Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in soils of Beijing and Tianjin region: Vertical distribution, correlation with TOC and transport mechanism

The contents and distribution of 20 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons （PAHs） and heterocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons （HAHs） were investigated in 16 soil profiles of Beijing and Tianjin region. Transport of high molecular weight PAHs （HMWPAHs） and the correlation between total organic carbon （TOC） and their concentrations were also discussed. The results indicated that highly contaminated sites were located at urban or wastewater irrigation areas and pollutants mainly accumulated in topsoil （〈 40 cm）, with a sharp content decrease at the vertical boundary of 30-40 cm. Total PAHs/HAHs concentrations in soils from Tianjin were markedly greater than those from Beijing. Even the contents at bottoms of soil profiles in Tianjin were higher than those in topsoils of Beijing soil profile. HMWPAHs dominated the PAH profiles, exhibiting a uniform distribution of pyrogenic origin between topsoils and deep layers. Furthermore, the percentages of HMWPAHs remained relative constant with the depth of soil profiles, which were consistent with the distribution of particulate matter-associated PAHs in the local atmospheric environments. Therefore, HMWPAHs transport with particulates might be the predominant source found in soil profiles.

Atmospheric Circulation and Dynamic Mechanism for Persistent Haze Events in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei Region

In this study, regional persistent haze events（RPHEs） in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei（BTH） region were identified based on the Objective Identification Technique for Regional Extreme Events for the period 1980–2013. The formation mechanisms of the severe RPHEs were investigated with focus on the atmospheric circulation and dynamic mechanisms. Results indicated that：（1） 49 RPHEs occurred during the past 34 years.（2） The severe RPHEs could be categorized into two types according to the large-scale circulation, i.e. the zonal westerly airflow（ZWA） type and the high-pressure ridge（HPR） type. When the ZWA-type RPHEs occurred, the BTH region was controlled by near zonal westerly airflow in the mid–upper troposphere.Southwesterly winds prevailed in the lower troposphere, and near-surface wind speeds were only 1–2 ms^-1. Warm and humid air originating from the northwestern Pacific was transported into the region, where the relative humidity was 70% to 80%, creating favorable moisture conditions. When the HPR-type RPHEs appeared, northwesterly airflow in the mid–upper troposphere controlled the region. Westerly winds prevailed in the lower troposphere and the moisture conditions were relatively weak.（3） Descending motion in the mid-lower troposphere caused by the above two circulation types provided a crucial dynamic mechanism for the formation of the two types of RPHEs. The descending motion contributed to a reduction in the height of the planetary boundary layer（PBL）, which generated an inversion in the lower troposphere. This inversion trapped the abundant pollution and moisture in the lower PBL, leading to high concentrations of pollutants.

Diagnostic Analysis of a Snowfall Weather in Beijing,Tianjin and Hebei in 2010

[ Objective] The research aimed to analyze a local snowstorm weather process which happened in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei during I - 4 January, 2010. [ Method] Based on routine meteorological observation data and NCEP/NCAR 2.5° ×2.5° grid data （four times every day）, a lo- cal snowstorm weather process which happened in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei during 1 -4 January, 2010 was carried out diagnostic analysis by using composite analysis method. [Result] Circumfluence on the ground and strong cold advection in the rear of upper trough were the main weath- er system of the snowfall. The deep thick wet layer and strong water vapor convergence provided sufficient water vapor for snowfall. The divergence field of low-level convergence and high^level divergence, dynamic coupling effect of vorticity provided favorable dynamic condition upwardly for the occurrence of strong snowfall. The steep dense area of Oso, low temperature at the ground layer and inversion temperature at the high layer provided certain energy condition for the development of snowfall weather. [ Conclusion] The research provided theoretical basis for snowfall forecast in future.

The spatial-temporal differentiation of green land use in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei urban agglomeration

As the space carrier of the construction of ecological civilization, land's green and efficient utilization is an important guarantee for realizing national sustainable development. Based on traditional land evaluation, this paper scientifically defines the green land use, puts land as one of the production factors, and brings energy consumption, environmental pollution, etc. into the input-output system to measure the green land utilization efficiency of the urban construction land of Beijing-TianjinHebei Urban Agglomeration from 2006 to 2016. The study shows that the overall efficiency variation of the urban agglomeration is related with the land and environment policies. Efficiency of 2016 is higher than that of 2006, and energy and environment are the principal factors affecting the green land use. The efficiency of each city is positively correlated with its economic development, negatively correlated with the construction land expansion. Efficiency gaps in different cities are expanding.There is positive correlation with overall weak space between cities, and the partial spatial agglomeration phenomenon appears. Therefore, the green land use efficiency could be improved by improving land utilization efficiency, coordinating economic growth of construction land utilization with environmental protection and taking feasible ways to transregional renovation of the stock ecological land utilization, etc.

Regional Economic Efficiency and Its Influencing Factors of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolitans in China Based on a Heterogeneity Stochastic Frontier Model

Using a heterogeneity stochastic frontier model(HSFM),we empirically investigated the economic efficiency of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei from 2003 to 2016 and its influencing factors.The key findings of the paper lie in:1)in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei,the overall economic and technological efficiency tended to increase in a wavelike manner,economic growth slowed down,and there was an obvious imbalance in economic efficiency between the different districts,counties and cities;2)the heterogeneity stochastic frontier production functions(SFPFs)of Beijing,Tianjin and Hebei were different from each other,and investment was still an important impetus of economic growth in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei;3)economic efficiency was positively correlated with economic agglomeration,human capital,industrial structure,infrastructure,the informatization level,and institutional factors,but negatively correlated with the government role and economic opening.The following policy suggestions are offered:1)to improve regional economic efficiency and reduce the economic gap in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei,governments must reduce their intervention in economic activities,stimulate the potentials of labor and capital,optimize the structure of human resources,and foster new demographic incentives;2)governments must guide economic factors that are reasonable throughout Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and strengthen infrastructure construction in underdeveloped regions,thus attaining sustainable economic development;3)governments must plan overall economic growth factors of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and promote reasonable economic factors(e.g.,labor,resources,and innovations)across different regions,thus attaining complementary advantages between Beijing,Tianjin,and Hebei.

Evaluation and Comparative Study of Industrial Competitiveness in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area

With the industrial competitiveness in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area in 2013 as the object of study,this paper uses principal component analysis to evaluate and compare the industrial competitiveness in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area,in order to provide reference for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei joint development. The results show that in terms of industrial structure competitiveness,Beijing > Tianjin > Hebei; in terms of agricultural competitiveness,Tianjin > Beijing > Hebei; in terms of industrial competitiveness,Tianjin > Beijing > Hebei; in terms of service industry competitiveness,Tianjin > Beijing > Hebei; in terms of high-tech industry competitiveness,Beijing > Tianjin > Hebei. It is suggested that Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei should further optimize industrial structure,and develop modern service industry. In the Beijing-TianjinHebei joint development,Hebei should focus on the development of agriculture,Tianjin should focus on the development of industry,and Beijing should focus on the development of high-tech industry.

The Research of Impact of Returning Cultivated Land to Forests in Poverty Areas around Beijing-Tianjin on Local Economy——A Case of Shunping County in Hebei Province, China

Taking Shunping County of Hebei Province as an example,according to the relevant survey data in the year 2008 after returning cultivated land and data in the year 2001 before returning cultivated land, the thesis analyzes the impact of implementation of project of returning cultivated land to forests on local land use structure, three industrial added value and famers' per capita income. The results show that returning cultivated land has played a certain positive role on the local economic development and the improvement of people's life level.However, there are also some shortcomings: although famers' income is increasing with low growth rate, a large portion of famers still have not shaken off poverty; the farmers depends on subsidies greatly and the compensation mechanism of returning cultivated land is not considered well. China should further perfect the ecological compensation plan, and build rational ecological compensation mechanism in order to make the areas of returning cultivated land have self-blood-producing function; Shunping County should make full use of the location advantage in areas around Beijing-Tianjin, develop deep processing based on fruit trees industry, strengthen farmers' skill training, and increase input in the agricultural infrastructure construction to propel the sustainable development of agriculture.

A study on the innovation of regional environmental management mechanism in Beijing,Tianjin and Hebei area within the background of ecological civilization

Within the background of the need to promote the construction of ecological civilization and the current confl ict between the economic growth and the constraints of environment and resources, after a review of the theoretical study and practical exploration of ecological civilization, the article makes an analysis of the status quo of ecological civilization development in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei area, sums up the main problems there, and explores the development strategic framework to improve the regional ecological environment. It comes to the following conclusions: as the ecological and environmental problems in the BTH area are mainly the air pollution and so on, we should seek to build a mechanism of environmental management for sustainable development from the different aspects of industrial distribution, energy utilization, institution construction and market participation. We should capitalize on the chance to construct the ecological civilization, promote to change the regional economic growth pattern, improve the quality and effi ciency of development, and fi nally promote the synergetic development of ecological environment in the BTH area.

Problems and Countermeasures of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei's location

Regional economic integration is the main trend in the world,the region participate inthe international competition as a whole.China has formed Yangtze River Delta and Pearl River Delta region which have showed strong competitive and plays an important role in enhancing theoverall competitiveness of a country.As the third largest area,Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei'slocation is very important,Beijing,Tianjin and regional development has also attracted great attention of national leaders,China will enhance the economic development of Beijing,Tianjin region to the national strategic level,However,the process of economic integration in Beijing,Tianjin and regional development has been relatively slow,Hebei Province in Beijing and the day Tianjin two big cities have been developing weak,Beijing City,but also faced with the problem of excessive development,This paper points out the problems faced by the integration of Beijing,Tianjin,and puts forward some countermeasures,hoping to discuss how to promote the integration process.

BEIJING, TIANJIN AND HEBEI UNDERGO COMPREHENSIVE INTEGRATION

Three years have elapsed since the synergetic development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei(Jing-Jin-Ji)region was first put forward as a major national strategy by Chinese President Xi Jinping in February 2014.Xi called for the coordination and integration of the economic zone surrounding Beijing.Now,a fledging Capital Economic Circle is taking shape.

Evaluation and Selection of Introduced Tree Species in the Beijing-Tianjin Corridor

Based on the extensive analysis of natural and social conditions,regional development,and characteristics of tree species in the Beijing-Tianjin corridor,a comprehensive evaluation index system that consists of A,B,C,D layers was established for introduced tree species.Nine local representative introduced tree species were evaluated using the analytic hierarchy process(AHP).The results showed that Platanus orientalis,Quercus mongolicus,and Zizyphusjujube performed better comprehensively and were recommended as the dominant introduced tree species in the Beijing-Tianjin corridor.Other representative introduced tree species should be appropriately developed in the region.Main factors that should be taken into account for introduced tree species including drought tolerance,wintering habit,growth rate,leanness tolerance,pollution tolerance,saline tolerance,and disease resistance.

A Brief Analysis of the Causes and Countermeasures of Fog-Haze in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

Since China broke the blockade and opened the country to the outside world, many township enterprises develop quickly. Together with the pollution caused by China’s coal-burning as the main source of national energy, the pollution caused by small and medium-sized enterprises in towns and villages due to their small investment, low technology level and weak environmental awareness, and the pollution caused by a sharp increase in motor vehicle emissions lead to the fact that fog-haze has been rampant in China’s cities and urban agglomerations for nearly two decades, especially in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region. This paper sorted out the current situation of fog-haze and analyzed the causes of fog-haze from the two aspects of natural and man-made causes, discussed the harms of fog-haze to human body, environment and life, and put forward the concrete measures to solve the fog-haze problem.

Measurement of Urban Economic Gravity of China’s Three Major Agglomerations and Its Implications for the Coordinated Development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

This paper adopts the perspective of urban economic linkage and the modified urban economic gravity model to conduct a comparative analysis of the economic gravity among cities in China’s three major urban agglomerations,including the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region,the Yangtze River Delta,and the Pearl River Delta.The results show that,despite the ever-tightening economic linkages among cities in the urban agglomerations,the development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region falls behind that of the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta in terms of coordination,closeness,and balance.The economic linkages among cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region are not as cohesive as they could be and display a significant“siphon effect”through Beijing and Tianjin as well as a prominently unidirectional economic flow.This study suggests that efforts should be put into directing the orderly flow of resources from Beijing and Tianjin to cities in Hebei and promoting a balanced economic flow among cities,thus facilitating the coordination of regional development.

Change of Soil Organic Carbon after Cropland Afforestation in ′Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control′ Program Area in China

Land use change is one of the major factors that affect soil organic carbon(SOC) variation and global carbon balance. However, the effects of land use change on SOC are always variable. In this study, using a series of paired-field experiments, we estimated the effects of revegetation types and environmental conditions on SOC stock and vertical distribution after replacement of cropland with poplar(Populus tomentosa) and korshinsk peashrub(Caragana korshinskii) in three climate regions(Chifeng City, Fengning City and Datong City of the ′Beijing-Tianjin Sandstorm Source Control′(BTSSC) program area. The results show that SOC sequestration rate ranges from 0.15 Mg/(ha·yr) to 3.76 Mg/(ha·yr) in the soil layer of 0–100 cm in early stage after cropland afforestation in the BTSSC program area. The SOC accumulation rates are the highest in Fengning for both the two vegetation types. Compared to C. korshinskii, P. tomentosa has greater effects on SOC accumulation in the three climate regions, but significantly greater effect only appears in Datong. The SOC density increases by 20%–111% and 15%–59% for P. tomentosa and 9%–63% and 0–73% for C. korshinskii in the 0–20 cm and 20–100 cm soil layers, respectively. Our results indicate that cropland afforestation not only affects SOC stock in the topsoil, but also has some effects on subsoil carbon. However, the effect of cropland afforestation on SOC accumulation varied with climate regions and revegetation types. Considering the large area of revegetation and relatively high SOC accumulation rate, SOC sequestration in the BTSSC program should contribute significantly to decrease the CO2 concentration in the atmosphere.

Analysis of the interannual variations and influencing factors of wind speed anomalies over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region

风场对京津冀地区雾霾的产生和消散起着决定性作用。本文利用站点观测数据,研究了京津冀地区冬季风场的年际变化及其影响因素。研究表明,京津冀地区的冬季平均风速为2.0 m s^(-1),每年降幅为0.01 m s^(-1)。大多数情况下,强风年对应热带太平洋东部的负海温异常,而弱风年份相反。此外,京津冀地区冬季风场的年际变化还受到包括北半球中高纬度气压梯度、欧亚大陆地表温度、菲律宾东部热带太平洋海面温度等多重因素的影响。

Did Ecological Engineering Projects Have a Significant Effect on Large-scale Vegetation Restoration in Beijing-Tianjin Sand Source Region, China？ A Remote Sensing Approach

Aiming for the restoration of degraded ecosystems, many ecological engineering projects have been implemented around the world. This study investigates the ecological engineering project effectiveness on vegetation restoration in the Beijing-Tianjin Sand Source Region(BTSSR) from 2000 to 2010 based on the rain use efficiency(RUE) trend in relation to the land cover. More than half of the BTSSR experienced a vegetation productivity increase from 2000 to 2010, with the increasing intensity being sensitive to the indicators chosen. A clear tendency towards smaller increasing areas was shown when using the net primary productivity(NPP, 51.30%) instead of the accumulated normalized difference vegetation index(59.30%). The short-term variation in the precipitation and intra-seasonal precipitation distribution had a great impact on the remote sensing-based vegetation productivity. However, the residual trends method(RESTREND) effectively eliminated this correlation, while incorporating the variance and skewness of the precipitation distribution increased the models′ ability to explain the vegetation productivity variation. The RUE combined with land cover dynamics was valid for the effectiveness assessment of the ecological engineering projects on vegetation restoration. Particularly, the result based on growing season accumulated normalized difference vegetation index(ΣNDVI) residuals was the most effective, showing that 47.39% of the BTSSR experienced vegetation restoration from 2000 to 2010. The effectiveness of the ecological engineering projects differed for each subarea and was proportional to the strength of ecological engineering. The water erosion region dominated by woodland showed the best restoration, followed by the wind-water erosion crisscross regions, while the wind erosion regions dominated by grassland showed the worst effect. Seriously degraded regions still cover more area in the BTSSR than restored regions. Therefore, more future effort should be put in restoring degraded land.

CO2 emission driving forces and corresponding mitigation strategies under low-carbon economy mode:evidence from China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

On account of the background of China's "new normal" characterized by slower economic growth, this paper analyses the low-carbon economy status quo in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and empirically investigates the relationship between carbon dioxide(CO_2) emissions and its various factors for China's Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region using panel data econometric technique. We find evidence of existence of Environmental Kuznets Curve. Results also show that economic scale, industrial structure, and urbanization rate are crucial factors to promote CO_2emissions. However, technological progress, especially the domestic independent research and development, plays a key role in C0_2 emissions abatement. Next, we further analyze the correlation between each subregion and various factors according to Grey Relation Analysis. Thereby,our findings provide important implications for policymakers in air pollution control and C0_2 emissions reduction for this region.

Spheres of Urban Influence and Factors in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolitan Region Based on Viewpoint of Administrative Division Adjustment

The coordinated development of Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei has been elevated as China's important strategy. And, the priority in considering how to bring the maximum effect of their coordinated development into play is to delineate the spheres of urban influence with regard to the cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Metropolitan Region. By building an evaluation index system of urban comprehensive strength, this paper applies the principal component analysis method to determine centrality strength of the cities, and the breakpoint theory and weighted Voronoi diagram to identify the spheres of urban influence in all central cities of the region. Results show that 13 central cities within the region greatly differ in strength, which can be classified into four tiers and that the spheres of urban influence do not have a high goodness of fit with administrative jurisdiction scope. Cities like Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang and Handan have larger spheres of urban, spheres of urban influence in Tangshan and Qinhuangdao are basically consistent with their administrative jurisdiction scopes, and seven cities including Langfang and Baoding have smaller spheres of urban influence. So according to these cities' comprehensive strength and spheres of influence, the region can be divided into five plates: Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Tangshan and Handan. The major influence factors for inconsistency between spheres of urban influence and spheres of jurisdiction include difference in urban administrative ranking, small number of central cities with weak strength, discrepancy in the number of counties under jurisdiction, unreasonable spheres of jurisdiction and diversity in topographical conditions. In order to solve the imbalance in the spheres of urban influence and those of jurisdiction and better facilitate the coordinated development of the region, it is advised to adjust administrative areas so as to obtain more optimized urban spatial layout and more reasonable urban scale hierarchy system.

STRUCTURE AND RESTRUCTURING OF BEIJING-TIANJIN-HEBEI MEGALOPOLIS IN CHINA

Scott proposes to use the term global city-regions to designate the phenomena that bear some resemblance to the "world cities" firstly identified by Hall and Friedmann and Wolff, and to the "global cities" of Sassen but whose essential social logic and contextual characteristics have evolved considerably since these pioneering studies were published. In simple geographical terms, a global city-region can be refered to comprise any major metropolitan area or any contiguous set of metropolitan areas together with a surrounding hinterland of variable extent-itself a locus of scattered urban settlements-whose internal economic and political affairs are bound up in intricate ways in intensifying and far-flung extra-national relationships. Scott refers to these extra-national relationships as a symptom of "globalization". As economic motors and political actors, the global city regions have been regarded as crucial parts of development strategies in China. In the "Eleventh Five-year Plan" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission of P. R. China, the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Province (Jing-Jin-Ji) region, one of the typical megalopolises or global city regions in the East Coastal China is paid more attention. This paper first analyzes the regional structure of the Jing-Jin-Ji region based on data of the fifth national population census of China. And then through the changes of the population growth, the dynamic process and mechanisms of the regional restructuring in the Jing-Jin-Ji is explored and discussed.