Mobile observation improves the accuracy and coverage of environmental monitoring, and can locate and track pollution sources. We conducted mobile monitoring to obtain real-time atmospheric pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO and O3) in typical areas, which included a country park and a tourist attraction featuring an ancient town in the Yangtze River Delta Eco-Green Integrated Development Demonstration Zone (Demonstration Zone), China. Results show that the concentrations of the six key pollutants in the ancient town were usually higher than that in the country park, due to high intensity of anthropogenic emissions. Pollutants including PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and CO in the ancient town during weekends were higher than that during weekdays, whereas pollutants in the country park presented no difference during weekdays and weekends. Morphology analysis of individual particles by scanning electron microscopy detected abundant soot from fresh emissions and atmospheric aging in the two areas. Agricultural irrigation, powered by diesel combustion, was identified as an emission source in the country park. Open-air cooking, coal combustion for cooking and the frequent redecoration of stores were emission sources in the ancient town. Environmentally friendly agricultural irrigation ways and cleaner cooking fuels were suggested to further improve air quality in the Demonstration Zone.

The most important atmospheric pollutants include PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, CO and O3. Characteristics of atmospheric pollution were investigated by analyzing daily and hourly concentrations of the six key pollutants in three different functional areas (urban, suburban, and rural) of Shanghai during 2019–2021. Results show that O3, exceeding PM2.5, has become the primary pollutant determining air quality in Shanghai. The frequency of O3 as a primary pollutant ranged from 40% in an urban area to 71% in a rural area, which was much higher than that of PM2.5 (14–21%). NO2 and SO2, precursors of PM2.5, presented a clear weekend effect, whereas PM2.5 at weekends seems higher than that on weekdays. In the warm season, O3 at weekends was higher than that on weekdays in the three different functional areas, whereas no significant difference was observed between O3 on weekdays and at weekends in the cold season. Potential source contribution function analysis indicated that air pollution in Shanghai was impacted by inter-regional and intra-regional transport. The potential source areas of PM2.5 and O3 were different, which brought challenges to the coordinated control of PM2.5 and O3 in Shanghai. This study emphasizes the prominent O3 pollution in Shanghai, and argues that the prevention and control of O3 pollution requires regional joint prevention and control strategy.