Characteristics of PM2.5 Pollution in Beijing During the Historical Period of the 2022 Olympic Winter Games

Abstract

Based on the dataset derived from January to March between 2015 and 2021 in Beijing, the PM2.5 pollution characteristics and its potential source regions during the historical period of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games were investigated. From 2015 to 2018, both the number of severely polluted days (daily average ρ(PM2.5)>75 μg·m-3) and the average PM2.5 concentrations during severe pollution episodes decreased significantly in the period of January to March. While, neither variable has changed obviously since 2018. On average, severely polluted days occurred 23 times in each year between 2018 and 2021 during the period of January to March, and the average of ρ(PM2.5) was approximately 120.0 μg·m-3 during such polluted days. From January to March in 2015-2021, the severely polluted event with more than 5 consecutive polluted days occurred 2-3 times in each year, and the severest one lasted 8 d. During the historical period of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games, severely polluted days took place 2-9 d every year. The large quantities of fireworks during the Spring Festival maybe one of important primary sources of the PM2.5. The number of severely polluted days during the historical period of the Paralympic Winter Games ranged from 1 to 5 d, except for 2021 with 9 d owing to the frequent stagnant weather condition. The PM2.5 chemical composition was dominated by secondary species on severely polluted days during the historical period of the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games. Nitrate accounted for 46% of the measurable chemical components of PM2.5 during severe pollution events in 2020, which was remarkably higher than that during clean days in the same year (11%). The mass fraction of SO42- ranged from 12% to 19% in 2018-2020, indicating that the contribution of sulfate was much less, but cannot be ignored. The main potential source regions of PM2.5 in Beijing during the period concerned in this study were central and western Inner Mongolia, Hebei Province, Tianjin City, Shanxi Province, Shaanxi Province, central and western Shandong Province, and northern Henan Province.