Distribution and health risks of aerosol black carbon in a representative city of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Wu, Jun; Lu, Jian; Min, Xiuyun; Zhang, Zhenhua

doi:10.1007/s11356-018-2141-9

Research Article
Published: 04 May 2018

Distribution and health risks of aerosol black carbon in a representative city of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau

Jun Wu^1,2,
Jian Lu³,
Xiuyun Min^1,2 &
Zhenhua Zhang⁴

Environmental Science and Pollution Research volume 25, pages 19403–19412 (2018)Cite this article

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Abstract

Although aerosol black carbon (BC) exerts strong influences on human health, research on potential health risks of aerosol BC around the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is very limited. This is the very first study to investigate the distribution of aerosol BC in a typical city of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the resulting health risks. The results showed that the maximal real-time (5-min monitoring interval) concentration of aerosol BC was 22.34 μg/m³, much higher than day- and week-averaged concentrations which were in the range of 1.28–6.15 and 1.93–4.63 μg/m³, respectively. The health risks were evaluated using four different health endpoints including low birth weight (LBW), percentage lung function decrement of school-aged children (PLFD), cardiovascular mortality (CM), and lung cancer (LC). The highest risks of LBW, PLFD, CM, and LC had reached 69.5, 184.4, 67.4, and 31.8 numbers of equivalent passively smoked cigarettes (PSC), respectively. The concentrations and health risks of aerosol BC in the study area are at a middle level among the global cities/regions. In comparison, the cities of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau are experiencing high potential health risks resulting from aerosol BC to need more effective prevention and control of air pollution.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Yang Liu at The University of Western Ontario for polishing the manuscript. The authors would like to thank the reviewers for their valuable suggestions and comments on the manuscript.

Funding

This work was supported by One Hundred Talents Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant numbers of Y610061033 and Y629041021), National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 41671319), Thousand Talents Plan of Qinghai Province (Y740171071), and Two-Hundred Talents Plan of Yantai (Y739011021).

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Key Laboratory of Comprehensive and Highly Efficient Utilization of Salt Lake Resources, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining, Qinghai, 810008, China
Jun Wu & Xiuyun Min
Qinghai Provincial Key Laboratory of Geology and Environment of Salt Lakes, Xining, Qinghai, 810008, China
Jun Wu & Xiuyun Min
Key Laboratory of Coastal Environmental Processes and Ecological Remediation, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Yantai, Shandong, 264003, China
Jian Lu
School of Resources and Environmental Engineering, Ludong University, Yantai, Shandong, 264025, China
Zhenhua Zhang

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Jun Wu
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Jian Lu
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Xiuyun Min
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Zhenhua Zhang
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Correspondence to Jian Lu.

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Wu, J., Lu, J., Min, X. et al. Distribution and health risks of aerosol black carbon in a representative city of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 19403–19412 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2141-9

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Received: 17 December 2017
Accepted: 25 April 2018
Published: 04 May 2018
Issue Date: July 2018
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2141-9

Keywords

Aerosol black carbon
The Qinghai-Tibet Plateau
Distribution
Health risk