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Numerical Simulations on the Effect of Sea–Land Breezes on Atmospheric Haze over the Pearl River Delta Region

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Abstract

The atmospheric haze over the Pearl River Delta (PRD) was investigated by using the Models-3 Community Multi-scale Air Quality modeling system with meteorological fields simulated by the Fifth-generation National Center for Atmospheric Research/Penn State University Mesoscale Model (MM5) from September 26th to September 30th, 2004. The model-simulated meteorological elements and particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 μm (PM10) were compared with observations at four air quality-monitoring stations. The results showed that MM5 successfully reproduced the diurnal variations of temperature, wind speed, and wind directions at these stations. The temporal variations of the simulated values were consistent with those of the observed (such as temperature, wind speed, and wind direction). The correlation coefficient was 0.91 for temperature and 0.56 for wind speed. The modeling results show that the spatial distributions of simulated PM10 were closely related to the source emissions indicating three maxima of PM10 over the PRD. The sea–land breezes diurnal cycle played a significant role in the redistribution and transport of PM10. Nighttime land breeze could transport PM10 to the coast and the sea, while daytime sea breeze (SB) could carry the accumulated PM10 offshore back to the inland cities. PM10 could also be transported vertically to a height of up to about 1000 m because of strong turbulence in the SB front. Process analyses indicated that the emission sources and the vertical diffusion were the major processes to influence the concentrations of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5).

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the National Hi-Tech Research and Development Program of China (the 863-Program; no. 2006AA12Z207), a Hong Kong RGC grant (reference no. CUHK 447807), and the National Key Program for Developing Basic Research (the 973-Program; no. 2002CB410801). The authors thank the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for making the graphic data available through the internet (http://ccar.ust.hk/). These data include massive observations of air pollutants and meteorological data. Gratitude is also extended to the Hong Kong Environmental Protection Agency, The City University of Hong Kong, Macao Geophysical and Meteorological Bureau, Guangdong Provincial Environmental Protection Bureau, and Guangzhou Municipal Environmental Protection Bureau for providing concentrations data and emission inventories. These data greatly facilitated our work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Monsoon and Environmental Research Center, Department of Atmospheric Sciences, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, 510275, China

    Chen Xun-lai, Li Jiang-nan, Lin Wen-shi, Fan Shao-jia & Wang An-yu

  2. Guangzhou Central Meteorological Observatory, Guangzhou, 510080, China

    Feng Ye-rong

  3. Macao Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau, Macao, China

    Fong Soikun

  4. Institute of Space and Earth Information Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

    Lin Hui

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  1. Chen Xun-lai
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Correspondence to Chen Xun-lai.

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Xun-lai, C., Ye-rong, F., Jiang-nan, L. et al. Numerical Simulations on the Effect of Sea–Land Breezes on Atmospheric Haze over the Pearl River Delta Region. Environ Model Assess 14, 351–363 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10666-007-9131-5

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