Abstract
Taiyuan frequently experiences heavy PM2.5 pollution in winter under unfavorable meteorological conditions. To understand how the meteorological factors influence the pollution in Taiyuan, this study involved a systematic analysis for a continuous period from November 2016 to January 2017, using near-surface meteorological observations, radiosonde soundings, PM2.5 measurements, and three-dimension numerical simulation, in combination with backward trajectory calculations. The results show that PM2.5 concentration positively correlates with surface temperature and relative humidity and anti-correlates with near-surface wind speed and boundary layer height (BLH). The low BLH is often associated with a strong thermal inversion layer capping over. In addition to the high local emissions, it is found that under certain synoptic conditions, the southwesterly and southerly winds could bring pollutants from Linfen to Taiyuan, leading to a near-surface PM2.5 concentration higher than 200 μg m−3. Another pollution enhancing issue is due to the semi-closed basin of Taiyuan affecting the planetary boundary layer (PBL): the surrounding mountains favor the formation of a cold air pool in the basin, which inhibits vertical exchanges of heat, flux, and momentum between PBL and the free troposphere, resulting in stagnant conditions and poor air quality in Taiyuan. These findings can be utilized to improve the understanding of PM2.5 pollution in Taiyuan, to enhance the accuracy of forecasting pollution, and to provide scientific support for policy makers to mitigate the pollution.
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Acknowledgements
This study is supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFC0209000, 2017YFC1501401, and 2017YFA0603501), National Natural Science Foundation of China under grants 41705002 and 41771399, and Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences under grants 2017Z005 and 2017Y002. The WRF simulations were conducted using the National Air Quality High Resolution Forecasting and Pollution Control Decision Support systems (NARS). The HYSPLIT model is obtained from following website: https://ready.arl.noaa.gov/HYSPLIT.php. The authors would like to acknowledge the China Meteorological Administration for providing the meteorological observations and the Ministry of Ecology and Environment of the People’s Republic of China for providing the PM2.5 concentration measurements.
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Miao, Y., Liu, S., Guo, J. et al. Impacts of meteorological conditions on wintertime PM2.5 pollution in Taiyuan, North China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 21855–21866 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2327-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-018-2327-1