A Severe Air Pollution Event from Field Burning of Agricultural Residues in Beijing, China

Yanli Lyu; Carlo Jaeger; Zhangang Han; Lianyou Liu; Peijun Shi; Weiping Wang; Saini Yang; Lanlan Guo; Guoming Zhang; Xia Hu; Jing Guo; Yunliang Gao; Yanyan Yang; Yiying Xiong; Haiming Wen; Bo Liang; Mengdi Zhao

doi:10.4209/aaqr.2015.05.0369

A Severe Air Pollution Event from Field Burning of Agricultural Residues in Beijing, China

Yanli Lyu¹^,3, Carlo Jaeger ¹^,4, Zhangang Han⁵, Lianyou Liu²^,3, Peijun Shi¹^,3, Weiping Wang¹^,3, Saini Yang¹^,3, Lanlan Guo²^,3, Guoming Zhang²^,3, Xia Hu²^,3, Jing Guo⁶, Yunliang Gao⁷, Yanyan Yang²^,3, Yiying Xiong²^,3, Haiming Wen²^,3, Bo Liang²^,3, Mengdi Zhao²^,3

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¹State Key Laboratory of Earth Surface Processes and Resource Ecology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
²Key Laboratory of Environmental Change and Natural Disaster, Ministry of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
³Academy of Disaster Reduction and Emergency Management, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
⁴Global Climate Forum, Neue Promenade 6, D-10178 Berlin, Germany
⁵School of Systems Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
⁶College of Resources Science & Technology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
⁷General Research Institute for Nonferrous metals, Beijing 100088, China

Received: May 27, 2015
Revised: August 15, 2015
Accepted: October 9, 2015
Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2015.05.0369

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Cite this article:
Lyu, Y., Jaeger, C., Han, Z., Liu, L., Shi, P., Wang, W., Yang, S., Guo, L., Zhang, G., Hu, X., Guo, J., Gao, Y., Yang, Y., Xiong, Y., Wen, H., Liang, B. and Zhao, M. (2015). A Severe Air Pollution Event from Field Burning of Agricultural Residues in Beijing, China. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 15: 2525-2536. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2015.05.0369

ABSTRACT

Air pollutant emissions from agricultural burning are observed every year after harvest in China. While agriculture is not the main contributor to air pollution in China, agricultural activities can cause severe pollution events. Recognizing the key mechanisms involved in this process offers an opportunity to minimize pollution events caused by agricultural burning. In this paper, we review the meteorological conditions present during a selected air pollution episode and discuss those conditions using standard meteorological observations. The spatio-temporal variations of PM_2.5 concentrations following agricultural burning in Beijing were measured from October 4 to October 7, 2013. This time period coincides with a Chinese public holiday and was selected because the influence of other anthropogenic emissions on air quality was strongly reduced during those days. As a result, we were able to identify the key sources and progress of a severe air pollution event. On October 4, average PM_2.5 concentration in Beijing continuously increased from 49.7 µg m^–3 at 1:00 to 302.5 µg m^–3 at 23:00. Heavily polluted air (> 300 µg m^–3) initially appeared in southeastern Beijing on the afternoon of October 4. On October 5 and in the early morning of October 6, heavily polluted air masses moved into central Beijing, the inner suburbs, and the suburbs. From 0:00 on October 6 to 15:00 on October 7, the average PM_2.5 concentration in Beijing decreased from 291.6 µg m^–3 to 19.2 µg m^–3. Active fire information derived from the MODIS sensors and back trajectory analysis show that field burning of agricultural residues after a harvest triggered and massively contributed to this severe air pollution event. The results improve our understanding of PM_2.5 air pollution development processes, and they provide scientific support for the Chinese government to accelerate emission reductions from the field burning of agricultural residues.

Keywords: Beijing; PM2.5 concentration; Field burning of agricultural residues; Post-harvest; Spatio-temporal variation