Abstract
Particulate matter (PM) pollution in China has an obvious characteristic of spatial distribution. It is well known that intensive anthropogenic activities, such as fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning, have great influence on the spatial distribution of PM pollution. However, the spacescale-dependent relationships between PM concentrations and weather conditions remain unclear. Here, we investigated the characteristics of two types of particulate pollution, including PM2.5 and PM10, and their spatial relationships with meteorological elements in 173 cities throughout China from March 2014 to February 2015. Results: (1) High PM2.5 concentrations were distinctly located southeast of the Hu Line, and high PM10 concentrations were distinctly situated north of the Yangtze River; (2) Spacescale-dependent relationships were found between PM pollution and meteorological elements. The influence of temperature had similar inverted V-shaped characteristics, namely, there was serious PM pollution when temperature was about 15 °C, and there was slight PM pollution when temperature was less or more than 15 °C. Annual precipitation, wind speed, and relative humidity were negatively correlated with PM, while annual atmospheric pressure was positively correlated with PM; (3) The ideal meteorological regions were identified according to the quantified spatial relationships between PM and meteorological elements, which could be defined by a combination of the following conditions: (a) temperature <10 °C or >21 °C; (b) precipitation >1500 mm; (c) atmospheric pressure <900 hPa; (d) wind speed >3 m/s; and (e) relative humidity >65%, where air pollutants can easily be scavenged. The success of this research provides a meteorological explanation to the spatial distribution characteristics of PM pollution in China.
Highlights
Air pollution is a global epidemic, caused by chemical and biological molecules, and particulate matter (PM), which results in various environmental and human health impacts
This study showed the spatial characteristics of PM pollution and related meteorological elements
Using the boosted regression trees analysis, we quantified the spatial relationships between PM concentration and meteorological elements
Summary
Air pollution is a global epidemic, caused by chemical and biological molecules, and particulate matter (PM), which results in various environmental and human health impacts. Many studies have shown that ambient air pollution is related to public health, ecological plant growth, and regional and global climates [1,2,3,4,5,6,7]. A critical component of air pollution is atmospheric PM, which includes fine particles with small diameters that remain suspended in air and do not settle. High concentrations of air particulates can have environmental impacts, such as degraded atmospheric visibility, and human impacts, such as acute or chronic respiratory diseases [8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15]. The dire situation has led some environmental staffers in polluted regions, such as Beijing, to attempt to mitigate air pollution by adopting a series of control measures, including adjusting industrial structure, using clean energy, limiting the number of private cars, and establishing the joint prevention and control work with neighboring provinces [20,21]
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