Abstract
Abstract. Surface ozone (O3) pollution during summer (June–August) over eastern China has become more severe in recent years, resulting in a co-occurrence of surface O3 and PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters ≤ 2.5 µm in the air) pollution. However, the mechanisms regarding how the synoptic weather pattern (SWP) might influence this compound pollution remain unclear. In this study, we applied the T-mode principal component analysis (T-PCA) method to objectively classify the occurrence of four SWPs over eastern China, based on the geopotential heights at 500 hPa during summer (2015–2018). These four SWPs over eastern China were closely related to the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH), exhibiting significant intra-seasonal and interannual variations. Based on ground-level air quality observations, remarkable spatial and temporal disparities of surface O3 and PM2.5 pollution were also found under the four SWPs. In particular, there were two SWPs that were sensitive to compound pollution (Type 1 and Type 2). Type 1 was characterized by a stable WPSH ridge with its axis at about 22∘ N and the rain belt located south of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD); Type 2 also exhibited WPSH dominance (ridge axis at ∼ 25∘ N) but with the rain belt (over the YRD) at a higher latitude compared to Type 1. In general, SWPs have played an important role as driving factors of surface O3–PM2.5 compound pollution in a regional context. Our findings demonstrate the important role played by SWPs in driving regional surface O3–PM2.5 compound pollution, in addition to the large quantities of emissions, and may also provide insights into the regional co-occurring high levels of both PM2.5 and O3 via the effects of certain meteorological factors.
Highlights
In recent years, China has been experiencing serious air pollution problems owing to its enormous emissions of polluting gases (e.g., sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)) and aerosol particulates associated with its rapid economic development, industrialization and urbanization, together with certain unfavorable meteorological conditions (Wang and Chen, 2016; Zhang et al, 2014, 2016)
It was found that these four synoptic weather pattern (SWP) were closely related to the development of the western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH)
We found two synoptic patterns were prone to leading to the co-occurrence of O3 and PM2.5 pollution: in BTH–NYRD areas under Type 1 and in the BTH area under Type 2, which were associated with double-high levels of O3 and PM2.5
Summary
China has been experiencing serious air pollution problems owing to its enormous emissions of polluting gases (e.g., sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)) and aerosol particulates (e.g., particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters ≤ 2.5 or 10 μm in the air, abbreviated to PM2.5 and PM10, respectively) associated with its rapid economic development, industrialization and urbanization, together with certain unfavorable meteorological conditions (Wang and Chen, 2016; Zhang et al, 2014, 2016). There has been seasonal variation of PM2.5 pollution detected across China, indicating a higher level of pollution in winter than summer (Ye et al, 2018; Zhang and Cao, 2015). In the past few years, the PM2.5 concentration in China has decreased significantly as a result of measures introduced across the country that have reduced multi-pollutant emissions, adjusted the energy structure and increased the supply of clean energy An increase in the maximum daily 8 h average concentration of O3 (MDA8 O3) at an annual average rate of 4.6 % was reported by Fan et al (2020), albeit with a decrease in the frequency of PM2.5 pollution
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