The role of meteorological conditions and pollution control strategies in reducing air pollution in Beijing during APEC 2014 and Victory Parade 2015
To control severe air pollution in China, comprehensive pollution control strategies have been implemented throughout the country in recent years. To evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies, the influence of meteorological conditions on levels of air pollution needs to be determined. Usi...
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
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Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
Copernicus Publications
2017-11-01
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Series: | Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics |
Online Access: | https://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/17/13921/2017/acp-17-13921-2017.pdf |
Summary: | To control severe air pollution in China, comprehensive pollution
control strategies have been implemented throughout the country in
recent years. To evaluate the effectiveness of these strategies, the
influence of meteorological conditions on levels of air pollution
needs to be determined. Using the intensive air pollution control
strategies implemented during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
Forum in 2014 (APEC 2014) and the 2015 China Victory Day Parade (Victory Parade 2015) as
examples, we estimated the role of meteorological conditions and
pollution control strategies in reducing air pollution levels in
Beijing. Atmospheric particulate matter of aerodynamic
diameter ≤ 2.5 µm (PM<sub>2.5</sub>) samples were
collected and gaseous pollutants (SO<sub>2</sub>, NO, NO<sub><i>x</i></sub>, and
O<sub>3</sub>) were measured online at a site in Peking University
(PKU). To determine the influence of meteorological conditions on
the levels of air pollution, we first compared the air pollutant
concentrations during days with stable meteorological
conditions. However, there were few days with stable meteorological
conditions during the Victory Parade. As such, we were unable to estimate the
level of emission reduction efforts during this period. Finally,
a generalized linear regression model (GLM) based only on
meteorological parameters was built to predict air pollutant
concentrations, which could explain more than 70 % of the
variation in air pollutant concentration levels, after incorporating
the nonlinear relationships between certain meteorological
parameters and the concentrations of air pollutants. Evaluation of
the GLM performance revealed that the GLM, even based only on
meteorological parameters, could be satisfactory to estimate the
contribution of meteorological conditions in reducing air pollution
and, hence, the contribution of control strategies in reducing air
pollution. Using the GLM, we found that the meteorological
conditions and pollution control strategies contributed 30 and
28 % to the reduction of the PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentration
during APEC and 38 and 25 % during the Victory Parade, respectively, based on the
assumption that the concentrations of air pollutants are only
determined by meteorological conditions and emission intensities. We
also estimated the contribution of meteorological conditions and
control strategies in reducing the concentrations of gaseous
pollutants and PM<sub>2.5</sub> components with the GLMs, revealing
the effective control of anthropogenic emissions. |
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ISSN: | 1680-7316 1680-7324 |