Comparative observation of aerosol vertical profiles in urban and suburban areas: Impacts of local and regional transport

Abstract

Ground-based Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) instruments were used to carry out observation of aerosol in the urban and suburban areas of Shanghai from October 17 to November 21, 2019. Fudan University (FDU) site is a typical urban environment, surrounded by residential areas, commercial areas and arterial roads, while Dianshan Lake (DSL) site is a suburban environment with high vegetation coverage and no pollutant emission sources. The aerosol retrieved by MAX-DOAS was in good correlation with the observation of sun photometer and the PM2.5 concentration of the corresponding site, which demonstrates that the aerosol retrieved by MAX-DOAS is reliable and feasible. Comparing the mean aerosol extinction coefficient (AEC) profiles during the observation period between urban and suburban areas, it was found that the occurrence of high aerosol concentration at FDU was nearly 3 h later than that of DSL at suburban site. And the aerosol at DSL was concentrated at an altitude of 0.3– 0.5 km, with a mean peak value of 0.486 km−1, which was slightly higher than the peak AEC of 0.453 km−1 at FDU of 0.2– 0.4 km. The difference in aerosol characteristics between the two sites may be due to the fact that the influences of aerosol transport and boundary layer dynamics are different between the two sites. The backward trajectories analysis also presents that there were mutual transports of aerosol between urban and suburban areas, which affect the optical properties of the aerosol in these two sites. In a case of aerosol pollution, we visualized the transport pathway of aerosol from the western part of the North China Plain to Shanghai using AEC profiles and backward trajectories, providing the evidence that the local aerosol pollution in Shanghai was affected by long-distance transport.