Seesaw haze pollution in North China modulated by the sub-seasonal variability of atmospheric circulation

Zhang, Ge; Gao, Yang; Cai, Wenju; Leung, L. Ruby; Wang, Shuxiao; Zhao, Bin; Wang, Minghuai; Shan, Huayao; Yao, Xiaohong; Gao, Huiwang

doi:10.5194/acp-19-565-2019

Title: Seesaw haze pollution in North China modulated by the sub-seasonal variability of atmospheric circulation

Journal Article · 15 January 2019 · Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-565-2019 · OSTI ID:1496805

Zhang, Ge ^[1]; Gao, Yang ^[2]; Cai, Wenju ^[3];

^[4];

^[5];

^[6];

^[7]; Shan, Huayao ^[1]; Yao, Xiaohong ^[2];

^[2]

Ocean Univ. of China, Qingdao (China)
Ocean Univ. of China, Qingdao (China); Qingdao National Lab. for Marine Science and Technology (China)
Ocean Univ. of China, Qingdao (China); Qingdao National Lab. for Marine Science and Technology (China); CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research, Aspendale, VIC (Australia)
Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
Univ. of California, Los Angeles, CA (United States)
Nanjing Univ. (China)

Utilizing a recent observational dataset of particulate matter with diameters less than 2.5µm (PM_2.5) in North China, this study reveals adistinct seesaw feature of abnormally high and low PM_2.5 concentrationsin the adjacent two months of December 2015 and January 2016, accompanied bydistinct meteorological modulations. The seesaw pattern is postulated to belinked to a super El Niño and the Arctic Oscillation (AO). During themature phase of El Niño in December 2015, the weakened East Asian wintermonsoon (EAWM) and the associated low-level southerly wind anomaly reducedplanetary boundary layer (PBL) height, favoring strong haze formation. Thiscirculation pattern was completely reversed in the following month, in partdue to a sudden phase change of the AO from positive to negative and thebeginning of a decay of the El Niño, which enhanced the southward shiftof the upper tropospheric jet from December to January relative toclimatology, leading to an enhanced EAWM and substantially lower hazeformation. This sub-seasonal change in circulation is also robustly found in1982–1983 and 1997–1998, implicative of a general physical mechanismdynamically linked to El Niño and the AO. Numerical experiments using theWeather Research and Forecasting (WRF) Community Multiscale Air Quality(CMAQ) model were used to test the modulation of the meteorologicalconditions on haze formation. With the same emission, simulations for threesuper El Niño periods (1983, 1997 and 2015) robustly show higherPM_2.5 concentrations under the mature phase of the super El Niño,but substantially lower PM_2.5 concentrations during the decay phase ofEl Niño (and the sudden AO phase change), further verifying themodulation effect of the sub-seasonal circulation anomaly on PM_2.5 concentrations in North China

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Research Organization:: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC05-76RL01830

OSTI ID:: 1496805

Report Number(s):: PNNL-SA-139097

Journal Information:: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online), Vol. 19, Issue 1; ISSN 1680-7324

Publisher:: European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 43 works

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