Measuring influential factors for air pollution in New-York-Newark-Jersey City by grey relation analysis

Abstract

This study investigates variations of air quality index (AQI) for air pollutants in the metropolitan area (New-York-Newark-Jersey City; NY-NJ-PA) during 2010 - 2019 to identify the key influential factors for air pollution using grey relation analysis method. The results show that the annual averages of daily AQI values for multiple pollutants in NY-NJ-PA generally decreased except O3. The AQI values of O3 fluctuate greatly. The main factors affecting AQI values of CO, PM2.5, O3, SO2, and PM10 are the emissions of CO2, SO2, and NOx, whereas the main factors affecting AQI values of NO are the emissions of SO2, population, and NOx.