Search

Airborne particulate matter (PM) is of great concern in the modern-day atmosphere owing to its association with a variety of health impacts, such as respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Of the various size fractions of PM, it is the finer fractions that are most harmful to health, in particular ultrafine particles (PM0.1; UFPs), with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 100 nm. The smaller size fractions, of ≤2.5 µm (PM2.5; fine particles) and ≤0.1 µm (PM0.1; ultrafine particles), have been shown to have numerous linkages to negative health effects; however, their collection/sampling remains challenging. This review paper employed a comprehensive literature review methodology; 200 studies were evaluated based on the rigor of their methodologies, including the validity of experimental designs, data collection methods, and statistical analyses. Studies with robust methodologies were prioritised for inclusion. This review paper critically assesses the health risks associated with fine and ultrafine particles, highlighting vehicular emissions as the most significant source of particulate-related health effects. While coal combustion, diesel exhaust, household wood combustors' emissions, and Earth's crust dust also pose health risks, evidence suggests that exposure to particulates from vehicular emissions has the greatest impact on human health due to their widespread distribution and contribution to air pollution-related diseases. This article comprehensively examines current sampling technologies, specifically focusing on the collection and sampling of ultrafine particles (UFP) from ambient air to facilitate toxicological and physiochemical characterisation efforts. This article discusses diverse approaches to collect fine and ultrafine particulates, along with experimental endeavours to assess ultrafine particle concentrations across various microenvironments. Following meticulous evaluation of sampling techniques, high-volume air samplers such as the Chem Vol Model 2400 High Volume Cascade Impactor and low-volume samplers like the Personal Cascade Impactor Sampler (PCIS) emerge as effective methods. These techniques offer advantages in particle size fractionation, collection efficiency, and adaptability to different sampling environments, positioning them as valuable tools for precise characterisation of particulate matter in air quality research and environmental monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 µm ( P M 2.5 ) profoundly affects environmental systems, human health and economic structures. Multi-source data and advanced machine or deep-learning methods have provided a new chance for estimating the P M 2.5 concentrations at a high spatiotemporal resolution. In this paper, the Random Forest (RF) algorithm was applied to estimate hourly P M 2.5 of the North China area (Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei, BTH) based on the next-generation geostationary meteorological satellite Himawari-8/AHI (Advanced Himawari Imager) aerosol optical depth (AOD) products. To improve the estimation of P M 2.5 concentration across large areas, we construct a method for co-weighting the environmental similarity and the geographical distances by using an attention mechanism so that it can efficiently characterize the influence of spatial–temporal information hidden in adjacent ground monitoring sites. In experiment results, the hourly P M 2.5 estimates are well correlated with ground measurements in BTH, with a coefficient of determination ( R 2 ) of 0.887, a root-mean-square error (RMSE) of 18.31 μ g/ m 3 , and a mean absolute error (MAE) of 11.17 µg/ m 3 , indicating good model performance. In addition, this paper makes a comprehensive analysis of the effectiveness of multi-source data in the estimation process, in this way, to simplify the model structure and improve the estimation efficiency of the model while ensuring its accuracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, air pollution in Xinjiang, the core region of the Silk Road Economic Belt, has become increasingly severe, posing a more significant threat to human health. This paper selects the tropospheric ozone, nitrogen dioxide, and formaldehyde datasets under OMI remote-sensing monitoring and the PM2.5 dataset in China High Air Pollutants (CHAP) for 2018–2021. The spatial and temporal distribution of multi-pollutants, the spatial autocorrelation of Moran's I index pollutants, and the correlation between pollutants in the warm period were studied in southern Xinjiang. Meanwhile, the geographical and temporal weighted regression (GTWR) model was used for influencing factor analysis, and the BenMap-CE model was used for health benefit analysis. The results showed that the spatial distribution of ozone concentration values in southern Xinjiang shows a decreasing distribution pattern from the east–central region to the western and southern regions. The spatial distribution of formaldehyde concentration values is opposite to that of ozone. There is a clear high-value area in the ozone concentration value in April–September. The NO2 column concentration values were in the range of 0.55~1.09 × 1015 molec/cm2 in most parts of southern Xinjiang. The area of high concentration values is located in the northeast of the study area; PM2.5 concentration values are higher in the middle area of southern Xinjiang. The spatial autocorrelation characteristics showed that the spatial aggregation of O3 and NO2 displayed a slow increasing trend year by year. The spatial aggregation of HCHO and PM2.5 fluctuated slightly in four years. The overall trend of HCHO is slowly decreasing, while PM2.5 is fluctuating and increasing. In the GTWR model analysis, overall, the atmospheric pressure has a strong influence on all pollutants. The effect of NO2 on O3 was higher than that of HCHO among the four pollutants. The correlation between O3 and PM2.5 was as high as −0.7872. The BenMap-CE health benefits assessment concluded that the number of premature deaths caused by ozone pollution was much higher than that of premature deaths caused by PM2.5. The highest number of premature deaths for both pollutants occurred in Kashgar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate air quality prediction is of great significance for pollution prevention and disaster prevention. Effective and reliable prediction models are needed not only for short time prediction, but are even more important for long time-series future predictions. In the long time series, most of the current models might not function as accurately as in the short period and thus a new model is required. In this paper, the new PM2.5 predictor is proposed to achieve accurate long time series PM2.5 prediction in Beijing. The predictor simplifies the input parameters through Spearman correlation analysis and implements the long time series prediction through Informer. The results show that AQI, CO, NO2, and PM10 concentrations are selected from the air quality data, and Dew Point Temperature (DEWP) and wind speed are incorporated from two meteorological data to better improve the prediction efficiency by almost 27%. By comparing with LSTM and attention-LSTM models, the model constructed in this paper performs well in different prediction time periods, with at least 21%, 19%, 28%, and 35% improvement in accuracy in four prediction time series: 48 h, 7 days, 14 days, and 30 days. In conclusion, the proposed model is proved to solve the problem of predicting long time series PM2.5 concentrations in the future, which can make up for the shortcomings of the currently existing models and have good application value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During rapid urbanization, microclimate environment deterioration through events such as haze pollution and heat waves has continuously occurred in cities, which greatly affects the living environment, production activities, and health of urban residents. Therefore, it is particularly necessary to explore methods for controlling and optimizing the urban microclimate environment. In this paper, based on the mechanism of the effect of urban spatial structure at street-level on the distribution of atmospheric particulate matter, an indicator system that can be employed to comprehensively describe and quantify urban morphological structure at street-level was constructed from eight aspects: the spatial morphology of street-valleys, intensity of land use and development, geometric structure of buildings, inhomogeneity of buildings, roughness of the underlying surface, distribution of ecological landscapes, 3D architectural landscape morphology, and ventilation potential. Furthermore, using satellite remote sensing images and vector thematic maps of Shanghai, indicator factors were quantified by applying GIS technique. The intrinsic mechanism of the influence of the urban morphology on the diffusion and transport of atmospheric particulate matter was comprehensively analyzed by combining statistical methods and data mining algorithm, and eight key dominant factors were identified that can be considered to improve the urban ventilation conditions and help control urban air pollution, namely, the land use intensity, urban canopy resistance, vegetation cover, spatial congestion rate, comprehensive porosity, height-to-gross floor area ratio, building density, and average building volume ratio. As such, according to the quantitative analysis results for various combinations of the dominant factors, a spatial optimization strategy at street-level that can help improve the urban air quality was proposed in terms of identifying the pathways through which urban spatial elements affect the distribution of particulate matter, i.e., controlling the source–flow diversion–flow convergence process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the "Parade Blue" period in 2015, Beijing and its surrounding areas implemented mandatory temporary source control strategies, which provided experimental conditions for studying the effects of source emission control measures on the sources of atmospheric PM2.5. Analyzing the source contribution rate of the main particulate matters via the source analysis method of the receptor model is an important method for studying the atmospheric pollution. Previous studies on the "Parade Blue" period only discussed the change in PM2.5 concentration during the source control period and the source non-control period, but did not select appropriate emission sources and acceptor components to analyze the contribution ratio of each emission source to fine particulate matter pollution. In this paper, based on the receptor component spectrum and emission source component spectrum, the chemical mass balance receptor model was used for source analysis. The results showed that outdoor PM2.5 concentration was 26.31 μg/m3 in the source control period, which was less than the 40.08 μg/m3 in the source non-control period. In the source control period, motor vehicle emissions, industrial combustion and urban fugitive dust contributed significantly to the fine particulate pollution, accounting for 76–81%, 8–9% and 11–16%, respectively. In the source non-control period, the contributions of motor vehicle emissions and industrial combustion accounted for 57–59% and 41–43%, respectively, significantly higher than that of urban fugitive dust, which accounted for less than 2%. The correlation between the contribution rate of emission sources and the source control strategy was studied and analyzed during the "Parade Blue" period, and the effectiveness of the source control strategy was proved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prolonged exposure to high concentrations of suspended particulate matter (SPM), especially aerodynamic fine particulate matter that is ≤2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5), can cause serious harm to human health and life via the induction of respiratory diseases and lung cancer. Therefore, accurate prediction of PM2.5 concentrations is important for human health management and governmental environmental management decisions. However, the time-series processing of PM2.5 concentration based only on a single region and a special time period is less explanatory, and thus, the spatial-temporal applicability of the model is more restricted. To address this problem, this paper constructs a PM2.5 concentration prediction optimization model based on Convolutional Neural Networks-Long Short-Term Memory (CNN-LSTM). Hourly data of atmospheric pollutants, meteorological parameters, and Precipitable Water Vapor (PWV) of 10 cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan area during the period of 1–30 September 2021/2022 were used as the training set, and the PM2.5 data of 1–7 October 2021/2022 were used for validation. The experimental results show that the CNN-LSTM model optimizes the average root mean square error (RMSE) by 25.52% and 14.30%, the average mean absolute error (MAE) by 26.23% and 15.01%, and the average mean absolute percentage error (MAPE) by 35.64% and 16.98%, as compared to the widely used Back Propagation Neural Network (BPNN) and Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) models. In summary, the CNN-LSTM model is superior in terms of applicability and has the highest prediction accuracy in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan area. The results of this study can provide a reference for the relevant departments in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei metropolitan area to predict PM2.5 concentration and its trend in specific time periods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prediction of air pollutant concentrations is currently one of the most important methods for the prevention and control of urban air pollution in most countries, and accurate and timely prediction of pollutant concentrations is of great significance for urban pollution control. Using Taiyuan, China, as a case study, this study examines how to predict hourly air pollutant concentrations over longer periods of time while ensuring their accuracy. In this paper, an air pollutant concentration prediction method based on improved inverse distance interpolation and Informer model (EIDW-Informer), and hour-by-hour prediction of PM2.5, NO2, and O3 concentrations in Taiyuan, China is carried out. In this study, historical data from seven environmental monitoring stations in Taiyuan City were used to build multidimensional environmental vectors and calculate the similarity between sample points. Then, the missing values in the dataset were interpolated according to the similarity and distance weights, and the long series prediction was performed by Informer. The experimental results show that the EIDW-Informer method has advantages in hour-by-hour prediction compared to LSTM, CNN-LSTM, and Attention-LSTM models, which improves by 20%, 27%, and 43% on 1 h, 8 h, and 72 h time scales, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the concentrations of PM2.5 in urban ambient air in China have been declining; however, the strong atmospheric oxidation capacity (AOC) represents challenges to the further reduction of PM2.5 concentration and the continuous improvement of ambient air quality in China in the future, since the overall AOC is still at a high level. For this paper, based on ground observation data recorded in Beijing from 2016 to 2019, the variation in AOC was characterized according to the concentration of odd oxygen (OX = O3 + NO2). The concentrations of the primary and secondary components of PM2.5 were analyzed using empirical formulas, the correlation between AOC and the concentrations of secondary PM2.5 and the secondary inorganic components (SO42−, NO3−, NH4+, and SNA) in Beijing were explored, the impact of atmospheric photochemical reaction activity on the generation of atmospheric secondary particles was evaluated, and the impact of atmospheric oxidation variations on PM2.5 concentrations and SNA in Beijing was investigated. The results revealed that OX concentrations reached their peak in 2016 and reached their lowest point in 2019. The OX concentrations followed a descending seasonal trend of summer, spring, autumn, and winter, along with a spatial descending trend from urban observation stations to suburban stations and background stations. The degree of photochemical activity and the magnitude of the AOC have a large influence on the production of atmospheric secondary particles. When the photochemical reaction was more active and the AOC was stronger, the mass concentrations of the secondary generated PM2.5 fraction were higher and accounted for a higher proportion of the total PM2.5 mass concentrations. In the PM2.5 fraction, SNA accounted for 50.7% to 94.4% of the total mass concentrations of water-soluble inorganic ions in the field observations. Higher concentrations of the atmospheric oxidant OX in ambient air corresponded to a higher sulfur oxidation ratio (SOR) and nitrogen oxidation ratio (NOR), suggesting that the increase in AOC could promote the increase of PM2.5 concentration. Based on a relationship analysis of SOR, NOR, and OX, it was inferred that the relationship between OX and SOR and the relationship between OX and NOR were both nonlinear. Therefore, when establishing PM2.5 control strategies in Beijing in the future, the impact of the AOC on PM2.5 generation should be fully considered, and favorable measures should be taken to properly regulate the AOC, which would be more effective when carrying out further control measures regarding PM2.5 pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The variation of PM2.5 concentration in the atmosphere is closely related to the variation in weather patterns. The change in weather pattern is accompanied by the corresponding change in atmospheric circulation characteristics. It is necessary to explore the relationship between PM2.5 concentration changes and atmospheric circulation characteristics during pollution periods. In this paper, Lamb-Jenkinson objective classification method is applied to classify daily atmospheric circulation. The pollution periods are calculated and the atmospheric circulation variation rule is obtained. Combined with the physical parameter field (humidity, potential temperature, and potential height), a typical pollution period is analyzed. Additionally, the influence of atmospheric circulation type variation on PM2.5 concentration and transport channel during the pollution period was obtained. The results show that atmospheric circulation types in the study period are dominated by A-type (anticyclonic), N-type (north), and NE-type (northeast), indicating obvious seasonal differences, and the proportion of C-type (cyclonic) circulation was increased significantly in summer. During the pollution period analysis from 2 to 4 January 2019, atmospheric circulation type changed from N-type to NE-type (northeast), the wind direction changed from southeast wind, and the change of pressure gradient was consistent with the trend of the wind field. Moreover, the physical parameter field assisted in verifying the process of the pollution period from the conducive to the accumulation of PM2.5 to conducive to the deposition of pollutants and external transport. The research results would provide theoretical support for PM2.5 prediction during the pollution period and also supply a theoretical and technical basis for the establishment of ecological compensation standards for air pollution and atmospheric environmental control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Natural environmental factors and human activity intensity factors, the two main factors that affect the spatial and temporal distribution of PM2.5 concentration near the surface, have different mechanisms of action on PM2.5 concentration. In this paper, a GTWR-XGBoost two-stage sequential hybrid model is proposed aiming at detecting the expression of spatiotemporal heterogeneity in the traditional machine learning retrieval model of PM2.5 concentration and the difficulty of expressing the complex nonlinear relationship in the statistical regression model. In the first stage, the natural environmental factors are used to predict PM2.5 concentration with spatiotemporal characteristics by collinearity diagnosis method and Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression method (GTWR). In the second stage, the simulation results in the first stage and the natural factors eliminated through LUR stepwise regression in the first stage are into the XGBoost model together with the human activity intensity factors in the buffer zone with the best correlation coefficient of PM2.5, and finally the temporal and spatial distribution of PM2.5 concentration. Taking the Chengdu Chongqing Economic Circle as an example, the proposed model is used to retrieve PM2.5 concentration and compared with the single GTWR, XGBoost, and coupling model published recently. The experimental results show that the R2, RMSE, and MAE of the GTWR-XGBoost two-stage model cross-validation are 0.92, 5.44 ug·m−3, and 4.12 ug·m−3, respectively. Compared with the above single models, R2 increased by 0.01 and 0.12, and MAE decreased by more than 0.11 and 3.1, respectively. Compared with the coupling model published recently, R2 is increased by 0.02, and MAE is reduced by more than 0.4. In addition, the PM2.5 concentration in Chengdu Chongqing showed obvious seasonal temporal and spatial changes, and the influence ratios of natural environmental factors and human activity intensity activities factors on PM2.5 were 0.66 and 0.34. The results show that the GTWR-XGBoost two-stage Model can not only describe the heterogeneity and objectively reflect the complex nonlinear relationship between the phenomenon and the influencing factors, but also enhance the interpretability of the phenomenon when simulating the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of PM2.5 concentration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To monitor the spread of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), India, during the last week of March 2020, imposed national restrictions on the movement of its citizens (lockdown). Although India's economy was shut down due to restrictions, the nation observed a sharp decline in particulate matter (PM) concentrations. In recent years, Delhi has experienced rapid economic growth, leading to pollution, especially in urban and industrial areas. In this paper, we explored the linkages between air quality and the nationwide lockdown of the city of Delhi using a geographic information system (GIS)-based approach. Data from 37 stations were monitored from 12 March, 2020 to 2 April, 2020 and it was found that the Air Quality Index for the city was almost reduced by 37% and 46% concerning PM2.5 and PM10, respectively. The study highlights that, in regular conditions, the atmosphere's natural healing rate against anthropogenic activities is lower, as indicated by a higher AQI. However, during the lockdown, this sudden cessation of anthropogenic activities leads to a period in which the natural healing rate is greater than the induced disturbances, resulting in a lower AQI, and thus proving that this pandemic has given a small window for the environment to breathe and helped the districts of Delhi to recover from serious issues related to bad air quality. If such healing windows are incorporated into policy and decision-making, these can prove to be effective measures for controlling air pollution in heavily polluted regions of the World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate prediction of PM2.5 concentration is one of the key tasks of air pollution assessment, early warning, and treatment. In this paper, four monitoring sites were arranged in Jiangbei New District of Nanjing City, China. The environmental parameters such as PM2.5/PM10 concentration, temperature, and humidity were monitored from January to February 2020. A gated recurrent unit (GRU) network based on the PM2.5 concentration prediction model was established to predict PM2.5 concentration. The mean relative error (MRE), root mean square error (RMSE), and Pearson correlation coefficient were selected as the evaluation criteria for the accuracy of the GRU model. The data set was divided into a training set, a test set and a validation set at a ratio of 7:2:1, and the GRU model was used to predict the hourly value of PM2.5 concentration in the next week. The prediction results show that the Pearson correlation coefficients between the predicted values and the monitored values of the four monitoring sites have reached more than 0.9, reflecting a strong correlation. The relative average errors are around 10%. The GRU model prediction of NJAU (Nanjing Agricultural University)-Pukou Campus Site is the most accurate, and the correlation coefficient, MRE, and RMSE are 0.970, 7.85%, and 9.6049, respectively, reflecting the good prediction performance of the model. Therefore, this research supports the prediction of air quality in different cities and regions, so people can take protective measures in advance and reduce the damage caused by air pollution to human bodies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exposure to air pollutants, such as PM2.5 and ozone, has a serious adverse effect on health, with more than 4 million deaths, including early deaths. Air pollution in ports is caused by exhaust gases from various elements, including ships, and to reduce this, the International Maritime Organization (IMO) is also making efforts to reduce air pollution by regulating the sulfur content of fuel used by ships. Nevertheless, there is a lack of measures to identify and minimize the effects of air pollution. The Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model is the most used to understand the effects of air pollution. In this paper, we propose a hybrid model combining the CMAQ model and RNN-LSTM, an artificial neural network model. Since the RNN-LSTM model has very good predictive performance, combining these two models can improve the spatial distribution prediction performance of a large area at a relatively low cost. In fact, as a result of prediction using the hybrid model, it was found that IOA improved by 0.235~0.317 and RMSE decreased by 4.82~8.50 μg/m3 compared to the case of using only CMAQ. This means that when PM2.5 is predicted using the hybrid model, the accuracy of the spatial distribution of PM2.5 can be improved. In the future, if real-time prediction is performed using the hybrid model, the accuracy of the calculation of exposure to air pollutants can be increased, which can help evaluate the impact on health. Ultimately, it is expected to help reduce the damage caused by air pollution through accurate predictions of air pollution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The problem of air pollution has attracted more and more attention. PM2.5 is a key factor affecting air quality. In order to improve the prediction accuracy of PM2.5 concentration and make people effectively control the generation and propagation of atmospheric pollutants, in this paper, a long short-term memory neural network (LSTM) model based on principal component analysis (PCA) and attention mechanism (attention) is constructed, which first uses PCA to reduce the dimension of data, eliminate the correlation effect between indicators, and reduce model complexity, and then uses the extracted principal components to establish a PCA-attention-LSTM model. Simulation experiments were conducted on the air pollutant data, meteorological element data, and working day data of five cities in Ningxia from 2018 to 2020 to predict the PM2.5 concentration. The PCA-attention-LSTM model is compared with the support vector regression model (SVR), AdaBoost model, random forest model (RF), BP neural network model (BPNN), and long short-term memory neural network (LSTM). The results show that the PCA-attention-LSTM model is optimal; the correlation coefficients of the PCA-attention-LSTM model in Wuzhong, Yinchuan, Zhongwei, Shizuishan, and Guyuan are 0.91, 0.93, 0.91, 0.91, and 0.90, respectively, and the SVR model is the worst. The addition of variables such as a week, precipitation, and temperature can better predict PM2.5 concentration. The concentration of PM2.5 was significantly correlated with the geographical location of the municipal area, and the overall air quality of the southern mountainous area was better than that in the northern Yellow River irrigation area. PM2.5 concentration shows a clear seasonal change trend, with the lowest in summer and the highest in winter, which is closely related to the climate environment of Ningxia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PM2.5 and PM10 in the atmosphere seriously affect human health and air quality, a situation which has aroused widespread concern. In this paper, we analyze the temporal and spatial distribution of PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations from 2016 to 2021 based on real-time monitoring data. In addition, we also explore the influence of meteorological conditions on pollutants. The results show that PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations are similarly distribution in temporal and spatial from 2016 to 2021, and the average concentrations of both show a decreasing trend. The ratio of PM2.5 to PM10 is decreasing, indicating that the proportion of fine particles is declining. PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations are higher in spring and winter, but lower in summer. Spatially, it shows a gradual shift from the characteristic of "high in the south and low in the north" to a uniform homogenization across districts. The spatial distribution of PM2.5 and PM10 mass concentrations is synchronous by applying empirical orthogonal functions (EOF). The first EOF pattern exhibits a consistent characteristic of high in the southeast and low in the northwest. The second pattern EOF reflects the effect of impairing PM2.5 concentrations in the southeast during the winter of 2016–2018. The PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations are significantly negatively correlated with wind speed and precipitation in both spring and winter. On the other hand, from the perspective of the circulation situation, the southeasterly and weak westerly wind in spring produce convergence resulting in higher particulate matter concentrations in the south than in the north in Beijing. The westerly wind is flatter at 700 hPa geopotential height, which is conducive to the formation of stationary weather. The vertical direction of airflow in spring and winter is dominated by convergence and sinking, indicating the weak dispersion ability of the atmosphere. The reason for the accumulation of particulate matter at the surface is investigated, which is beneficial to provide the theoretical basis for air quality management and pollution control in Beijing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an air pollution phenomenon, haze has become one of the focuses of social discussion. Research into the causes and concentration prediction of haze is significant, forming the basis of haze prevention. The inversion of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) based on remote sensing satellite imagery can provide a reference for the concentration of major pollutants in a haze, such as PM2.5 concentration and PM10 concentration. This paper used satellite imagery to study haze problems and chose PM2.5, one of the primary haze pollutants, as the research object. First, we used conventional methods to perform the inversion of AOD on remote sensing images, verifying the correlation between AOD and PM2.5. Subsequently, to simplify the parameter complexity of the traditional inversion method, we proposed using the convolutional neural network instead of the traditional inversion method and constructing a haze level prediction model. Compared with traditional aerosol depth inversion, we found that convolutional neural networks can provide a higher correlation between PM2.5 concentration and satellite imagery through a more simplified satellite image processing process. Thus, it offers the possibility of researching and managing haze problems based on neural networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Particular Matter (PM) data are the most used for the assessment of air quality, but it is also useful to monitor VOC and CO. The health impact of PM increases with decreasing aerodynamic dimensions, therefore most of the monitoring is aimed at PM10 (fraction of PM with aerodynamic dimensions smaller than 10 µm) and PM2.5 (fraction with aerodynamic dimensions lower than 2.5 µm). Generally, anthropogenic emissions contribute mainly to PM2.5 levels, whereas natural sources can largely affect PM10 concentrations. PM2.5/PM10 ratio can be used as a proxy of the origin (anthropogenic vs natural) of the PM, providing a useful indication about the main sources of PM that characterizes a specific geographical or urban setting. This paper presents the results of the analysis of continuous measurements of PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations at eight stations of the regional air quality monitoring network in Abruzzo (Central Italy), in the period 2017–2018. The application of models based on machine learning technique shows that PM2.5/PM10 ratio can be used to classify PM emissions and to know the nature of the emission source (natural and anthropogenic), under determinate conditions, and properly taking into account the meteorological parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PM2.5 is the key reason for the frequent occurrence of smog; therefore, identifying its key driving factors has far-reaching significance for the prevention and control of air pollution. Based on long-term remote sensing inversion of PM2.5 data, 21 driving factors in the fields of nature and humanities were selected, and the random forest model was applied to study the influencing factors of PM2.5 concentration in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei urban agglomeration (BTH) from 2000 to 2016. The results indicate: (1) The main factors affecting PM2.5 concentration not only include natural factors such as sunshine hours (SSH), relative humidity (RHU), elevation (ELE), normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), wind speed (WIN), average temperature (TEM), daily temperature range (TEMR), and precipitation (PRE), but also human factors such as urbanization rate (URB), total investment in fixed assets (INV), and the number of employees in the secondary industry (INDU); (2) The concentration of PM2.5 changed into an inverted S-shape with the increase in SSH and WIN, and into an S-shape with the increase in RHU, NDVI, TEM, PRS, URB and INV. As for ELE and TEMR, it fluctuated and decreased with the increase in ELE, while it increased and then decreased with the increase in TEMR. However, its change was less pronounced with the increase in PRE and INDU; (3) The influence of natural factors is higher than that of human factors, but the role of human factors has been continuously strengthened in recent years. The adjustment and control of PM2.5 pollution sources from the perspective of human factors will become an effective way to reduce PM2.5 concentrations in the BTH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the hourly monitoring data including meteorological elements and PM2.5 mass concentration in Yancheng from 2017 to 2021, PM2.5 mass concentration variations, influencing factors and source apportionment were studied by the Kolmogorov–Zurbenko filter and Potential Source Contribution Function Analysis (PSCF) method. The results showed that the mass concentration of PM2.5 in Yancheng showed a decreasing trend from 2017 to 2021, with a decline rate of about 33.8% (2017, 44.79 ± 31.22 μg/m3; 2021, 29.66 ± 21.69 μg/m3); the visibility increased by 18.4% (2017, 11.69 ± 6.46 km; 2021,13.8 ± 6.24 km), which is mainly related to emission reduction measures in China. The mass concentration of PM2.5 has significant seasonal variation characteristics, with the highest in winter, reaching 60.61 μg/m3, and the lowest in summer, only 23.11 μg/m3. The diurnal variation of PM2.5 showed a unimodal distribution, and concentration difference is obvious under the influence of land–sea breeze (36.60 μg/m3, easterly wind; 43.57 μg/m3, westerly wind). Meteorological factors have an important impact on the mass concentration of PM2.5, which fluctuates with seasons. It is calculated to have a good fitting relationship between the visibility and PM2.5 concentration, and the correlation decreases with the increase in humidity (−0.71 ~ −0.41). The relatively clean atmosphere under high humidity conditions is also prone to the obstruction to vision. The corresponding PM2.5 concentration varies significantly under different wind directions and wind speeds in Yancheng, and high values mainly come from the northwest–southeast–southwest direction. The potential source regions in autumn are mainly distributed in southwestern Jiangsu and northwestern Zhejiang; the potential source regions in winter are mainly located in southwestern Jiangsu, southern Anhui and northern Jiangxi. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sand events continue to occur frequently and affect the North China region. Under unfavorable meteorological conditions, they can easily combine with haze pollution, forming sandy haze events that have a significant impact on human health. Aerosol water content (AWC) is known to have a significant impact on PM2.5, but its effect is still unclear in sandy haze. In this work, sandy haze and haze periods were observed in Zhengzhou using a series of high-time-resolution instruments. The AWC calculated by the ISORROPIA-II model reached 11 ± 5 μg m−3, accounting for 10% of the PM2.5, in the sandy haze period. Sensitivity tests show that AWC was mainly relative humidity (RH)-dependent. Additionally, elevated SO42−, TNO3, and TNH4 were crucial in the increase in AWC. The increase in Ca2+ ions in the sandy haze led to lower AWC than that in the haze periods. Specifically, (NH4)2SO4 was the major contributor to the AWC when the RH was between 30 and 46% in the sandy haze period, and NH4NO3 gradually became the main contributor with the increase in RH. In turn, AWC could enhance the formation of sulfate and nitrate, even during the sandy haze period. Therefore, the emergency control of gaseous precursors should also be implemented before the sand events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban air pollution has been long understood as a critical threat to human health worldwide. Worsening urban air quality can cause increased rates of asthma, respiratory illnesses, and mortality. Air pollution is also an important environmental justice issue as it disproportionately burdens populations made vulnerable by their socioeconomic and health status. Using spatially continuous fine-scale air quality data for the city of Philadelphia, this study analyzed the relationship between two air pollutants: particulate matter (PM2.5, black carbon (BC), and three dimensions of vulnerability: social (non-White population), economic (poverty), and health outcomes (asthma prevalence). Spatial autoregressive models outperformed Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, indicating the importance of considering spatial autocorrelation in air pollution-related environmental-justice modeling efforts. Positive relationships were observed between PM2.5 concentrations and the socioeconomic variables and asthma prevalence. Percent non-White population was a significant predictor of BC for all models, while percent poverty was shown to not be a significant predictor of BC in the best fitting model. Our findings underscore the presence of distributive environmental injustices, where marginalized communities may bear a disproportionate burden of air pollution within Philadelphia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leukemia is the most common childhood cancer and its etiology could be related to various environmental contaminants such as particulate matter (PM). The objective of our study is to evaluate the potential association between exposure to PM during pregnancy and the incidence of childhood leukemia. We established a population-based nationwide cohort using the Spanish Birth Registry Statistics database of the National Statistics Institute. We used spatiotemporal land use random forest models to estimate the concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 for the entire pregnancy and by trimesters. We conducted logistic regression analyses adjusted for various covariates. In addition, we fitted generalized additive models (GAMs) to estimate the non-linear relationship between PM levels and leukemia incidence. The study included 3,112,123 children and 1066 cases of leukemia. The results for the continuous variable of PM10 exposure levels suggested an increased risk of childhood leukemia to be associated with higher exposure. The results for the categorized PM10 variable suggest an increased risk of childhood leukemia among pregnant women whose exposure levels were higher than the median (third and fourth quartiles). The results for PM2.5 were weaker. We found association between exposure to PM10 during pregnancy and an increased risk of childhood leukemia. Our findings indicate that public health interventions should aim to reduce air pollution to lower the incidence of childhood leukemia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the main conclusions obtained in the special issue "Atmospheric Boundary Layer and Free Atmosphere: Dynamics, Physical Processes, and Measuring Methods". The average meteorological quantities as well as the turbulent characteristics in different atmospheric conditions are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the economic growth and increasing urbanization in the last three decades, the air quality over China has continuously degraded, which poses a great threat to human health. The concentration of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) directly affects the mortality of people living in the polluted areas where air quality is poor. The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, one of the well organized urban regions in northern China, has suffered with poor air quality and atmospheric pollution due to recent growth of the industrial sector and vehicle emissions. In the present study, we used the back propagation neural network model approach to estimate the spatial distribution of PM2.5 concentration in the BTH region for the period January 2014-December 2016, combining the satellite-derived aerosol optical depth (S-DAOD) and meteorological data. The results were validated using the ground PM2.5 data. The general method including all PM2.5 training data and 10-fold cross-method have been used for validation for PM2.5 estimation (R2 = 0.68, RMSE = 20.99 for general validation; R2 = 0.54, RMSE = 24.13 for cross-method validation). The study provides a new approach to monitoring the distribution of PM2.5 concentration. The results discussed in the present paper will be of great help to government agencies in developing and implementing environmental conservation policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The escalating concern regarding increasing air pollution and its impact on the health risks associated with PM2.5 in developing countries necessitates attention. Thus, this study utilizes the WRF-CMAQ model to simulate the effects of meteorological conditions on PM2.5 levels in Changchun, a typical city in China, during January 2017 and January 2020. Additionally, it introduces a novel health risk-based air quality index (NHAQI) to assess the influence of meteorological parameters and associated health risks. The findings indicate that in January 2020, the 2-m temperature (T2), 10-m wind speed (WS10), and planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) were lower compared to those in 2017, while air pressure exhibited a slight increase. These meteorological parameters, characterized by reduced wind speed, heightened air pressure, and lower boundary layer height—factors unfavorable for pollutant dispersion—collectively contribute to the accumulation of PM2.5 in the atmosphere. Moreover, the NHAQI proves to be more effective in evaluating health risks compared to the air quality index (AQI). The annual average decrease in NHAQI across six municipal districts from 2017 to 2020 amounts to 18.05%. Notably, the highest health risks are observed during the winter among the four seasons, particularly in densely populated areas. The pollutants contributing the most to the total excess risk (ERtotal) are PM2.5 (45.46%), PM10 (33.30%), and O3 (13.57%) in 2017, and PM2.5 (67.41%), PM10 (22.32%), and O3 (8.41%) in 2020. These results underscore the ongoing necessity for PM2.5 emission control measures while emphasizing the importance of considering meteorological parameters in the development of PM2.5 reduction strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, PM2.5 was sampled at Dunkerque, a medium-sized city located in northern France. The mean concentration of PM2.5 during the sampling period was 12.6 ± 9.5 μg·m−3. Samples were analyzed for elemental and organic carbon (EC/OC), water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), humic-like substances (HULIS-C), water-soluble inorganic ions, and major and trace elements. The origin and the variations of species concentrations were examined using elemental enrichment factors, bivariate polar plot representations, and diagnostic concentration ratios. Secondary inorganic ions were the most abundant species (36% of PM2.5), followed by OC (12.5% of PM2.5). Secondary organic carbon (SOC) concentrations were estimated to account for 52% of OC. A good correlation between SOC and WSOC indicated that secondary formation processes significantly contribute to the WSOC concentrations. HULIS-C also represents almost 50% of WSOC. The determination of diagnostic ratios revealed the influence of anthropogenic emission sources such as integrated steelworks and fuel oil combustion. The clustering of 72 h air masses backward trajectories data evidenced that higher concentrations of PM2.5, OC, and secondary inorganic aerosols were recorded when air masses came from north-eastern Europe and the French continental sector, showing the considerable impact of long-range transport on the air quality in northern France. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The atmosphere's fine particulate matter (PM2.5) can enter the liver through the circulatory system, leading to hepatic inflammation and fibrosis. As a non-flavonoid polyphenolic compound, resveratrol (RES) has anti-oxidant, anti-inflammatory and hepatoprotective effects, but the molecular mechanisms of liver fibrosis induced by PM2.5 exposure are still limited. In this study, we established an in vitro cell model to investigate the intervention effect of RES with different concentrations (5 and 20 μmol/mL) on mouse hepatic stellate cells (mHSCs) injury induced by PM2.5 (100 μg/mL). We determined the cell viability in mHSCs after treatment with PM2.5 or/and RES for 24 h. We investigated the intracellular oxidative stress by detecting the changes in reactive oxygen species (ROS), malondialdehyde (MDA), superoxide dismutase (SOD) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels. We also measured the protein expressions of fibrosis-related genes (α-SMA, Collagen I and Collagen III) and key genes (SIRT1, NF-κB, NLRP3, Cleaved-Caspase1, IL-1β) in the NLRP3 pathway in mHSCs exposed to PM2.5 with or without RES. The results showed that (1) PM2.5 has cytotoxic effects on mHSCs, whereas RES (5 μmol/L and 20 μmol/L) inhibited PM2.5-induced cytotoxicity and LDH leakage; (2) RES effectively reduces ROS and MDA production caused by PM2.5 while concurrently enhancing SOD levels, thereby improving cellular anti-oxidant capacity; (3) the expression of α-SMA, Collagen I and Collagen III were notably downregulated in the PM2.5 plus RES treatment group compared to the PM2.5-exposed group; (4) RES significantly increased SIRT1 expression and decreased the expression of NF-κB, NLRP3, Cleaved-Caspase1 and IL-1β in mHSCs exposure to PM2.5 compared to the PM2.5 group. These results demonstrate that RES can up-regulate SIRT1 and mitigate PM2.5-induced fibrosis by suppressing oxidative stress in mHSCs and the SIRT1/NF–κB/NLRP3 pathway activated by PM2.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regional haze often occurs after the New Year holiday. To explore the characteristics of PM2.5 pollutions under the influence of the New Year's Day effect, this study analyzed the spatiotemporal changes relating to PM2.5 during and around the New Year's Day holiday in China from 2015 to 2022, and used the Weather Research and Forecasting-Community Multiscale Air Quality (WRF-CMAQ) model to study the effects of human activities and meteorological factors on PM2.5 pollutions, as well as the differences in the contributions of different industries to PM2.5 pollutions. The results show that for the entire study period (i.e., before, during, and after the New Year's Day holiday) from 2015 to 2022, the average concentrations of PM2.5 in China decreased by 41.9% overall. In 2019~2022, the New Year's Day effect was significant, meaning that the average concentrations of PM2.5 increased by 18.9~46.8 μg/m3 from before to after the New Year's Day holiday, with its peak occurring (64.3~74.9 μg/m3) after the holiday. In terms of spatial differences, the average concentrations of PM2.5 were higher in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, the Yangtze River Delta, and central China. Moreover, the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region and its surrounding areas, the Chengdu–Chongqing region, the Fenwei Plain, and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River region were greatly affected by the New Year's Day effect. Human activities led to higher increases in PM2.5 in Henan, Hubei, Hebei, and Anhui on 3 and 4 January 2022. If the haze was accompanied by cloudy days or weak precipitation, the accumulation of surface water vapor and atmospheric aerosols further increased the possibility of heavy pollution. It was found that, for the entire study period, PM2.5 generated by residential sources contributed the vast majority (60~100 μg/m3) of PM2.5 concentrations, and that the main industry sources that caused changes in time distributions were industrial and transportation sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ambient pollen proteins play key roles in the incidence of allergenic respiratory health, and numerous reports have focused on respiratory diseases caused by air pollutants. However, there is still a lack of understanding of the specific mechanisms underlying the involvement of microbiota in the respiratory tracts and effects induced by air pollutants. Therefore, an allergenic animal model was established to investigate the characterization of microbials in the lung induced by allergenic Platanus pollen protein (Pla a3) and ambient fine particulate matter. Our data showed that the mice exhibited strong immune and inflammatory responses after being exposed to PMs and Pla a3 protein. This included increased levels of immunoglobulins IgG and IgE, as well as elevated levels of cytokines TNF-α, IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-13. Furthermore, the amounts of pathogenic bacteria, such as Desulfobacterota, Enterococcus, Ferruginibacter, and Pseudoxanthomonas, in the lung microbiota of the Pla a3 exposure group increased significantly. Correlation analysis revealed a strong association between specific lung bacteria and alterations in cytokines from the lung samples. Probiotic bacteria, Deferribacterota and Bifidobacterium, was associated with changes in the level of IgG and IgE. However, pathogenic bacteria, like Prevotella and Fusobacterium, were linked with the cytokines IL-4 and TNF-α. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hybrid receptor models overestimate the contribution of background areas (no specific emission sources), like the Yellow Sea in Korea. This study aimed to improve model performances using Advanced Concentration Emission and Retention Time Weighted Trajectory (ACERWT). ACERWT was combined with a positive matrix factorization (PMF), back trajectory, and Regional Emission Inventory in Asia (REAS). The PMF receptor model used one year of data from Korea's Central Air Environment Research Center. In the PMF receptor model, eight sources (dust/soil, secondary nitrate, biomass burning, vehicles, secondary sulfate, industry, coal combustion and sea salt) influenced PM2.5 pollution at the receptor site (Daejeon, Korea). Secondary sulfate was the most dominant source, followed by secondary nitrate and vehicle sources. ACERWT results showed high contributions from China, Japan, and Korean regions, while the contribution from the Yellow Sea was significantly lower. Several regions, such as the eastern and south-eastern areas of China, the southern area of Taiwan, the western area of Tokyo, and the central area of Korea, showed high contributions due to large-scale emission facilities and industrial complexes. In this study, the ACERWT model significantly improved its performance regarding regional contributions to PM2.5 pollution at the receptor site. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, nocturnal ozone enhancement (NOE) events have emerged as a prominent research focus in the field of the atmospheric environment. By using statistical analysis methods, we conducted a comparative investigation of nocturnal ozone concentrations and NOE events in Dongying, the central city of the Yellow River Delta, China, in 2022 and 2023, and further explored the effects of NOE events on O3 and PM2.5 on the same night and the subsequent day. The results showed that from 2022 to 2023, in Dongying, the annual average nocturnal ozone concentrations increased from 51 μg/m3 to 59 μg/m3, and the frequency of NOE events was higher in the spring, summer, and autumn, and lower in the winter. The NOE events not only exhibited promoting effects on nocturnal O3 and Ox, and on the daily maximum 8 h average concentration of O3 (MDA8-O3) on the same day (comparatively noticeable in summer and autumn), but also demonstrated a clear impact on nocturnal PM2.5 and PM2.5-bounded NO3− and SO42− (especially in winter). Additionally, the NOE events also led to higher concentrations of O3 and Ox, as well as higher MDA8-O3 levels during the subsequent day, with more observable impacts in the summer. The results could strengthen our understanding about NOE events and provide a scientific basis for the collaborative control of PM2.5 and O3 in urban areas in the Yellow River Delta in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentration series of PM2.5 (particulate matter ≤ 2.5 μm) is nonlinear, nonstationary, and noisy, making it difficult to predict accurately. This paper presents a new PM2.5 concentration prediction method based on a hybrid model of complete ensemble empirical mode decomposition with adaptive noise (CEEMDAN) and bi-directional long short-term memory (BiLSTM). The new method was applied to predict the same kind of particulate pollutant PM10 and heterogeneous gas pollutant O3, proving that the prediction method has strong generalization ability. First, CEEMDAN was used to decompose PM2.5 concentrations at different frequencies. Then, the fuzzy entropy (FE) value of each decomposed wave was calculated, and the near waves were combined by K-means clustering to generate the input sequence. Finally, the combined sequences were put into the BiLSTM model with multiple hidden layers for training. We predicted the PM2.5 concentrations of Seoul Station 116 by the hour, with values of the root mean square error (RMSE), the mean absolute error (MAE), and the symmetric mean absolute percentage error (SMAPE) as low as 2.74, 1.90, and 13.59%, respectively, and an R2 value as high as 96.34%. The "CEEMDAN-FE" decomposition-merging technology proposed in this paper can effectively reduce the instability and high volatility of the original data, overcome data noise, and significantly improve the model's performance in predicting the real-time concentrations of PM2.5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper deals with issues related to analyzing the spread of air pollution and pollutants in large urban agglomerations, specifically, the search for causality between meteorological conditions and the concentrations of particular substances. The pollutants SO2 and PM10 were selected for analysis, which, in addition to NOx, CO, CO2 and PM2.5, contribute to smog, especially during the heating seasons. This analysis is particularly important because Polish environmental standards are more lenient than those in western EU states. Industrial activity, transport and heating systems based on coal-burning are still a big problem in Poland, and each year their gaseous and particulate emissions exceed air-quality limits. This paper presents a statistical analysis of data recorded at the air-quality monitoring station on Kossuth Street in Katowice concerning the heating seasons from 2013–2016. The verification of proposed parabolic models containing concentrations from previous time periods and statistically significant meteorological conditions was conducted for individual heating seasons as well for the whole set of data, which included the influence of wind speed and temperature. The models obtained proved that the selected form of a model is statistically significant, and its use may produce satisfactory forecast results and permit various environmental applications. The specified model might be used both for forecasting (verification and possibly updating coefficients to increase forecast accuracy) and analyzing the factors influencing pollution values. Such statistical analysis may be helpful in assessing the impact of measures adopted to reduce air pollution, particularly in large Polish cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The vertical eddy diffusion process plays a crucial role in PM2.5 prediction, yet accurately predicting it remains challenging. In the three-dimensional atmospheric chemistry transport model (3-D AQM) CMAQ, a parameter, Kz, is utilized, and it is known that PM2.5 prediction tendencies vary according to the floor value of this parameter (Kzmin). This study aims to examine prediction characteristics according to Kzmin values, targeting days exceeding the Korean air quality standards, and to derive appropriate Kzmin values for predicting PM2.5 concentrations in the DJFM Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA). Kzmin values of 0.01, 0.5, 1.0, and 2.0, based on the model version and land cover, were applied as single values. Initially focusing on December 4th to 12th, 2020, the prediction characteristics were examined during periods of local and inflow influence. Results showed that in both periods, as Kzmin increased, surface concentrations over land decreased while those in the upper atmosphere increased, whereas over the sea, concentrations increased in both layers due to the influence of advection and diffusion without emissions. During the inflow period, the increase in vertically diffused pollutants led to increased inflow concentrations and affected contribution assessments. Long-term evaluations from December 2020 to March 2021 indicated that the prediction performance was superior when Kzmin was set to 0.01, but it was not significant for the upwind region (China). To improve trans-boundary effects, optimal values were applied differentially by region (0.01 for Korea, 1.0 for China, and 0.01 for other regions), resulting in significantly improved prediction performance with an R of 0.78, IOA of 0.88, and NMB of 0.7%. These findings highlight the significant influence of Kzmin values on winter season PM2.5 prediction tendencies in the SMA and underscore the need for considering differential application of optimal values by region when interpreting research and making policy decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We performed continuous long-term measurements of PM2.5 mass, comprehensive chemical composition, and optical properties, including scattering and absorption coefficients, from March 2011 to December 2020 at the Metropolitan Air Quality Research Center in Seoul, South Korea. PM2.5 peaked at 38 μg/m3 in 2013 and has been declining steadily since then, reaching 22 μg/m3 in 2020. The extinction coefficients also decreased with the decline in PM2.5, but the correlation between the two factors was not as pronounced. This deviation was mainly attributed to the rapid changes in the chemical composition of PM2.5 over the same period. The mass contribution of sulphate to PM2.5 decreased from 33.9 to 24.1%, but the fraction of nitrate and organic carbon increased from 23.4 and 20.0 to 34.1 and 32.2%, respectively, indicating that sulphate has been replaced by nitrate and organic carbon over the past decade. To assess the effect of changing aerosol chemical compositions on light extinction, we compared the measured extinction coefficients with those estimated via the various existing light extinction approaches, including the revised IMPROVE algorithm. We found that the simplified linear regression model provided the best fit to our data, with a slope of 1.03 and R2 of 0.87, and that all non-linear methods, such as the IMPROVE algorithms, overestimated the observed long-term light extinction by 23 to 48%. This suggests that the simple linear regression scheme may be more appropriate for reflecting the varying aerosol conditions over long periods of time, especially for urban air. However, for conditions where the chemical composition does not change much, non-linear methods such as the IMPROVE scheme are likely to be more appropriate for reproducing light extinction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brake wear particles are generated through frictional contact between the brake disc or brake drum and the brake pads. Some of these particles may be released into the atmosphere, contributing to airborne fine particulate matter (PM2.5). In this study, an onboard system was developed and tested to measure brake wear particles emitted under real-world driving conditions. Brake wear particles were extracted from a fixed volume enclosure surrounding the pad and disc installed on the front wheel of a light-duty vehicle. Real-time data on size distribution, number concentration, PM2.5 mass, and the contribution of semi-volatiles were obtained via a suite of instruments sub-sampling from the constant volume sampler (CVS) dilution tunnel. Repeat measurements of brake particles were obtained from a 42 min bespoke drive cycle on a chassis dynamometer, from on-road tests in an urban area, and from braking events on a test track. The results showed that particle emissions coincided with braking events, with mass emissions around 1 mg/km/brake during on-road driving. Particle number emissions of low volatility particles were between 2 and 5 × 109 particles/km/brake. The highest emissions were observed under more aggressive braking. The project successfully developed a proof-of-principle measurement system for brake wear emissions from transient vehicle operation. The system shows good repeatability for stable particle metrics, such as non-volatile particle number (PN) from the solid particle counting system (SPCS), and allows for progression to a second phase of work where emissions differences between commercially available brake system components will be assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PM2.5, a critical air pollutant, requires health-conscious management, with concentrations varying across regions due to diverse sources. This study, conducted in South Korea in 2021, employed the geographically weighted regression model to analyze the spatiotemporal correlations of PM2.5 with O3 and the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Regional differences in the correlation between PM2.5 and O3 were observed, influenced by common precursors (SOx, NOx, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)), seasonal temperature variations, and solar radiation differences. Notably, PM2.5 and O3 exhibited a heightened regression coefficient in summer, emphasizing the need for specific management targeting VOCs and NO2. The interplay between PM2.5 and NDVI revealed a negative overall impact but a positive effect in the central region of Korea, suggesting vegetation's role in the PM2.5 concentration increase due to atmospheric stagnation caused by mountain ranges. These findings enhance our understanding of PM2.5 distribution mechanisms, highlighting the need for tailored policies in each region for effective concentration reductions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accurate air quality modelling is an essential tool, both for strategic assessment (regulation development for emission controls) and for short-term forecasting (enabling warnings to be issued to protect vulnerable members of society when the pollution levels are predicted to be high). Model intercomparison studies are a valuable support to this work, being useful for identifying any issues with air quality models, and benchmarking their performance against international standards, thereby increasing confidence in their predictions. This paper presents the results of a comparison study of six chemical transport models which have been used to simulate short-term hourly to 24 hourly concentrations of fine particulate matter less than and equal to 2.5 µm in diameter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) for Sydney, Australia. Model performance was evaluated by comparison to air quality measurements made at 16 locations for O3 and 5 locations for PM2.5, during three time periods that coincided with major atmospheric composition measurement campaigns in the region. These major campaigns included daytime measurements of PM2.5 composition, and so model performance for particulate sulfate (SO42−), nitrate (NO3−), ammonium (NH4+) and elemental carbon (EC) was evaluated at one site per modelling period. Domain-wide performance of the models for hourly O3 was good, with models meeting benchmark criteria and reproducing the observed O3 production regime (based on the O3/NOx indicator) at 80% or more of the sites. Nevertheless, model performance was worse at high (and low) O3 percentiles. Domain-wide model performance for 24 h average PM2.5 was more variable, with a general tendency for the models to under-predict PM2.5 concentrations during the summer and over-predict PM2.5 concentrations in the autumn. The modelling intercomparison exercise has led to improvements in the implementation of these models for Sydney and has increased confidence in their skill at reproducing observed atmospheric composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While air quality in China has improved significantly in recent years, the population is becoming increasingly vulnerable to air pollution due to the aging population. In this study, we assessed premature deaths attributable to long- and short-term exposures to PM2.5 and O3, as well as their driving forces in Shandong from 2014 to 2060 based on county-level near-real-time air pollutant concentration datasets and projected concentrations of PM2.5 and O3. We found that the concentrations of PM2.5 and O3 in most districts and counties from Shandong are still higher than the corresponding concentration limit of Grade II. Premature mortality caused by long- and short-term exposures to PM2.5 decreased by 13,045 and 8092 in 2020 compared with those in 2014, respectively. Furthermore, premature mortality attributable to short-term exposure to O3 was 36.08% higher than that due to short-term exposure to PM2.5 in 2020. The results of the driving force analysis indicate that the health benefits brought about by the improvement in air quality have been offset by the changes in population age structure. In the future, the increase in O3 concentration and population aging are the top two driving forces having adverse effects on the health burden. This study provides support for controlling the health risks of PM2.5 and O3 pollution, especially for the development of dual-pollutant concentration targets and synergistic control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An intensive field campaign was carried out from December 2022 to March 2023 at six different sites across five major cities (Xi'an, Baoji, Xianyang, Weinan, and Hancheng) in the Guanzhong Basin, China, covering most of the heating period there, which is characterized by high PM2.5 pollution levels. During the campaign, the mean PM2.5 concentrations at these sites exceeded the 24 h PM2.5 standard (75 μg m−3), except the site at Hancheng, with mean PM2.5 concentrations of 57.8 ± 32.3 μg m−3. The source apportionment of PM2.5 varied significantly across sites, with vehicle exhaust being the dominant source at urban sites located in Xi'an and Baoji, coal combustion at suburban sites in Hancheng, and comparable contribution from coal combustion and industrial emissions at suburban sites in Xianyang and Weinan. Compared with clean condition, the contribution of vehicle exhaust and secondary inorganic sources (SIs) were largely enhanced during heavy PM2.5 pollution periods, while the contribution from biomass burning (BB) and dust decreased significantly at all sites. Combined with an analysis of meteorological parameters, the study further found that higher contributions of SIs and heavy PM2.5 pollution were generally associated with higher relative humidity (RH). In addition, higher PM2.5 concentrations at suburban sites were related to lower wind speeds, which could be explained by the stagnant condition favoring the accumulation of local emissions as well as the formation of secondary pollutants. In contrast, at urban sites (e.g., Xianyang), higher PM2.5 concentrations were more associated with the strong influence of vehicle exhaust at slightly higher wind speeds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The escalating ambient ozone (O3) pollution in China has garnered significant attention, necessitating an intensified focus on O3 pollution control and the coordinated management of PM2.5 and O3. This study reviews and analyzes the spatiotemporal characteristics of O3 and PM2.5 concentrations in 13 cities within Heilongjiang Province from 2019 to 2021. The analysis is based on data sourced from the ecological environment monitoring network. In addition to this, correlation analyses were executed to explore the interaction between the two pollutants. The findings reveal a declining trajectory in PM2.5 concentration over the past three years, while O3 concentration has exhibited an upward trend. Temporally, both O3 and PM2.5 concentrations display pronounced seasonal variations, with peaks evident during the spring and summer (May to July), as well as in the winter (January, February, and December). From a spatial standpoint, elevated O3 concentrations were identified in the southwestern cities of Harbin, Daqing, and Suihua, while the northwestern cities of Daxinganling and Heihe exhibited comparatively lower O3 concentrations, but the difference was not significant. Conversely, PM2.5 concentrations demonstrated substantial variation among the 13 cities (districts). Regarding their correlation, a noteworthy positive correlation between the two pollutants was observed in April and May, contrasted by a negative correlation in November and December. Weather categories such as excellent, good, lightly polluted, moderately polluted, and other weather showed a lower correlation, whereas heavily polluted and severely polluted categories demonstrated a stronger correlation. Furthermore, the correlation with severe pollution is greater than that with heavily polluted, further indicating that heavier air pollution is more conducive to the coexistence of O3 and PM2.5 to form composite pollution. On a provincial scale, the correlation between the two pollutants is progressively increasing annually. This signifies a closely intertwined and intricate interaction and transformation relationship between O3 and PM2.5, accentuating the urgency for synergistic control measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the summer of 2018, Sweden experienced widespread wildfires, particularly in the region of Jämtland Härjedalen during the final weeks of July. We previously conducted an epidemiological study and investigated acute respiratory health effects in eight municipalities relation to the wildfire air pollution. In this study, we aimed to estimate the potential health impacts under less favorable conditions with different locations of the major fires. Our scenarios focused on the most intense plume from the 2018 wildfire episode affecting the largest municipality, which is the region's only city. Combining modeled PM2.5 concentrations, gridded population data, and exposure–response functions, we assessed the relative increase in acute health effects. The cumulative population-weighted 24 h PM2.5 exposure during the nine highest-level days reached 207 μg/m3 days for 63,227 inhabitants. We observed a small number of excess cases, particularly in emergency unit visits for asthma, with 13 additional cases compared to the normal 12. Overall, our scenario-based health impact assessment indicates minor effects on the studied endpoints due to factors such as the relatively small population, limited exposure period, and moderate increase in exposure compared to similar assessments. Nonetheless, considering the expected rise in fire potential due to global warming and the long-range transport of wildfire smoke, raising awareness of the potential health risks in this region is important. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Atmospheric pollution has recently drawn significant attention due to its proven adverse effects on public health and the environment. This concern has been aggravated specifically in Southeast Asia due to increasing vehicular use, industrial activity, and agricultural burning practices. Consequently, elevated PM2.5 concentrations have become a matter of intervention for national authorities who have addressed the needs of monitoring air pollution by operating ground stations. However, their spatial coverage is limited and the installation and maintenance are costly. Therefore, alternative approaches are necessary at national and regional scales. In the current paper, we investigated interpolation models to fuse PM2.5 measurements from ground stations and satellite data in an attempt to produce spatially continuous maps of PM2.5 nationwide over Thailand. Four approaches are compared, namely the inverse distance weighted (IDW), ordinary kriging (OK), random forest (RF), and random forest combined with OK (RFK) leveraging on the NO2, SO2, CO, HCHO, AI, and O3 products from the Sentinel-5P satellite, regulatory-grade ground PM2.5 measurements, and topographic parameters. The results suggest that RFK is the most robust, especially when the pollution levels are moderate or extreme, achieving an RMSE value of 7.11 μg/m3 and an R2 value of 0.77 during a 10-day long period in February, and an RMSE of 10.77 μg/m3 and R2 and 0.91 during the entire month of March. The proposed approach can be adopted operationally and expanded by leveraging regulatory-grade stations, low-cost sensors, as well as upcoming satellite missions such as the GEMS and the Sentinel-5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studied the chemical characteristics and seasonal changes of PM2.5 in plateau cities on the southwest border of China. Urban air was sampled in Baoshan City during the rainy and dry seasons. Finally, 174 PM2.5 filters were collected (including 87 quartz and 87 Teflon samples for PM2.5). The mass concentrations, water-soluble inorganic ions, organic and inorganic carbon concentrations, and inorganic elements constituting PM2.5 were determined. Positive definite matrix factorization was used to identify potential sources of PM2.5, and the backward trajectory model was used to calculate the contribution of the long-distance transmission of air particles to the Baoshan area. It was found that in the wet season, most of the air masses come from the Indian Ocean and Myanmar. In the dry season, the air mass mainly comes from the China and Myanmar border area. The average concentration of PM2.5 in the wet and dry seasons was 23.17 ± 12.23 μg/m3. The daily mean value of OC/EC indicated that the measured SOC content was generated by the photochemical processes active during the sampling days. However, elements from anthropogenic sources (Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, K, Ca, Ti, Fe, Cu, Zn, Sb, Ba, and Pb) accounted for 99.51% and 99.40% of the total inorganic elements in the wet season and dry season, respectively. Finally, source apportionment showed that SIA, dust, industry, biomass burning, motor vehicle emissions, and copper smelting emissions constituted the major contributions of PM2.5 in Baoshan. Using combined data from three measurement sites provides a focus on the common sources affecting all locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the 19 year observation from 1998 to 2016 at the Tsuan Wan and Central/Western District monitoring stations in Hong Kong, the aim of this paper was to assess the wet deposition pathway of Benzo(a)pyrene (BaP) on a large time-scale. In order to achieve this goal, multi-fractal detrended cross-correlation analysis (MF-DCCA) was used to characterize the long-term cross-correlations behaviors and multi-fractal temporal scaling properties between BaP (or PM2.5) and precipitation. The results showed that the relationships between BaP and precipitation (or PM2.5) displayed long-term cross-correlation at the time-scale ranging from one month to one year; no cross-correlation between each other was observed in longer temporal scaling regimes (greater than one year). These results correspond to the atmospheric circulation of the Asian monsoon system and are explained in detail. Similar dynamic processes of the wet deposition of BaP and PM2.5 suggested that the main removal process of atmospheric BaP was rainfall deposits of PM2.5-bound BaP. Furthermore, cross-correlations between BaP (or PM2.5) and precipitation at the long time-scale have a multi-fractal nature and long-term persistent power-law decaying behavior. The temporal evolutions of the multi-fractality were investigated by the approach of a sliding window. Based on the evolution curves of multi-fractal parameters, the wet deposition pathway of PM2.5-bound BaP is discussed. Finally, the contribution degree of wet deposition to PM2.5-bound BaP was derived from the coefficient of determination. It was demonstrated that about 45% and 60% of atmospheric BaP removal can be attributed to the wet deposition pathway of PM2.5-bound BaP for the Tsuan Wan and Central/Western District areas, respectively. The findings in this paper are of great significance for further study on the removal mechanism of atmospheric BaP in the future. The MF-DCCA method provides a novel approach to assessing the geochemical cycle dynamics of BaP. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring particulate matter with aerodynamic diameters of less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5) is of great importance to assess its adverse effects on human health, especially densely populated regions. In this paper, an improved linear mixed effect model (LMEM) was developed. The model introduced meteorological variable, column water vapor (CWV), which has as the same resolution as satellite-derived aerosol optical thickness (AOT), to enhance PM2.5 estimation accuracy by considering spatiotemporal consistency of CWV and AOT. The model was implemented to urban agglomeration of Chengdu Plain during 2015. The results show that model accuracy has been improved significantly compared to linear regression model (R2 = 0.49), with R2 of 0.81 and root mean squared prediction error (RMSPE) of 15.47 μg/m3, mean prediction error (MPE) of 11.09 μg/m3, and effectively revealed the characteristics of spatiotemporal variations PM2.5 level across the study area: The PM2.5 level is higher in the central and southern areas with dense population, while it is lower in the northwest and southwest mountain areas; and the PM2.5 level is higher during autumn and winter, while it is lower during spring and summer. The product data in this paper are valuable for local government pollution monitoring, public health research, and urban air quality control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there are series of negative economic consequences, however, in limiting mobility and reducing the number of vehicles, positive effects can also be observed, i.e., improvement of air quality. The paper presents an analysis of air quality measured by concentrations of NO2, NOx and PM2.5 during the most restrictive lockdown from 10 March to 31 May 2020 on the case of Wrocław. The results were compared with the reference period—2016–2019. A significant reduction in traffic volume was identified, on average by 26.3%. The greatest reduction in the concentration of NO2 and NOx was recorded at the station farthest from the city center, characterized by the lowest concentrations: 20.1% and 22.4%. Lower reduction in the average concentrations of NO2 and NOx was recorded at the municipal station (7.9% and 7.7%) and the communication station (6.7% and 10.2%). Concentrations of PMs in 2020 were on average 15% and 13.4% lower than in the reference period for the traffic station and the background station. The long-term impact of the lockdown on air quality was also examined. The analysis of the concentrations of the pollutants throughout 2020, and in the analyzed period of 2021, indicated that the reduction of concentrations and the improvement in air quality caused by the restrictions should be considered as a temporary anomaly, without affecting long-term changes and trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Air pollution in the Metropolitan Area of São Paulo (MASP), Brazil, is a serious problem and is strongly affected by local sources. However, atmosphere column composition in MASP is also affected by biomass burning aerosol (BB). Understanding the impacts of aerosol particles, from both vehicles and BB, on the air quality and climate depends on in-depth research with knowledge of some parameters such as the optical properties of particles and their chemical composition. This study characterized fine particulate matter (PM2.5) from July 2019 to August 2020 in the eastern part of the MASP, relating the chemical composition data obtained at the surface and columnar optical parameters, such as aerosol optical depth (AOD), Ångström Exponent (AE), and single-scattering albedo (SSA). According to the analyzed data, the mean PM2.5 concentration was 18.0 ± 12.5 µg/m3; however, daily events exceeded 75 times the air quality standard of the World Health Organization (15 µg/m3). The mean black carbon concentration was 1.8 ± 1.5 µg/m3 in the sampling period. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) identified four main sources of aerosol: heavy vehicles (42%), followed by soil dust plus local sources (38.7%), light vehicles (9.9%), and local sources (8.6%). AOD and AE presented the highest values in the dry period, during which biomass burning events are more frequent, suggesting smaller particles in the atmosphere. SSA values at 440 nm were between 0.86 and 0.94, with lower values in the winter months, indicating the presence of more absorbing aerosol. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the pollution characteristics, sources, and health risks of heavy metals in urban atmospheric PM2.5, samples were collected in Huangshi City from June 2021 to May 2022. The contents of 16 kinds of metal elements were analyzed by XRF, and the pollution degree and sources of elements were analyzed by the enrichment factor method, correlation analysis, and cluster analysis. The health risk of heavy metal elements was evaluated by the USEPA health risk assessment model. The results of enrichment factor analysis show that the metal elements carried by PM2.5 were affected by human emissions except for Ti. Heavy metals mainly come from industrial sources, motor vehicle sources, mixed combustion sources, and dust sources, according to correlation analysis and cluster analysis. Mn had a non-carcinogenic risk to children, and the non-carcinogenic risk of other elements to the human body was generally acceptable. The carcinogenic risks of Cr, As, Cd, and Co exceeded the acceptable carcinogenic risk threshold (10−6 ~10−4), and there were potential carcinogenic risks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]