Monitoring of SO2 column concentration change over China from Aura OMI data

Abstract

The spatiotemporal variation in sulphur dioxide (SO2) concentration during 2005–2008 over China was monitored from the planetary boundary layer (PBL) SO2 column concentration retrieved from Aura ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) data, in this study. The obtained results indicate that SO2 concentration has an imbalanced spatial distribution with the highest level in central East China. Of the 31 provinces/municipalities/autonomous regions in mainland China, 23 still exhibited a rising trend of SO2 concentration during 2005–2008, against eight that showed a sign of decrease. The correlation coefficient between the mean SO2 concentration during 2005–2008 and coal consumption per unit area is as high as 0.760 if Shanghai is excluded from the analysis. With the exception of Beijing, all other provinces increased their coal consumption per unit area. Therefore, there is much more work to be done to bring down SO2 concentration.