Abstract
Abstract. Regional trans-boundary air pollution has become an important issue in the field of air pollution modeling. This paper presents the results of the implementation of the MM5-CMAQ modeling system in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) for the months of January and July of 2004. The meteorological parameters are obtained by using the MM5 model. A new regional emission inventory with spatial and temporal allocations based on local statistical data has been developed to provide input emissions data to the MM5-CMAQ modeling system. The pollutant concentrations obtained from the MM5-CMAQ modeling system have been compared with observational data from the national air pollution monitoring network. It is found that air quality in winter in the YRD is generally worse than in summer, due mainly to unfavorable meteorological dispersion conditions. In winter, the pollution transport from Northern China to the YRD reinforces the pollution caused by large local emissions. The monthly average concentration of SO2 in the YRD is 0.026 ± 0.011 mg m−3 in January and 0.017 ± 0.009 mg m−3 in July. Monthly average concentrations of NO2 in the YRD in January and July are 0.021 ± 0.009 mg m−3, and 0.014 ± 0.008 mg m−3, respectively. The monthly average concentration of PM10 in the YRD is 0.080 ± 0.028 mg m−3 in January and 0.025 ± 0.015 mg m−3 in July. Visibility is also a problem, with average deciview values of 26.4 ± 2.95 dcv in winter and 17.6 ± 3.3 dcv in summer. The ozone concentration in the downtown area of a city like Zhoushan can be very high, with the highest simulated value reaching 0.24 mg m−3. In January, the monthly average concentration of O3 in the YRD is 0.052 ± 0.011 mg m−3, and 0.054 ± 0.008 mg m−3 in July. Our results show that ozone and haze have become extremely important issues in the regional air quality. Thus, regional air pollution control is urgently needed to improve air quality in the YRD.
Highlights
The Yangtze River Delta (YRD), characterized by high population density and well-developed industry, is one of the largest economic regions in China
The methodology used in this paper is to simulate the atmospheric processes over the YRD domain with MM5-Community Multi-scale Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ) and a new emission inventory, in order to obtain a dataset with air pollutant concentrations in time and space for the simulation periods, which can be compared with monitored concentrations
The model performance for summer is better than winter
Summary
The Yangtze River Delta (YRD), characterized by high population density and well-developed industry, is one of the largest economic regions in China. With rapid economic development in recent years and high energy consumption, air pollutant emissions are increasing steadily and the regional environment is deteriorating. Ozone concentrations are increasing, and the ecological environment and health of the people are suffering. A project sponsored by China’s National Natural Science Foundation, “The atmospheric physical and chemical process and its influence on ecosystem in the Yangtze River Delta”, has conducted field surveys on air quality in the YRD, which indicate that the ozone concentration can be high in this region; the occurrence frequency of ozone concentrations higher than 0.16 mg m−3 reached 20% at some sites (Wang et al, 2003)
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