Abstract
Air quality in China is characterized by significant spatial and temporal differences, which are directly related to local meteorological conditions. This study used air quality monitoring data, namely, the air pollution index (API) and air quality index (AQI) between 2005 and 2018, together with meteorological data and identified key meteorological factors that affected the spatial and temporal variation of air quality using a random forest algorithm. The spatial and temporal differences in the threshold values of different meteorological factors affecting the concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, NO2, and O3 were identified. The AQI has the advantages of facilitating higher index values than the API. The air quality showed an improvement from 2005 to 2018. Wind direction and precipitation were the most important meteorological factors affecting the air quality in northern and southern China, respectively, which to some extent reflected the causes and degradation mechanisms of air pollution in the two regions. There were significant spatial and temporal differences in the effects of meteorological factors on the concentrations of different pollutants. The influence of atmospheric pressure on pollutant concentration differed between the east and west. Precipitation and relative humidity in most cities had significant impacts on PM2.5 and PM10. The influence of relative humidity was most significant for SO2 and it also had a great influence on O3, while wind speed had a great influence on NO2. The results of the study confirm the meteorological sensitivity of air quality and provide support for the implementation of regional air pollution prevention and control initiatives.
Highlights
In recent years, China has experienced large-scale industrialization and rapid urbanization, but has paid the price of environmental pollution, especially air pollution, which is characterized by large-scale haze [1,2,3,4]
The air pollution index (API) and air quality index (AQI) values of cities dominated by steel and coal were significantly higher [29]
The AQI has the advantages of facilitating higher index values than the API, and data have been released at a greater frequency; this confirms that the AQI is an appropriate replacement for the API
Summary
China has experienced large-scale industrialization and rapid urbanization, but has paid the price of environmental pollution, especially air pollution, which is characterized by large-scale haze [1,2,3,4]. Complexity the atmospheric processes and mechanisms affecting individual pollutants, and predictions of the effects of meteorological conditions on pollution levels [7,8,9,10,11,12] Most of these studies have focused on cities and regions with severe air pollution issues and dense populations, such as Beijing [13,14,15], the Yangtze River Delta [16, 17], and California [18, 19], Iberia [20], Iran [21, 22], and Milan area [23, 24]. The consistency of long-term sequences of data (such as the API and AQI) and their relationship with pollutant concentrations are uncertain
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