The Impacts of Emission Control and Regional Transport on PM2.5 Ions and Carbon Components in Nanjing during the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games

Derong Zhou; Bing Li; Xin Huang; Aki Virkkula; Haisuo Wu; Qiuyue Zhao; Jie Zhang; Qiang Liu; Li Li; Chunyan Li; Feng Chen; Siyu Yuan; Yuezhen Qiao; Guofeng Shen; Aijun Ding

doi:10.4209/aaqr.2016.03.0131

The Impacts of Emission Control and Regional Transport on PM2.5 Ions and Carbon Components in Nanjing during the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games

Derong Zhou¹^,2, Bing Li², Xin Huang¹^,3, Aki Virkkula¹^,3^,4^,5, Haisuo Wu², Qiuyue Zhao², Jie Zhang², Qiang Liu¹, Li Li², Chunyan Li², Feng Chen², Siyu Yuan², Yuezhen Qiao², Guofeng Shen², Aijun Ding ¹^,3

+ Show author affiliations

¹Joint International Research Laboratory of Atmospheric and Earth System Sciences & School of Atmospheric Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210023, China
²Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Environmental Engineering, Jiangsu Academy of Environmental Sciences, Nanjing 210036, China
³Collaborative Innovation Center of Climate Change, Jiangsu Province, China
⁴Department of Physics, University of Helsinki, FI-00014 Helsinki, Finland
⁵Finnish Meteorological Institute, FI-00560 Helsink, Finland

Received: May 13, 2016
Revised: October 19, 2016
Accepted: October 19, 2016
Download Citation: ||https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2016.03.0131

Download: PDF

Cite this article:
Zhou, D., Li, B., Huang, X., Virkkula, A., Wu, H., Zhao, Q., Zhang, J., Liu, Q., Li, L., Li, C., Chen, F., Yuan, S., Qiao, Y., Shen, G. and Ding, A. (2017). The Impacts of Emission Control and Regional Transport on PM2.5 Ions and Carbon Components in Nanjing during the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games. Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 17: 730-740. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2016.03.0131

HIGHLIGHTS

Strict control measures significantly improved air quality in Nanjing during the YOG.
Secondary pollutants from regional scale dominated air pollution during the YOG.
Regional collaborative control is needed for an effective improvement of air quality.

ABSTRACT

Highly time-resolved measurements of water soluble ions, organic and elemental carbon concentrations in the particle diameter size range Dp < 2.5 µm (PM_2.5) were performed at a downwind urban site in Nanjing in the western part of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in eastern China during the 2014 Youth Olympic Games (YOG). In this study, we discuss the impacts of emission control in Nanjing and the surrounding areas during the YOG and regional/long-range transport on PM_2.5 pollution in Nanjing. The average concentrations of NO₃^–, SO₄^2–, NH₄⁺ were 12.1 ± 9.9, 16.5 ± 9.2, 9.0 ± 5.4 µg m^–3 during the YOG, and increased 34.3%, 53.7%, 43.9% after the YOG, respectively. The control of construction or on-road soil dust and control of industry led to the decrease of Ca²⁺ concentration by 55% and SO₂ concentration by 46%. However, SO₄^2– concentrations remained at relatively high levels, suggesting a significant impact of regional pollution to secondary fine particles in Nanjing. Strong correlations between OC and EC were observed during and after the YOG. A higher percentage (41%) of secondary organic carbon in Nanjing during the YOG periods was consistent with high potential photochemistry and low contributions from coal combustion. Lagrangian dispersion modelling results proved that the city clusters along the Nanjing and Shanghai axis were the major source region for high PM_2.5 pollution in upwind Nanjing. This work shows that short-term strict control measures could improve the air quality, especially that affected by the primary pollutants; however, regional collaborative control strategy across administrative borders in the YRD is needed for a substantial improvement of air quality.