Study on ambient air quality in Beijing for the summer 2008 Olympic Games

Abstract

With the coming/approaching of the Olympic Games in 2008, air pollution in Beijing attracts the attention of government and people. The objective of this study is to define the air quality during the Olympic Games; we conducted the observation of SO2, NO, CO, NO2, O3, and PM10 from August 7 to September 30 in 2007 in Beijing. The results showed that the average daily concentrations of SO2, NO2, CO, and PM10 during observation were 0.024, 0.072, 2.25, and 0.19 mg m−3, respectively. Compared with the National Ambient Air Quality Standard II, the concentrations of SO2 and CO in the observation were low, the concentration of NO2 basically satisfied the National Ambient Air Quality Standard II, and the concentrations of O3 and PM10 were much higher than the values of the standard. The characteristics of diurnal variation of NO, NO2, CO, and PM10 were similar, and the lower concentrations of these pollutants were observed by day and the higher concentrations at night. The concentration of SO2 in the daytime was a little higher than that at night. The highest 1-h concentration of O3 occurred at 14:00 local time.