Abstract. In the 2015 winter month of December, northern China witnessed the most severe air pollution phenomena since the 2013 winter haze events occurred. This triggered the first-ever red alert in the air pollution control history of Beijing, with an instantaneous fine particulate matter (PM2. 5) concentration over 1 mg m−3. Air quality observations reveal large temporal–spatial variations in PM2. 5 concentrations over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (Jing-Jin-Ji) area between 2014 and 2015. Compared to 2014, the PM2. 5 concentrations over the area decreased significantly in all months except November and December of 2015, with an increase of 36 % in December. Analysis shows that the PM2. 5 concentrations are significantly correlated with the local meteorological parameters in the Jing-Jin-Ji area such as the stable conditions, relative humidity (RH), and wind field. A comparison of two month simulations (December 2014 and 2015) with the same emission data was performed to explore and quantify the meteorological impacts on the PM2. 5 over the Jing-Jin-Ji area. Observation and modeling results show that the worsening meteorological conditions are the main reasons behind this unusual increase of air pollutant concentrations and that the emission control measures taken during this period of time have contributed to mitigate the air pollution ( ∼  9 %) in the region. This work provides a scientific insight into the emission control measures vs. the meteorology impacts for the period.

Cooking aerosol generating from commercial kitchens was one of the most fine particulates contribution in China megacities air environment [1]. It was found that cooking process emitted high concentration of particulate matter (PM), mainly the inhalable particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μm or less(PM 2.5 ) [2-3], which can be detrimental to human health, ranging from oxidative DNA damage to respiratory damage caused by exposure and inhalation [4], particularly. Growing evidence shows that the severe effects of PM are related to the size of the particulate. Thus, many countries are paying increasing attention to the emission of fine particulates [5].By the impact of dietary cultural influences, there were many delicate culinary skills in typical Chinese cuisines, such as stir-frying, deep-frying, quick-frying, crisp-frying, burning and roasting [6], especially in the commercial kitchens, which generate a mass of aerosol,

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Northern China in the 2015 winter months of November and December has witnessed the most severe air pollution phenomena since the 2013 winter haze events occurred, which triggered the first ever Red Alert in the air pollution control history of Beijing, with an instantaneous PM<sub>2.5</sub> concentration over 1 mg m<sup>−3</sup>. Analysis and modeling results show that the worsening meteorology conditions are the main reason behind this unusual increase of air pollutant concentrations and the emission control measures taken during this period of time have contributed to mitigate the air pollution in the region. This work provides a scientific insight of the emission control measures vs. meteorology impacts for the period.</p>