Influence of regional emission controls on the chemical composition, sources, and size distributions of submicron aerosols: Insights from the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games

Junfeng Wang; Xinlei Ge; Collier Sonya; Jianhuai Ye; Yali Lei; Mindong Chen; Qi Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150869

Influence of regional emission controls on the chemical composition, sources, and size distributions of submicron aerosols: Insights from the 2014 Nanjing Youth Olympic Games

Sci Total Environ. 2022 Feb 10;807(Pt 2):150869. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150869. Epub 2021 Oct 7.

Authors

Junfeng Wang¹, Xinlei Ge², Collier Sonya³, Jianhuai Ye⁴, Yali Lei⁵, Mindong Chen⁶, Qi Zhang³

Affiliations

¹ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China; John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA.
² Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China. Electronic address: caxinra@163.com.
³ Department of Environmental Toxicology, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616, USA.
⁴ School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen 518055, China.
⁵ Key Lab of Geographic Information Science of the Ministry of Education, School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, China.
⁶ Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Environment Monitoring and Pollution Control, Collaborative Innovation Center of Atmospheric Environment and Equipment Technology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing 210044, China.

PMID: 34627891
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.150869

Abstract

High-intensity emission controls were implemented in Nanjing and in 8 surrounding cities to ensure good air quality during the 2014 summer Youth Olympic Games (YOG). An Aerodyne soot-particle aerosol mass spectrometer (SP-AMS) was deployed at a downwind site of downtown Nanjing to investigate the chemical composition, sources, and size distribution of submicron aerosols (PM₁), in response to emission control policies. However, results show that emission controls played a negligible role in reducing PM₁ concentration during the YOG period, yet primary precursors such as NO_x and SO₂ were decreased by 10-20%. Low wind speed, high relative humidity, and high ozone (O₃) concentration likely play a significant role in the production and accumulation of the oxygenated organic aerosol (OOA) and the secondary inorganic aerosols (SIA) in summer Nanjing. We propose that long-term regional emission reduction could be a solution for future air pollution mitigation strategies in downwind cities of the YRD region, and that seasonal meteorological characteristics in a specific region should be considered before emission control policies are made.

Keywords: Chemical composition; Emission control; Nanjing 2014 Youth Olympic Games; SP-AMS; Source apportionment.

MeSH terms

Aerosols* / analysis
Air Pollution / analysis*
China
Cities
Meteorology
Policy
Sports*

Substances

Aerosols