Abstract
Air pollution is one of the most concerning environmental problems in cities. Hourly data on pollutant concentrations from 11 automatic atmospheric monitoring stations and meteorological data in Shenyang from 2017 to 2019 were used to analyze the spatio-temporal variation rules of CO (carbon monoxide), SO2 (sulfur dioxide), NO2 (nitrogen dioxide), O3 (ozone), PM2.5 and PM10 (PM particles with an aerodynamic diameters of not more than 2.5 µm and 10 µm) and their relationships with meteorological parameters. Meanwhile, the regional transmission route of pollutants was analyzed by the hybrid single particle Lagrangian integrated trajectory (HYSPLIT) model. The results showed that the concentration of O3 in the northern area of the city was higher than that in the south; CO, SO2 and NO2 were relatively high in the urban center; and PM2.5 and PM10 were relatively high in the southwest. The average concentration of pollutants was lowest in 2019. The concentration of O3 was the highest in spring, while CO showed no significant variations between different seasons. The remaining pollutant concentrations appeared to be high in winter and low in summer. The cumulative concentrations of the six pollutants were the highest in March, and relatively low in July–September. The diurnal concentration variations of O3, CO and SO2 exhibited a “single peak,” while others showed a “double peak and double valley.” Temperature was positively correlated with O3 concentration and negatively correlated with others. Wind speed was negatively correlated with the concentration of PM2.5, NO2, and O3. The air quality of the main urban area in spring and summer was mainly affected by the coastal air flow, while it was mostly affected by the northwest air flow in autumn and winter.
Highlights
Since the beginning of industrialization, the problem of air pollution gradually emerged
Vegetation is an effective barrier to some pollutants (SO2, NO2 ); it releases a large number of ozone precursors such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), thereby increasing the ozone concentration [36,37,38,39]
Vegetation is an effective barrier to some pollutants (SO2, NO2); it releases a large number of ozone precursors such as volatile organic compounds (VOCs), thereby increasing the ozone concentration [36,37,38,39]
Summary
Since the beginning of industrialization, the problem of air pollution gradually emerged. Pollution is currently becoming increasingly serious, as it has an impact on human life, increases the burden of disease and threatens human health [1,2,3]. Epidemiological studies have shown that particulate matter (PM2.5 , PM10 ) and some gaseous pollutants (CO, SO2 , NO2 , and O3 ) can cause respiratory tract infections and lung cancer and even shorten life span [4,5,6]. It is estimated that PM2.5 alone caused more than 1.3 million premature deaths in China in 2013 [7,8]. Due to the harmfulness of air pollutants, this topic has attracted much attention in recent years [9,10]. China has stipulated the first and secondary concentration standards of CO, SO2 , NO2 , O3, PM2.5 and PM10 in the “Environmental
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