Insights into multidimensional transport flux from vertical observation and numerical simulation in two cities in North China.

This study represents the first quantitative evaluation of pollution transport budget within the boundary layer of typical cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region from the perspective of horizontal and vertical exchanges and further discusses the impact of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL)-free troposphere (FT) exchange on concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) within the ABL during heavy pollution. From the perspective of the transport flux balance relationship, differences in pollution transport characteristics between the two cities is mainly reflected in the ABL-FT exchange effect. The FT mainly flowed into the ABL in BJ, while in SJZ, the outflow from the ABL to the FT was more intense. Combined with an analysis of vertical wind profile distribution, BJ was found to be more susceptible to the influence of northwest cold high prevailing in winter, while sinking of strong cold air allowed the FT flowing into the ABL influence the vertical exchange over BJ. In addition, we selected a typical pollution event for targeted analysis to understand mechanistic details of the influence of ABL-FT exchange on the pollution event. These results showed that ABL-FT interaction played an important role in PM2.5 concentration within the ABL during heavy pollution. Especially in the early stage of heavy pollution, FT transport contributed as much as 82.74% of PM2.5 within the ABL. These findings are significant for improving our understanding of pollution transport characteristics within the boundary layer and the effect of ABL-FT exchange on air quality.

Atmospheric oxidizing capacity in autumn Beijing: Analysis of the O3 and PM2.5 episodes based on observation-based model.

Atmospheric oxidizing capacity (AOC) is the fundamental driving factors of chemistry process (e.g., the formation of ozone (O3) and secondary organic aerosols (SOA)) in the troposphere. However, accurate quantification of AOC still remains uncertainty. In this study, a comprehensive field campaign was conducted during autumn 2019 in downtown of Beijing, where O3 and PM2.5 episodes had been experienced successively. The observation-based model (OBM) is used to quantify the AOC at O3 and PM2.5 episodes. The strong intensity of AOC is found at O3 and PM2.5 episodes, and hydroxyl radical (OH) is the dominating daytime oxidant for both episodes. The photolysis of O3 is main source of OH at O3 episode; the photolysis of nitrous acid (HONO) and formaldehyde (HCHO) plays important role in OH formation at PM2.5 episode. The radicals loss routines vary according to precursor pollutants, resulting in different types of air pollution. O3 budgets and sensitivity analysis indicates that O3 production is transition regime (both VOC and NOx-limited) at O3 episode. The heterogeneous reaction of hydroperoxy radicals (HO2) on aerosol surfaces has significant influence on OH and O3 production rates. The HO2 uptake coefficient (γHO2) is the determining factor and required accurate measurement in real atmospheric environment. Our findings could provide the important bases for coordinated control of PM2.5 and O3 pollution.

Influence of circulation types on temporal and spatial variations of ozone in Beijing.

This study analyzes the impact of circulation types (CTs) on ozone (O3) pollution in Beijing. The easterly high-pressure (SWW) circulation occurred most frequently (30%; 276 day), followed by northwesterly high-pressure (AN) circulation (24.3%; 224 day). The SWW type had the highest O3 anomaly of +17.28 µg/m3, which was caused by excellent photochemical reactions, poor diffusion ability and regional transport. Due to the higher humidity and precipitation in the low-pressure type (C), the O3 increase (+8.02 µg/m3) was less than that in the SWW type. Good diffusion/wet deposition and weak formation ability contributed to O3 decrease in AN (-12.54 µg/m3) and northerly high-pressure (ESN) CTs (-12.26 µg/m3). The intra-area transport of O3 was significant in polluted circulations (SWW- and C-CTs). In addition, higher temperature, radiation and less rainfall also contributed to higher O3 in northern Beijing under the SWW type. For the clean CTs (AN and ESN CTs), precursor amount and intra-area transport played a dominant role in O3 distribution. Under the northeasterly low-pressure CT, better formation conditions and higher precursor amount combined with the intra-area southerly transport to cause higher O3 values in the south than in the north. The higher O3 in the northwestern area under the northeasterly high-pressure type was influenced by weaker titration loss and high O3 concentration in previous day. Annual variation in the CTs contributed up to 86.1% of the annual variation in O3. About 78%-83% of the diurnal variation in O3 resulted from local meteorological factors.

Progress in quantitative research on the relationship between atmospheric oxidation and air quality.

Atmospheric oxidizing capacity (AOC) is an essential driving force of troposphere chemistry and self-cleaning, but the definition of AOC and its quantitative representation remain uncertain. Driven by national demand for air pollution control in recent years, Chinese scholars have carried out studies on theories of atmospheric chemistry and have made considerable progress in AOC research. This paper will give a brief review of these developments. First, AOC indexes were established that represent apparent atmospheric oxidizing ability (AOIe) and potential atmospheric oxidizing ability (AOIp) based on aspects of macrothermodynamics and microdynamics, respectively. A closed study refined the quantitative contributions of heterogeneous chemistry to AOC in Beijing, and these AOC methods were further applied in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and key areas across the country. In addition, the detection of ground or vertical profiles for atmospheric OH·, HO2·, NO3· radicals and reservoir molecules can now be obtained with domestic instruments in diverse environments. Moreover, laboratory smoke chamber simulations revealed heterogeneous processes involving reactions of O3 and NO2, which are typical oxidants in the surface/interface atmosphere, and the evolutionary and budgetary implications of atmospheric oxidants reacting under multispecies, multiphase and multi-interface conditions were obtained. Finally, based on the GRAPES-CUACE adjoint model improved by Chinese scholars, simulations of key substances affecting atmospheric oxidation and secondary organic and inorganic aerosol formation have been optimized. Normalized numerical simulations of AOIe and AOIp were performed, and regional coordination of AOC was adjusted. An optimized plan for controlling O3 and PM2.5 was analyzed by scenario simulation.

Is Urban Greening an Effective Solution to Enhance Environmental Comfort and Improve Air Quality?

Urban greening has often been proposed as a cost-effective solution to improve environmental comfort, but may also deteriorate air quality. Quantifying these two opposing effects of urban greening is necessary to develop successful environmental policies for specific mega-city clusters. In this study, a high-resolution regional climate and air quality model (WRF-Chem, v4.0.3) was employed to test three scenarios aimed at quantifying the impact of land-use change and biogenic emissions from urban greening on regional climate and air quality. It was found that urban greening could effectively decrease the near-surface temperature by up to 0.45 °C, but the increased biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions offset some of this cooling effect (by up to 65%). Land-use change due to urban greening dominated the improvement in human comfort but worsened diffusion conditions to result in the convergence of fine particulate matter in specific areas. The selection of low-emission tree species may be imperative, although increased emissions from urban greening will not change the sensitivity of ozone to precursors under the current scenario of anthropogenic emissions. This is because BVOC emissions due to urban greening will become a more important source of pollution with the development of clean energy and the popularity of low-carbon lifestyles.

Vertically Resolved Aerosol Chemistry in the Low Boundary Layer of Beijing in Summer.

Air quality in Beijing has been improved significantly in recent years; however, our knowledge of the vertically resolved aerosol chemistry in summer remains poor. Here, we carried out comprehensive measurements of aerosol composition, gaseous species, and aerosol optical properties on a meteorological tower in Beijing in summer and compared with those measured in winter. Our results showed that aerosol liquid water (ALW) contributing approximately 50% of the total mass with higher values aloft played a crucial role in aerosol formation. Particularly, the higher nitrate concentration in city aloft than at the ground level during daytime was mainly due to the enhanced gas-particle partitioning driven by ALW and particle acidity. The vertical profiles of organic aerosol (OA) factors varied more differently in the urban boundary layer. Although the ubiquitous decreases in primary OA with the increase in height were mainly due to the influences of local emissions and vertical convection, the vertical differences in oxygenated OA between summer and winter may be related to the photochemical processing of different biogenic and anthropogenic volatile organic compounds. The single-scattering albedo, brown carbon, and absorption Ångstrom exponent of aerosol particles also presented different vertical profiles between day and night due to the vertical changes in aerosol chemistry.

Effect of Different Combustion Processes on Atmospheric Nitrous Acid Formation Mechanisms: A Winter Comparative Observation in Urban, Suburban and Rural Areas of the North China Plain.

Atmospheric nitrous acid (HONO) is a dominant precursor of hydroxyl (OH) radicals, and its formation mechanisms are still controversial. Few studies have simultaneously explored effects of different combustion processes on HONO sources. Hereby, synchronous HONO measurement in urban (BJ), suburban (XH) and rural (DBT) areas with different combustion processes is performed in the North China Plain in winter. A box model is utilized to analyze HONO formation mechanisms. HONO concentration is the highest at the DBT site (2.51 ± 1.90 ppb), followed by the XH (2.18 ± 1.95 ppb) and BJ (1.17 ± 1.20 ppb) sites. Vehicle exhaust and coal combustion significantly contribute to nocturnal HONO at urban and rural sites, respectively. During a stagnant pollution period, the NO+OH reaction and combustion emissions are more crucial to HONO in urban and rural areas; meanwhile, the heterogeneous reaction of NO2 is more significant in suburban areas. Moreover, the production rate of OH from HONO photolysis is about 2 orders of magnitude higher than that from ozone photolysis. Consequently, vehicle exhaust and coal combustion can effectively emit HONO, further causing environmental pollution and health risks. It is necessary to expand the implementation of the clean energy transition policy in China, especially in areas with substantial coal combustion.

Multilevel air quality evolution in Shenyang: Impact of elevated point emission reduction.

Visibility observed at different altitudes is favorable to understand the causes of air pollution. We conducted 4-years of observations of visibility at 2.8 and 60 m and particulate matter (PM) concentrations from 2015 to 2018 in Shenyang, a provincial city in Northeast China. The results indicated that visibility increased with the increasing height in winter (especially at night), and decreased with height in summer (especially at the daytime). PM concentration exhibited opposite vertical variation to visibility, reflecting that visibility degrades with the increase of aerosol concentration in the air. The radiosonde meteorological data showed that weak turbulence in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) in winter favored aerosols' accumulation near the surface. Whereas in summer, unstable atmospheric conditions, upper-level moister environment, and regional transport of air pollutants resulted in the deterioration of upper-level visibility. Inter-annual variation in the two-level visibility indicated that the upper-level visibility improved more significantly than low-level visibility, much likely due to the reduction in emission of elevated point sources in Shenyang. Our study suggested that strengthening the control of surface non-point emissions is a promising control strategy to improve Shenyang air quality.

Annual nonmethane hydrocarbon trends in Beijing from 2000 to 2019.

High loads of ground-level ozone have occurred with the implementation of the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan. However, the long temporal variation in precursor nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) has rarely been studied. In this study, we examined the evolution of NMHCs in Beijing based on ambient measurements from 2000 to 2019. The results indicated that the annual variation of ambient NMHCs during 2000 and 2019 could be divided into two stages. The mixing ratios of NMHCs rapidly rose during 2000 and 2009 (1.76 ppbv/year) but exhibited a downward trend from 2009 to 2019 at rate of 0.80 ppbv/yr. Moreover, the notable decrease in alkenes and aromatics after 2009 led to a sharp decrease in the propylene-equivalent concentration (PEC) (-0.80 ppbv/year). Implementation of emission reduction measures in Beijing have effectively reduced the contribution of vehicle-related sources, but the contribution of solvent usage and fuel consumption increased, which will become the focus of VOC control in Beijing in the future.

Vertical Distributions of Primary and Secondary Aerosols in Urban Boundary Layer: Insights into Sources, Chemistry, and Interaction with Meteorology.

Vertical measurements are essential for the characterization of aerosol and boundary layer interactions; yet, our knowledge of vertical profiles of primary and secondary aerosol species in megacities is limited. Here, we conducted comprehensive vertical measurements of aerosol particle composition on a 325 m meteorological tower with two aerosol chemical speciation monitors in winter in urban Beijing. The simultaneous measurements at ground level, 140, and 240 m illustrated similar aerosol bulk composition at these three heights. However, the vertical ratios varied significantly among different aerosol species. Particularly, the vertical ratios of the aqueous phase and photochemical-related secondary organic aerosol (SOA) (aqOOA/OOA) decreased significantly, accompanied by the increases in ratios of secondary to primary OA, highlighting different chemical properties of OA between ground level and aloft, and the large impacts of vertical changes in meteorology and gaseous precursors on SOA formation. The vertical changes in NO3/SO4 ratios, however, were mostly insignificant, likely due to the low relative humidity and aerosol water content that inhibited nocturnal heterogeneous reactions in the residual layer. Considerable increases in the ratios of 240 m to ground level in the early morning were also observed for most aerosol species, demonstrating impact of residual layer on the air pollution of 2nd day.

Source apportionment of PM2.5 and visibility in Jinan, China.

Atmospheric extinction is impacted by the chemical composition of particles. To better understand the chemical composition of PM2.5 (particles with diameters of less than 2.5 µm) and its relationship with extinction, one-month sampling campaigns were carried out in four different seasons from 2013 to 2014 in Jinan, China. The seasonal average concentrations of PM2.5 were 120.9 (autumn), 156.6 (winter), 102.5 (spring), and 111.8 µg/m3 (summer). The reconstructed PM2.5 chemical composition showed that sulfate, nitrate, chlorine salt, organic matter (OM), mineral dust, elemental carbon (EC) and others accounted for 25%, 14%, 2%, 24%, 22%, 3% and 10%, respectively. The relationship between the chemical composition of PM2.5 and visibility was reconstructed by the IMPROVE method, and ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, OM and EC dominated the visibility. Seven main sources were resolved for PM2.5, including secondary particles, coal combustion, biomass burning, industry, motor vehicle exhaust, soil dust and cooking, which accounted for 37%, 21%, 13%, 13%, 12%, 3% and 1%, respectively. The contributions of different sources to visibility were similar to those to PM2.5. With increasing severity of air pollution, the contributions of secondary particles and coal combustion increased, while the contribution of motor vehicle exhaust decreased. The results showed that coal combustion and biomass burning were still the main sources of air pollution in Jinan.

Significant contribution of spring northwest transport to volatile organic compounds in Beijing.

High values of ozone (O3) occur frequently in the dry spring season; thus, understanding the evolution characteristics of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in spring is of great significance for preventing O3 pollution. In this study, a total of 101 VOCs from April 16 to May 21, 2019, were quantified using an online gas chromatography mass spectrometer/flame ionization detector (GCMS/FID). The results indicated that the observed concentration of total VOCs (TVOCs) was 30.4 ± 17.0 ppbv, and it was dominated by alkanes (44.3%), followed by oxygenated VOCs (OVOCs) (17.4%), halocarbons (12.7%), aromatics (9.5%), alkenes (8.2%), acetylene (5.3%) and carbon disulfide (2.5%). The average mixing ratio of VOCs showed obvious diurnal variation (high at night, low during daytime). We conducted a source apportionment study based on 32 major VOCs using positive matrix factorization (PMF), and coal + biomass burning (25.2%), diesel exhaust (16.0%), gasoline exhaust + evaporation (17.4%), secondary + long-lived species (16.7%), biogenic sources (4.3%), industrial emissions (9.3%) and solvent use (11.2%) were identified as major sources of VOCs. In addition to local emissions, most of the atmospheric VOCs were derived from long-distance air masses (65.7%), and the average mixing ratio of VOCs in the northwest direction was 29.4 ppbv. Combined with the results of the potential source contribution function (PSCF) indicate that research should focus on the local emissions of combustion, transportation sources and solvents usage to control atmospheric VOCs. Additionally, transmission of the northwest air mass is an important component that cannot be ignored during spring in Beijing.

Characteristics of PM2.5 pollution in Beijing after the improvement of air quality.

Following the implementation of the strictest clean air policies to date in Beijing, the physicochemical characteristics and sources of PM2.5 have changed over the past few years. To improve pollution reduction policies and subsequent air quality further, it is necessary to explore the changes in PM2.5 over time. In this study, over one year (2017-2018) field study based on filter sampling (TH-150C; Wuhan Tianhong, China) was conducted in Fengtai District, Beijing, revealed that the annual average PM2.5 concentration (64.8 ± 43.1 µg/m3) was significantly lower than in previous years and the highest PM2.5 concentration occurred in spring (84.4 ± 59.9 µg/m3). Secondary nitrate was the largest source and accounted for 25.7% of the measured PM2.5. Vehicular emission, the second largest source (17.6%), deserves more attention when considering the increase in the number of motor vehicles and its contribution to gaseous pollutants. In addition, the contribution from coal combustion to PM2.5 decreased significantly. During weekends, the contribution from EC and NO3- increased whereas the contributions from SO42-, OM, and trace elements decreased, compared with weekdays. During the period of residential heating, PM2.5 mass decreased by 23.1%, compared with non-heating period, while the contributions from coal combustion and vehicular emission, and related species increased. With the aggravation of pollution, the contribution of vehicular emission and secondary sulfate increased and then decreased, while the contribution of NO3- and secondary nitrate continued to increase, and accounted for 34.0% and 57.5% of the PM2.5 during the heavily polluted days, respectively.

Different HONO Sources for Three Layers at the Urban Area of Beijing.

Gaseous nitrous acid (HONO) is a crucial precursor of the hydroxyl (OH) radical, which is a "detergent" in the atmosphere. Nowadays, HONO formation mechanisms at polluted urban areas are controversial, which restricts the understanding of atmospheric oxidative capacity and radical cycling. Herein, multiday vertical observation of HONO and NOx was simultaneously performed at three heights at the urban area of Beijing for the first time. The vertical distribution of HONO was often unexpected, and it had the highest HONO concentration at 120 m, followed by those at 8 and 240 m. 0D box model simulations suggest that ground and aerosol surfaces might play similar roles in NO2 conversion at 8 m during the whole measurement. NO2 conversion on aerosol surfaces was the most important HONO source aloft during haze days. At daytime, a strong missing HONO source unexpectedly existed in the urban aloft, and it was relevant to solar radiation and consumed OH.

Meteorological mechanism for a large-scale persistent severe ozone pollution event over eastern China in 2017.

An intensive and persistent regional ozone pollution event occurred over eastern China from 25 June to 5 July 2017. 73 out of 96 selected cities, most located in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and the surrounding area (BTHS), suffered severe ozone pollution. A north-south contrast ozone distribution, with higher ozone (199 ± 33 µg/m3) in the BTHS and lower ozone (118 ± 25 µg/m3) in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), was found to be dominated by the position of the West Pacific Subtropical High (WPSH) and mid-high latitude wave activities. In the BTHS, the positive anomalies of geopotential height at 500 hPa and temperature at the surface indicated favorable meteorological conditions for local ozone formation. Prevailing northwesterly winds in the mid-high troposphere and warm advection induced by weak southerly winds in the low troposphere resulted in low-moderate relative humidity (RH), less total cloud cover (TCC), strong solar radiation and high temperatures. Moreover, southerly winds prevailing over the BTHS aggravated the pollution due to regional transportation of O3 and its precursors. On one hand, the deep sinking motion and inversion layer suppressed the dispersion of pollutants. On the other hand, O3-rich air in the upper layer was maintained at night due to temperature inversion, which facilitated O3 vertical transport to the surface in the next-day morning due to elevated convection. Generally, temperature, UV radiation, and RH showed good correlations with O3 in the BTHS, with rates of 8.51 (µg/m3)/°C (within the temperature range of 20-38°C), 59.54 (µg/m3)/(MJ/m2) and -1.93 (µg/m3)/%, respectively.

Secondary organic aerosols in Jinan, an urban site in North China: Significant anthropogenic contributions to heavy pollution.

Secondary organic aerosols (SOAs) are an important component of particulates, but whether biogenic SOAs (BSOAs) or anthropogenic SOAs (ASOAs) are the dominant contributors to haze pollution remains poorly characterized. In this study, particulate samples were collected from September 2014 to August 2015 at an urban site in Jinan, which is the capital of Shandong Province and a typical city in the North China Plain. The PM2.5 samples were analyzed for BSOA (isoprene (SOAI) and monoterpenes (SOAM)) and ASOA (aromatic (SOAA)) tracers. The concentrations of the SOAA tracer (1.1 ±â€¯1.0 ng/m3) were lowest, and those of SOAI tracers (41.8 ±â€¯86.2 ng/m3) were highest, with the concentrations of SOAM tracers (19.4 ±â€¯9.9 ng/m3) being intermediate. The SOAI tracers were more abundant in the summer and less abundant in the winter. Both SOAI and SOAM increased with increasing ozone level but decreased with increasing NOx level. Correlation analysis revealed a good correlation between 2,3-dihydroxy-4-oxopentanoic acid and levoglucosan levels in three seasons. These results suggested that biomass burning activities occurring in the NCP can enhance the emissions of aromatics and should be controlled, especially in the autumn and winter. SOA tracers were classified according to pollution degree, and the results showed that as pollution increases, the contributions of SOAA increase. These results indicate that reducing anthropogenic emissions is necessary to prevent SOA pollution, especially during heavy pollution episodes.

Evolution of boundary layer ozone in Shijiazhuang, a suburban site on the North China Plain.

The structure of the boundary layer affects the evolution of ozone (O3), and research into this structure will provide important insights for understanding photochemical pollution. In this study, we conducted a one-month observation (from June 15 to July 14, 2016) of the boundary layer meteorological factors as well as O3 and its precursors in Luancheng County, Shijiazhuang (37°53'N, 114°38'E). Our research showed that photochemical pollution in Shijiazhuang is serious, and the mean hourly maximum and mean 8-hr maximum O3 concentrations are 97.9 ±â€¯26.1 and 84.4 ±â€¯22.4 ppbV, respectively. Meteorological factors play a significant role in the formation of O3. High temperatures and southeasterly winds lead to elevated O3 values, and at moderate relative humidity (40%-50%) and medium boundary layer heights (1200-1500 m), O3 production sensitivity occurred in the transitional region between volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) limitations, and the O3 concentration was the highest. The vertical profiles of O3 were also measured by a tethered balloon. The results showed that a large amount of O3 was stored in the residual layer, and the concentration was positively correlated with the O3 concentration measured the previous day. During the daytime of the following day, the contribution of O3 stored in the residual layer to the boundary layer reached 27% ±â€¯7% on average.

Characterization of submicron particles during autumn in Beijing, China.

In this study, we performed a highly time-resolved chemical characterization of non-refractory submicron particles (NR-PM1) in Beijing by using an Aerodyne high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS). The results showed the average NR-PM1 mass concentration to be 56.4±58.0µg/m3, with a peak at 307.4µg/m3. Due to the high frequency of biomass burning in autumn, submicron particles significantly increased in organic content, which accounted for 51% of NR-PM1 on average. Secondary inorganic aerosols (sulfate+nitrate+ammonium) accounted for 46% of NR-PM1, of which sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium contributed 15%, 20%, and 11%, respectively. To determine the intrinsic relationships between the organic and inorganic species, we used the positive matrix factorization (PMF) model to merge the high-resolution mass spectra of the organic species and NO+ and NO2+ ions. The PMF analysis separated the mixed organic and nitrate (NO+ and NO2+) spectra into four organic factors, including hydrocarbon-like organic aerosol (HOA), oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA), cooking organic aerosol (COA), and biomass burning organic aerosol (BBOA), as well as one nitrate inorganic aerosol (NIA) factor. COA (33%) and OOA (30%) contributed the most to the total organic aerosol (OA) mass, followed by BBOA (20%) and HOA (17%). We successfully quantified the mass concentrations of the organic and inorganic nitrates by the NO+ and NO2+ ions signal in the organic and NIA factors. The organic nitrate mass varied from 0.01-6.8µg/m3, with an average of 1.0±1.1µg/m3, and organic nitrate components accounted for 10% of the total nitrate mass in this observation.

Investigating missing sources of glyoxal over China using a regional air quality model (RAMS-CMAQ).

Currently, modeling studies tend to significantly underestimate observed space-based glyoxal (CHOCHO) vertical column densities (VCDs), implying the existence of missing sources of glyoxal. Several recent studies suggest that the emissions of aromatic compounds and molar yields of glyoxal in the chemical mechanisms may both be underestimated, which can affect the simulated glyoxal concentrations. In this study, the influences of these two factors on glyoxal amounts over China were investigated using the RAMS-CMAQ modeling system for January and July 2014. Four sensitivity simulations were performed, and the results were compared to satellite observations. These results demonstrated significant impacts on glyoxal concentrations from these two factors. In case 1, where the emissions of aromatic compounds were increased three-fold, improvements to glyoxal VCDs were seen in high anthropogenic emissions regions. In case 2, where molar yields of glyoxal from isoprene were increased five-fold, the resulted concentrations in July were 3-5-fold higher, achieving closer agreement between the modeled and measured glyoxal VCDs. The combined changes from both cases 1 and 2 were applied in case 3, and the model succeeded in further reducing the underestimations of glyoxal VCDs. However, the results over most of the regions with pronounced anthropogenic emissions were still underestimated. So the molar yields of glyoxal from anthropogenic precursors were considered in case 4. With these additional mole yield changes (a two-fold increase), the improved concentrations agreed better with the measurements in regions of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River and Yellow River in January but not in July.

Thermal internal boundary layer and its effects on air pollutants during summer in a coastal city in North China.

The thermal internal boundary layer (TIBL) is associated with coastal pollution dispersion, which can result in high concentrations of air pollutants near the surface of the Earth. In this study, boundary layer height data which were obtained using a ceilometer were used to assess the effect of the TIBL on atmospheric pollutants in Qinhuangdao, a coastal city in North China. A TIBL formed on 33% of summer days. When a TIBL formed, the sunshine duration was 2.4hr longer, the wind speed was higher, the wind direction reflected a typical sea breeze, and the boundary layer height was lower from 9:00 LT to 20:00 LT compared to days without a TIBL. If no TIBL formed, the average concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 decreased with increasing boundary layer height. However, when a TIBL was observed, the average concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10 increased with increasing boundary layer height. Because the air from the sea is clean, PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations reached minimums in the daytime at 16:00 LT. After 16:00 LT, the PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations increased rapidly on days when a TIBL formed, which indicated that the TIBL leads to the rapid accumulation of atmospheric pollutants in the evening. Therefore, the maximum concentrations of particulate matters were larger when a TIBL formed compared to when no TIBL was present during the night. These results indicate that it is suitable for outdoor activities in the daytime on days with a TIBL in coastal cities.