Abstract
Recent studies in PM2.5 sources show that anthropogenic emissions are the main contributors to haze pollution. Due to their essential roles in establishing policies for improving air quality, socioeconomic drivers of PM2.5 levels have attracted increasing attention. Unlike previous studies focusing on the annual PM2.5 concentration (Cyear), this paper focuses on the accumulation phase of PM2.5 during the pollution episode (PMAE) in the Yangtze River Delta in China. This paper mainly explores the spatial variations of PMAE and its links to the socioeconomic factors using a geographical detector and simple linear regression. The results indicated that PM2.5 was more likely to accumulate in more developed cities, such as Nanjing and Shanghai. Compared with Cyear, PMAE was more sensitive to socioeconomic impacts. Among the twelve indicators chosen for this study, population density was an especially critical factor that could affect the accumulation of PM2.5 dramatically and accounted for the regional difference. A 1% increase in population density could cause a 0.167% rise in the maximal increment and a 0.214% rise in the daily increase rate of PM2.5. Additionally, industry, energy consumption, and vehicles were also significantly associated with PM2.5 accumulation. These conclusions could serve to remediate the severe PM2.5 pollution in China.
Highlights
In past decades, with the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, the problem of air pollution has become increasingly severe around the world
The impact of population density was unclear in previous literature, our results suggested that a higher density of population may influence PM2.5 and cause it to increase rapidly, within a short period
Using the PM2.5 concentrations and twelve socioeconomic indicators in 2014, we have explored, for the first time, the characteristics of PM2.5 accumulation during pollution episodes and its links with socioeconomic factors in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) from a statistical perspective
Summary
With the rapid development of industrialization and urbanization, the problem of air pollution has become increasingly severe around the world. Fine particulate matter (PM2.5 ), a type of pollutant, has been verified to be unhealthy for humans and the living environment, as it can cause lung cancer, respiratory and cardiovascular diseases, affect transportation, as well as increase mortality [1,2,3,4]. PM2.5 pollution has become the greatest environmental problem in. China and is attracting growing public concern. Since 2013, heavy PM2.5 pollution events have often occurred in many Chinese cities, as observed via monitoring-site data [5] and satellite imagery [6,7]. In the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), a developed region in China, Shanghai witnessed a maximum hourly PM2.5 concentration of 602 μg/m3 [8] in December of 2013. Nanjing experienced a daily PM2.5 concentration (Cday , the average concentration of 24 h in a day) of
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