Vertical changes of PM2.5 driven by meteorology in the atmospheric boundary layer during a heavy air pollution event in central China

Abstract

Regional PM2.5 transport is a crucial factor affecting air quality, and the meteorological mechanism in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) has not been fully understood over the receptor region in the regional transport of air pollutants. Based on the intensive vertical measurements of air pollutants and meteorology in the ABL during a transport-induced heavy air pollution event in Xiangyang, an urban site over a receptor region in central China, we investigated the meteorological mechanism in vertical PM2.5 changes in the ABL for heavy air pollution over the receptor region. Driven by northerly winds, regional PM2.5 transport was built from upstream northern China to downstream central China, where the observed ABL structures were unstable throughout the air pollution event. We assessed the ABL structures with meteorological and PM2.5 profiles at growth, maintenance, and dissipation stages, and elucidated the mechanism of regional PM2.5 transport inducing air pollution over the receptor region with the contribution of thermal and mechanical factors. The regional PM2.5 transport was concentrated in the upper ABL over the downwind receptor region with high PM2.5 concentrations at altitudes of 600–800 m, where the transported PM2.5 peaks were downwards mixed by vertical wind shear, forming the vertical PM2.5 transport from the upper ABL to near-surface in the growth stage; the weakened winds and less unstable structures in the ABL favored the sustained pollution with slight vertical PM2.5 changes in the maintenance stage, which was dominated by thermal factors with 87 % contribution; the removal of PM2.5 was triggered by increasing winds from the upper ABL, activating the dissipation of heavy PM2.5 pollution with the mechanical effect accounting for 60 % in the dissipation stage. These findings could improve our understanding of ABL's influence on air pollution over the receptor region with implications for the regional transport of air pollutants in environmental changes.