Air pollution in the Gobi Desert region: Analysis of dust‐storm events

Abstract

AbstractAir pollutants in nine cities of the Gobi Desert region are examined in this study. Mean concentrations of PM2.5 and PM10, retrieved from ground‐based air quality monitoring stations, were 36.2 ± 23.7 and 97.3 ± 84.5 μg·m−3, respectively. The highest concentrations of pollutants were in spring and winter. This can be explained by wind‐borne dust in the spring and emissions from domestic sources during the winter heating season. The highest PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations were registered in a period of dust‐storm activity with values of 343 μg·m−3 and 1,642 μg·m−3. Generally, clean continental (CC) was the dominant aerosol type (73.9%), followed by mixed (MX) aerosol type (20.4%) with insignificant contribution of clean marine (CM) (2.1%), urban/industrial and biomass burning (UI/BB) (0.9%) and desert dust (DD) (2.7%) aerosol types. The various measures of pollution retrieved from AERONET stations, including aerosol optical depth (AOD), Ångström exponent (AE), asymmetry parameter (AP), single scattering albedo (SSA) and aerosol volume size distribution (AVSD), specify the content of coarse aerosol fractions in the period of dust activity. The aerosol radiative forcing at the bottom of the atmosphere (ARFBOA) and the top of the atmosphere (ARFTOA) during dust days were estimated to be −115.76 and −241.31 W·m−2, with a corresponding heating rate of 3.52 K·day−1. According to the backward and forward trajectories of air masses, the dust cloud moved to the east and southeast from the epicentre, affecting the eastern and the central parts of the country. This study may advise environmental policy, as it showed how controlling causes of pollution can improve air quality.