Spatiotemporal Variations of Particulate and Gaseous Pollutants and Their Relations to Meteorological Parameters: The Case of Xiangyang, China

Abstract

High air pollution levels have become a nationwide problem in China, but limited attention has been paid to prefecture-level cities. Furthermore, different time resolutions between air pollutant level data and meteorological parameters used in many previous studies can lead to biased results. Supported by synchronous measurements of air pollutants and meteorological parameters, including PM2.5, PM10, total suspended particles (TSP), CO, NO2, O3, SO2, temperature, relative humidity, wind speed and direction, at 16 urban sites in Xiangyang, China, from 1 March 2018 to 28 February 2019, this paper: (1) analyzes the overall air quality using an air quality index (AQI); (2) captures spatial dynamics of air pollutants with pollution point source data; (3) characterizes pollution variations at seasonal, day-of-week and diurnal timescales; (4) detects weekend effects and holiday (Chinese New Year and National Day holidays) effects from a statistical point of view; (5) establishes relationships between air pollutants and meteorological parameters. The principal results are as follows: (1) PM2.5 and PM10 act as primary pollutants all year round and O3 loses its primary pollutant position after November; (2) automobile manufacture contributes to more particulate pollutants while chemical plants produce more gaseous pollutants. TSP concentration is related to on-going construction and road sprinkler operations help alleviate it; (3) an unclear weekend effect for all air pollutants is confirmed; (4) celebration activities for the Chinese New Year bring distinctly increased concentrations of SO2 and thereby enhance secondary particulate pollutants; (5) relative humidity and wind speed, respectively, have strong negative correlations with coarse particles and fine particles. Temperature positively correlates with O3.

Assessing the Impact of Meteorological Conditions on Outpatient Visits for Childhood Respiratory Diseases in Urumqi, China

“…In this study, the correlation coefficient between wind speed and AQI was found to be −0.462 ( P < 0.001) through correlation analysis. Some studies also concluded that air pollutants are mainly from anthropogenic emissions, and higher wind speed will carry away pollutants from the city 46,47 . This view supports some of the results of this study that high wind speed has a protective effect on the development of bronchitis, and low wind speed conditions are not conducive to the diffusion and dilution of pollutants, so bronchitis shows a harmful effect under low wind speed conditions.…”

“…Some studies also concluded that air pollutants are mainly from anthropogenic emissions, and higher wind speed will carry away pollutants from the city. 46,47 This view supports some of the results of this study that high wind speed has a protective effect on the development of bronchitis, and low wind speed conditions are not conducive to the diffusion and dilution of pollutants, so bronchitis shows a harmful effect under low wind speed conditions. Bronchiectasis is usually influenced by abiotic and biotic factors, whereas pneumonia and bronchopneumonia, which are also lower respiratory tract diseases, are more influenced by biotic factors (pathogens).…”

Assessment of Indoor Household Air Quality Using SentinAir's Cost-effective Sensor

“…The particulate matter relationship may be a result of a positive relationship with global radiation at a significant 0.05 level. Global radiation fuels photochemical reactions in the atmosphere, resulting in the formation of particulate matter [26]. The relationship between RH and PM2.5 demonstrates that relative humidity has no effect on fine particle scavenging.…”

“…The relationship between RH and PM2.5 demonstrates that relative humidity has no effect on fine particle scavenging. The fact that temperature and O3 have a positive correlation suggests temperature has a positive effect on photochemical reactions [26].…”

Distribution Dynamics of Phthalate Esters in Surface Water and Sediment of the Middle-Lower Hanjiang River, China

“…In addition, DEHP is the major PAE that leaches from household wastes [ 44 ] and is also a major component in atmospheric particles [ 45 ]. Recently, PAEs have been found in PM2.5 and PM10 in the ambient air of the Wuhan, Xiangyang, and Xiantao cities [ 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 ]. Moreover, atmospheric transport and deposition are also important sources of organic contaminants in the sediment environment (Mi et al, 2019).…”