To understand the recent characteristics of atmospheric environmental changes in the Twain-Hu(Hunan-Hubei) Basin, including the middle reaches of the Yangtze River, this paper uses near-surface PM2.5 and PM10 observational data for the Twain-Hu Basin in the winters of 2015 to 2019, combined with wind-speed, topography, the normalized difference vegetation index(NDVI), and other datasets. The results show that:① PM2.5 pollution occurred frequently in the winters of 2015-2019 in the Twain-Hu Basin, and Xiangyang and Jingmen in the western part of the basin, experience PM2.5 pollution on an average of 62 and 61 days in winter(PM2.5>75 μg·m-3). And the heavy pollution days in Xiangyang reached 19 more days(PM2.5>150 μg·m-3), indicating that the Twain-Hu Basin is an air pollution center in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River Basin; ② Spatially, pollution in the Twain-Hu Basin is heavier in the northwest than in the southeast, and in the urban agglomeration, which is mainly related to the regional transport of air pollutants by the winter monsoon and the high levels of emissions from urban areas; ③ A "U-shaped" nonlinear relationship was observed between near-surface wind speeds and PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations. The inflection points of PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations were 153 and 210 μg·m-3, respectively. This implies that the accumulation of local atmospheric particulate matter in the Twain-Hu Basin dominates light/medium pollution, while the regional transport of air pollutants dominates period of severe pollution; and ④ PM2.5 and PM10 in winter were significantly negatively correlated with terrain height and the NDVI, which reflects the atmospheric environmental effects of topography and urbanization.
Keywords: Twain-Hu Basin; atmospheric particulate matter; meteorological elements; terrain; underlying surface.