Teleconnection between the Asian Polar Vortex and surface PM2.5 in China

Abstract

Atmospheric fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollutions are of particular concern because of their direct and indirect harm to humans and organisms. China has suffered from severe air pollution for the past ten years, related to heavy pollution emissions and compounded by the effects of atmospheric circulation. This study applied statistical methods, observational data of ground pollutants, and meteorological data to analyze the impact of large-scale atmospheric circulations on PM2.5 pollution over China. Empirical orthogonal function (EOF) analysis was used to evaluate the main PM2.5 patterns and total contributions of the leading four EOFs. The results indicate that the total contributions of the leading four EOFs accounted for 50.5% of the total variance, reflecting four main types of PM2.5 pollution, namely, overall pollution phase, north–south phase, east–west phase and north–center–south phase, with contributions of 28.4%, 9.7%, 6.5% and 5.9%, respectively. We selected indices of the Asian Polar Vortex (APV) to analyze the impact of large-scale atmospheric circulations on PM2.5 pollution over China. The most pronounced APV control occurred in Beijing and its surroundings, specifically, along the Bohai Sea and the Northeast Plain.