Abstract
A sea breeze is a local circulation that occurs in coastal regions from the poles to the equator. The adverse influence of ship emissions on air quality in coastal areas may be aggravated by the onshore flow of sea breeze circulation. However, our knowledge regarding the evolution of ship-emitted pollutants during a specific sea breeze episode is still limited. To address this knowledge gap, this study investigated the evolution of ship emissions during a sea breeze episode that occurred on 29 June, 2014 in Tangshan port in China by employing the WRF/Chem model. NO2, one of the primary pollutants emitted by ships, was selected as the target pollutant for investigation. The results indicate that the ground level NO2 concentration was considerably affected by sea breeze circulation. Although the onset of the sea breeze was delayed until nearly midday due to offshore synoptic winds, ship-emitted NO2 was transported to more than 100 km inland with the penetration of the sea breeze. Further investigation found that the averaged concentration of ship-contributed NO2 during the episode showed an evident downward trend as the distance from the coastline increased. Vertically, the shallow atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) on the sea limited the vertical dispersion of ship emissions, and the pollutant was transported shoreward by the sea breeze within this shallow ABL. The height of the ABLs is lowered in coastal regions due to the cooling effect of sea breezes which brings the cool marine air to the hot land surface. Ship-contributed NO2 was mostly trapped in the shallow ABL; thereby, its concentration increased.
Highlights
To fill this knowledge gap, a sea breeze episode that occurred in Tangshan port in the summer of 2014 was selected as the target period to investigate the influence of sea breezes on the evolution of ship emissions
The results of this study may serve as a reference to further our understanding of how ship emissions impact the air quality during sea breeze episodes, thereby formulating standards and policies that are more effective for the abatement of ship emissions
The WRF/Chem modeling system was employed to investigate the evolution of ship-emitted pollutants during a sea breeze episode on July 29, 2014
Summary
The adverse influence of ship emissions on air quality in coastal and port regions has been extensively reported worldwide [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16,17,18]; this problem can be aggravated when there is an onshore wind [19,20,21,22]. Investigating the evolution of ship-emitted pollutants during sea breeze episodes is necessary to improve our understanding of how, and to what extent, ship emissions impact air quality in coastal regions. The inability to gain insight into this subject limits our understanding of the impact of ships on air quality, especially in coastal regions. To fill this knowledge gap, a sea breeze episode that occurred in Tangshan port (the third largest port in China in terms of cargo throughput [58]) in the summer of 2014 was selected as the target period to investigate the influence of sea breezes on the evolution of ship emissions. The results of this study may serve as a reference to further our understanding of how ship emissions impact the air quality during sea breeze episodes, thereby formulating standards and policies that are more effective for the abatement of ship emissions
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