PM2.5 pollution has gradually attracted people's attention due to its important negative impact on public health in recent years. The influence of anthropogenic emission factors on PM2.5 concentrations is more complicated, but their relative individual impact on different emission sectors remains unclear. With the aid of the geographic detector model (GeoDetector), this study evaluated the impacts of anthropogenic emissions from different sectors on the PM2.5 concentrations of major cities in China. The results indicated that the influence of anthropogenic emissions factors with different emission sectors on PM2.5 concentrations exhibited significant changes at different spatial and temporal scales. Residential emissions were the dominant driver at the national annual scale, and the NOX of residential emissions explained 20% (q = 0.2) of the PM2.5 concentrations. In addition, residential emissions played the leading role at the regional annual scale and during most of the seasons in northern China, and ammonia emissions from residents were the dominant factor. Traffic emissions play a leading role in the four seasons for MUYR and EC in southern China, MYR and NC in northern China, and on a national scale. Compared with primary particulate matter, secondary anthropogenic precursors have a more important effect on PM2.5 concentrations at the national or regional annual scale. The results can help to strengthen our understanding of PM2.5 pollution, improve PM2.5 forecasting models, and formulate more precise government control policy.
Keywords: China; GeoDetector model; PM2.5 concentrations; anthropogenic emissions; emission sectors.