China's emission control strategies have suppressed unfavorable influences of climate on wintertime PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing since 2002

Severe wintertime PM2.5 pollution in Beijing has been receiving increasing worldwide attention, yet the decadal variations remain relatively unexplored. Combining field measurements and model simulations, we quantified the relative influences of anthropogenic emissions and meteorological conditions...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Atmospheric chemistry and physics 2020-02, Vol.20 (3), p.1497-1505
Main Authors: Gao, Meng, Liu, Zirui, Zheng, Bo, Ji, Dongsheng, Sherman, Peter, Song, Shaojie, Xin, Jinyuan, Liu, Cheng, Wang, Yuesi, Zhang, Qiang, Xing, Jia, Jiang, Jingkun, Wang, Zifa, Carmichael, Gregory R, McElroy, Michael B
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Aerosols
Air pollution
Aleutian low
Anthropogenic factors
Boundary conditions
Carbon
Chemistry
Climate
Climate change
Computer simulation
Councils
Decadal variations
East Asian monsoon
Emission measurements
Emissions
Emissions control
Haze
Human influences
Long-term changes
Meteorological conditions
Meteorology
Ocean, Atmosphere
Ozone
Particulate matter
Pollution
Sciences of the Universe
Simulation
Trends
Winter
Winter monsoon
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Summary:Severe wintertime PM2.5 pollution in Beijing has been receiving increasing worldwide attention, yet the decadal variations remain relatively unexplored. Combining field measurements and model simulations, we quantified the relative influences of anthropogenic emissions and meteorological conditions on PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing over the winters of 2002–2016. Between the winters of 2011 and 2016, stringent emission control measures resulted in a 21 % decrease in mean mass concentrations of PM2.5 in Beijing, with 7 fewer haze days per winter on average. Given the overestimation of PM2.5 by the model, the effectiveness of stringent emission control measures might have been slightly overstated. With fixed emissions, meteorological conditions over the study period would have led to an increase in haze in Beijing, but the strict emission control measures have suppressed the unfavorable influences of the recent climate. The unfavorable meteorological conditions are attributed to the weakening of the East Asia winter monsoon associated particularly with an increase in pressure associated with the Aleutian Low.
ISSN:1680-7316
1680-7324
DOI:10.5194/acp-20-1497-2020