An exploration of meteorological effects on PM_(2.5) air quality in several provinces and cities in Vietnam

Linking meteorology and air pollutants is a key challenge.The study investigated meteorological effects on PM_(2.5)concentration using the advanced convergent cross mapping method,utilizing hourly PM_(2.5)concentration and six meteorological factors across eight provinces and cities in Vietnam.Results demonstrated that temperature(ρ=0.30)and radiation(ρ=0.30)produced the highest effects,followed by humidity(ρ=0.28)and wind speed(ρ=0.24),while pressure(ρ=0.22)and wind direction(ρ=0.17)produced the weakest effects on PM_(2.5)concentration.Comparing theρvalues showed that temperature,wind speed,and wind direction had greater impacts on PM_(2.5)concentration during the dry season whereas radiation had a more influence during the wet season;Southern stations experienced larger meteorological effects.Temperature,humidity,pressure,and wind direction had both positive and negative influences on PM_(2.5)concentration,while radiation and wind speed mostly had negative influences.During PM_(2.5)pollution episodes,there wasmore contribution ofmeteorological effects on PM_(2.5)concentration indicated byρvalues.At contaminated levels,humidity(ρ=0.45)was the most dominant factor affecting PM_(2.5)concentration,followed by temperature(ρ=0.41)and radiation(ρ=0.40).Pollution episodes were pointed out to be more prevalent under higher humidity,higher pressure,lower temperature,lower radiation,and lower wind speed.Theρcalculation also revealed that lower temperature,lower radiation,and higher humidity greatly accelerated each other under pollution episodes,further enhancing PM_(2.5)concentration.The findings contributed to the literature on meteorology and air pollution interaction.