. Mingzhou Yu
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  9. Ying Chen
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  10. Jianmin Chen
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Correspondence to Zilong Liu.

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Responsible editor: Constantini Samara

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Capsule: Regarding the particle extinction capability in Singkiang, particle size and mass are the dominant factors for fine and haze and dust storm weathers, respectively.

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Wang, L., Zhu, S., Liu, Z. et al. Characterization of particulate matter and its extinction ability during different seasons and weather conditions in Sinkiang, China: two case studies. Environ Sci Pollut Res 27, 22414–22422 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08772-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-08772-7

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