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Persistent high PM2.5 pollution driven by unfavorable meteorological conditions during the COVID-19 lockdown period in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China

Journal Article · · Environmental Research
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [1];  [4];  [1];  [4];  [4];  [5];  [1]
  1. Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China)
  2. Univ. of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China); Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Xiamen (China)
  3. Clarkson Univ., Potsdam, NY (United States); Univ. of Rochester, NY (United States)
  4. Nanjing Univ. of Science and Technology (China)
  5. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
+ Show Author Affiliations
Lockdown measures to curtail the COVID-19 pandemic in China halted most nonessential activities on January 23, 2020. Despite significant reductions in anthropogenic emissions, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region still experienced high air pollution concentrations. In this work, employing two emissions reduction scenarios, the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model was used to investigate the PM2.5 concentrations change in this region. The model using the scenario (C3) with greater traffic reductions performed better compared to the observed PM2.5. Compared with the no reductions base-case (scenario C1), PM2.5 reductions with scenario C3 were 2.70, 2.53, 2.90, 2.98, 3.30, 2.81, 2.82, 2.98, 2.68, and 2.83 µg/m3 in Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Cangzhou, Chengde, Handan, Hengshui, Tangshan, and Xingtai, respectively. During high-pollution days in scenario C3, the percentage reductions in PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Baoding, Cangzhou, Chengde, Handan, Hengshui, Tangshan, and Xingtai were 3.76, 3.54, 3.28, 3.22, 3.57, 3.56, 3.47, 6.10, 3.61, and 3.67%, respectively. However, significant increases caused by unfavorable meteorological conditions counteracted the emissions reduction effects resulting in high air pollution in BTH region during the lockdown period. This study shows that effective air pollution control strategies incorporating these results are urgently required in BTH to avoid severe pollution.
Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Key Research and Development Program of China; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1809049
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA--162783
Journal Information:
Environmental Research, Journal Name: Environmental Research Vol. 198; ISSN 0013-9351
Publisher:
ElsevierCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region
COVID-19
Meteorology
Prolonged heavy haze
Reduced anthropogenic emission
WRF-CMAQ