Increased Inorganic Aerosol Fraction Contributes to Air Pollution and Haze in China
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Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 5881–5888, 2019 https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-5881-2019 © Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. Increased inorganic aerosol fraction contributes to air pollution and haze in China Yonghong Wang1,2, Yuesi Wang1,6,8, Lili Wang1, Tuukka Petäjä2,3, Qiaozhi Zha2, Chongshui Gong1,4, Sixuan Li7, Yuepeng Pan1, Bo Hu1, Jinyuan Xin1, and Markku Kulmala2,3,5 1State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry (LAPC), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China 2Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research/Physics, Faculty of Science, P.O. Box 64, 00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland 3Joint international research Laboratory of Atmospheric and Earth SysTem sciences (JirLATEST), Nanjing University, Nanjing, China 4Institute of Arid meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Lanzhou, China 5Aerosol and Haze Laboratory, Beijing Advanced Innovation Center for Soft Matter Science and Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology (BUCT), Beijing, China 6Centre for Excellence in Atmospheric Urban Environment, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Science, Xiamen, Fujian, China 7State Key Laboratory of Numerical Modeling for Atmospheric Sciences and Geophysical Fluid Dynamics (LASG), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China 8University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Correspondence: Yuesi Wang ([email protected]), Lili Wang ([email protected]) and Markku Kulmala (markku.kulmala@helsinki.fi) Received: 12 September 2018 – Discussion started: 21 September 2018 Revised: 22 March 2019 – Accepted: 10 April 2019 – Published: 3 May 2019 Abstract. The detailed formation mechanism of an increased 1 Introduction number of haze events in China is still not very clear. Here, we found that reduced surface visibility from 1980 to 2010 As one of the most heavily polluted regions in the world, and an increase in satellite-derived columnar concentrations China has suffered from air pollution for decades (Hao et al., of inorganic precursors from 2002 to 2012 are connected 2007; Zhang et al., 2015). Aerosol particles, as a major air with each other. Typically, higher inorganic mass fractions pollutant, have significant effects on human health (Lelieveld lead to increased aerosol water uptake and light-scattering et al., 2015). The general public and the central government ability in elevated relative humidity. Satellite observation of of China have realized the severe situation and have taken aerosol precursors of NO2 and SO2 showed increased con- some actions to improve the air quality nationwide in re- centrations during the study period. Our in situ measurement cent years. For example, the state council published a plan of aerosol chemical composition in Beijing also confirmed for air pollution control, in September 2013, aimed at reduc- increased contribution of inorganic aerosol fraction as a func- ing PM2:5 concentrations by 10 %–25 % in different regions tion of the increased particle pollution level. Our investiga- of China. The successful implementation requires a sufficient tions demonstrate that the increased inorganic fraction in the knowledge of haze formation mechanisms (Kulmala, 2015) aerosol particles is a key component in the frequently occur- and a comprehensive observation network (Kulmala, 2018). ring haze days during the study period, and particularly the Our understanding of haze events with high PM2:5 concen- reduction of nitrate, sulfate and their precursor gases would trations in China is still limited due to the spatial–temporal contribute towards better visibility in China. variation of aerosol properties and limited observation infor- mation (Wang et al., 2016). Recent studies found that sec- Published by Copernicus Publications on behalf of the European Geosciences Union. 5882 Y. Wang et al.: Increased inorganic aerosol fraction contributes to air pollution ondary aerosol components were important during the in- ter which is defined as the ratio of light-scattering coefficient tense haze events in Beijing, Xi’an, Chengdu and Guangzhou under high RH to that under low RH. f (RH) is a unitless during January of 2013, and the reduction of aerosol precur- number, which usually ranges from 1 to 2. At ambient RH sors is a key step to reduce particle pollution (Guo et al., around 80 %, a higher f (RH) value usually corresponds to 2014; Huang et al., 2014). The analysis of longer time se- higher inorganic aerosol fraction, while a lower value usu- ries data from Nanjing shows that secondary particles are ally corresponds to high organic fraction. The reason is that typically dominating even the number concentrations in pol- inorganic aerosol compounds of nitrate, sulfate and ammo- luted conditions (Kulmala, 2016). A recent study has sug- nium have stronger water uptake ability than organic com- gested significantly decreased trends of PM2:5 and SO2 in pounds. In addition, the high-humidity condition at ambient China from 2015 to 2017 by analyzing data sets from the RH prefers the formation of inorganic aerosol from precur- Ministry of Ecology and Environment of China (Silver et sors of NO2 and SO2 (Wang et al., 2014). In this study, for a al., 2018). The column NO2 concentration obtained from the given site and given year, we defined a f (RH)-like parame- Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) showed an increased ter, Ri, using the observed annual visibility (V ) as a ratio (Ri) trend during 2005–2011, while a decreasing trend was shown between visibility values from the surface observation sta- during 2012–2015 (Itahashi et al., 2016). The SO2 concen- tions, when the daily average RH was below 40 % for more tration has decreased around 50 % from 2012 to 2015 in the than 20 d. In the corresponding high-humidity cases, daily North China Plain due to economic slowdown and govern- RH was between 80 % and 90 % for more than 20 d each year ment efforts to restrain emissions from power and industrial at a given observation site: sectors (Krotkov et al., 2016). However, the most abundant Vdry mass fractions of atmospheric aerosol are inorganic and or- Ri D : ganic components, which have large spatiotemporal variation Vwet (Jimenez et al., 2009). Identifying the most abundant as well We use this ratio to infer a long trend of aerosol hygro- as critical aerosol species that contribute to the haze forma- scopicity information. In addition, we calculate anomaly (A) tion in a long time perspective is important to draw up effec- from the ratio for a given year i as a difference from the 30- tive plans for the air pollution control. year period (R30 yr/ from 1980 to 2010: Here, comprehensive data sets were used to reveal that an increasing trend of inorganic components in atmospheric A D Ri − R30 yr: aerosol may be a pivotal factor, at least, which leads to fre- quently occurring haze events in China from 1980 to 2010. Our spatial focus is placed on the North China Plain, Yangtze We suggests that the control of inorganic aerosol components River Plain and Sichuan Basin due to frequent haze events of nitrate, sulfate and their precursors should be a high pri- (Zhang et al., 2012). The stations in the Pearl River Delta ority due to their strong water uptake abilities and therefore region and other southern China stations were not included light-scattering ability in high relative humidity (RH) condi- due to limited days with the daily average RH below 40 %. tions. The atmospheric column amount of NO2 and SO2 data is obtained from 2002 to 2012 and 2004 to 2012, respectively, from SCIAMACHY (Scanning Imaging Absorption Spec- 2 Methodology trometer for Atmospheric Chartography) satellite products. SCIAMACHY is an atmospheric sensor aboard the European The daily averaged visibility and relative humidity data in satellite Envisat. It was launched in March 2002 as a joint 262 sites in China are obtained from the Integrated Surface project of Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. It mea- Dataset (ISD) from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric sures atmospheric absorption in spectral bands from the ul- Administration National Climate Data Center of the USA traviolet to the near infrared (240–2380 nm) and allows to re- from 1980 to 2010 (https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/isd, last ac- trieve atmospheric column concentrations of O3, BrO, OClO, cess: 30 April 2019). The visibility observations were made ClO, SO2,H2CO, NO, NO2, NO3, CO, CO2, CH4,H2O, three times a day at 8 h intervals beginning at 00:00 LT by N2O, aerosols, radiation and cloud properties (Boersma et well-trained technicians. They measured visual range using al., 2004). Aerosol chemical composition from the Goddard distinctive markers, such as tall buildings, mountains and Earth Observing System chemical transport model (GEOS- towers, to which the distance from the meteorological moni- Chem) combined with satellite aerosol optical depth (AOD) toring stations is known. products in China during 1998–2012 is used. The model uti- We quantified the importance of relative humidity to vis- lizes assimilated meteorology data and regional emission in- ibility as the hygroscopic inorganic compounds typically ventories with a horizontal resolution of 2◦×2◦ with 47 verti- grow in size in high humidity (Swietlicki et al., 2008). cal levels from the surface to 80 km. The PM2:5 concentration Aerosol size growth and composition change in the high- was retrieved from AOD of satellite and the relationship be- humidity condition are highly related to light-scattering abil- tween PM2:5 and AOD in GEOS-Chem. The detailed infor- ity (Zhang et al., 2015). Studies always use f (RH), a parame- mation about the model can be found in Boys et al. (2014). Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 5881–5888, 2019 www.atmos-chem-phys.net/19/5881/2019/ Y. Wang et al.: Increased inorganic aerosol fraction contributes to air pollution 5883 Figure 1. The distribution of the average surface visibility ratio in dry and wet conditions based on observations at 262 surface observation sites in China.