Satellite Remote Sensing of Air Quality in the Energy Golden Triangle in Northwest China

Abstract

This article presents the first assessment of air quality in the Energy Golden Triangle (EGT) in northwest China. Using the planetary boundary layer (PBL) column density (PCD) of SO2 and the tropospheric column density (TCD) of NO2 retrieved from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI), we show that the column densities of both SO2 and NO2 exhibit an increasing trend from 2005 to 2014 in the Ningdong energy and chemical industrial base (NECIB) within the EGT, in contrast to the rapid and widespread decrease of SO2 emissions in northern China. This is largely attributed to the rapid development of the energy industry in this region. It is expected that SO2 and NO2 emitted from the EGT would increasingly contribute to the total emissions of these two air pollutants in northern China.