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Background Characteristics of Atmospheric CO2 and the Potential Source Regions in the Pearl River Delta Region of China

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Abstract

Mole fractions of atmospheric CO2 (XCO2) have been continuously measured from October 2014 to March 2016 at the Guangzhou Panyu Atmospheric Composition Site (23.00°N, 113.21°E; 140 m MSL) in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region using a cavity ring-down spectrometer. Approximately 66.63%, 19.28%, and 14.09% of the observed values were filtered as background, pollutant source, and sink due to biospheric uptake, respectively, by applying a robust local regression procedure. Their corresponding mean values were 424.12 ± 10.12 ppm (×10−6 mol mol−1), 447.83 ± 13.63 ppm, and 408.83 ± 7.75 ppm. The background XCO2 levels were highest in spring and winter, moderate in autumn, and lowest in summer. The diurnal XCO2 was at a minimum from 1400–1600 LST (Local Standard Time) and a maximum at 0500 LST the next day. The increase of XCO2 in spring and summer was mainly associated with polluted air masses from south coastal Vietnam, the South China Sea, and the southeast Pearl River Estuary. With the exception of summer, airflow primarily from marine regions southeast of Taiwan that passed over the Pearl River Estuary had a greater impact on XCO2, suggesting an important potential source region.

摘要

城市群大气CO2是全球碳循环的重要组成部分, 对全球增温以及区域气候变化具有显著作用。相对于背景区域而言, 人们对城市地区大气CO2的了解比较有限。探明城市群大气CO2的本底/非本底特征及潜在源区, 对约束和提高大气CO2的模式评估具有重要意义。2014年10月至2016年3月期间, 利用光腔衰荡技术在广州番禺大气成分站(23.00°N, 113.21°E; 140 m MSL)连续在线观测了大气CO2的摩尔分数(XCO2)。利用平均移动过滤法筛分了观测数据的本底、非本底信号。采用72小时后向轨迹聚类分析了大气CO2的长距离输送特征, 结合潜在来源贡献算法区分了CO2的潜在源区。结果表明:在观测期间, 大约66.63%, 19.28%和14.09%的CO2分别为本底值、污染源以及由植被吸收引起的吸收汇, 其浓度分别为424.12 ± 10.12 ppm (×10−6 mol mol−1), 447.83 ± 13.63 ppm 和 408.83 ± 7.75 ppm。大气CO2的本底浓度在春、冬季最高, 秋季居中, 夏季最低, 其日变化均在1400–1600(北京时)出现最低值, 在次日的0500时达到最高值。春、夏季XCO2的抬升主要受到了来自越南南部、南海以及珠江口东南部海域污染气团的影响。除夏季外, 其他季节来自台湾东南部海域再迂回珠江口的气团对XCO2有显著作用, 是重要的潜在源区.

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Acknowledgements

This research work was funded by the National Key R&D Program of China (Grant No. 2018YFC021 3902, 2019YFC0214605, 2016YFC0202000), the open project of the Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (KDW 1803), the Scientific and Technological Innovation Team Project of Guangzhou Joint Research Center of Atmospheric Sciences, China Meteorological Administration (Grant No.201704), the Science and Technology Research Project of Guangdong Meteorological Bureau (Grant No. GRMC2018M01). The availability of the data used in this study is fully described in section 2 of this paper. The authors thank the developers of the HYSPLIT-4. Constructive suggestions from Dr. Timothy LOGAN, as well as from the anonymous reviewers, are greatly appreciated.

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  1. Boru Mai

    Present address: Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters, Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Tropical and Marine Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Guangzhou, 510640, China

    Boru Mai, Xuejiao Deng & Fei Li

  2. College of Global Change and Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, 100875, China

    Fang Zhang

  3. Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Science, University of Maryland, College Park, MD, 20742, USA

    Hao He

  4. Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, 100081, China

    Tian Luan

  5. Guangzhou Meteorological Observatory, Guangzhou, 511430, China

    Xia Liu

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Article Highlights

• Background CO2 mole fractions in the PRD region have been identified.

• Seasonal potential source regions of CO2 mole fractions are determined.

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Mai, B., Deng, X., Zhang, F. et al. Background Characteristics of Atmospheric CO2 and the Potential Source Regions in the Pearl River Delta Region of China. Adv. Atmos. Sci. 37, 557–568 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00376-020-9238-z

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