A Comparison of the Physical and Optical Properties of Anthropogenic Air Pollutants and Mineral Dust over Northwest China

Emissions of mineral dust and its mixing with anthropogenic air pollutants affect both regional and global climates. Our fieldwork in late spring 2007（April 25-June 15） measured the physical and optical properties of dust storms mixed with local air pollutants at a rural site about 48 km southeast of central Lanzhou. Levels of air pollutants and aerosol optical properties were observed during the experiment, with concentrations of NOx（6.8 ± 3.3 ppb, average ± standard deviation）, CO（694 ± 486 ppb）, SO2（6.2 ±10 ppb）, O3（50.7 ± 13.1 ppb）, and PM10（172 ± 180 μg m-3）, and aerosol scattering coefficient（164 ±89 Mm-1; 1 Mm = 106m） and absorption coefficient（11.7 ± 6.6 Mm-1）, all much lower than the values observed during air pollution episodes in urban areas. During a major dust storm, the mass concentration of PM10 reached 4072 μg m-3, approximately 21-fold higher than in non-dust storm periods. The mixing ratios of trace gases declined noticeably after a cold front passed through. The observed CO/SO2 and CO/NOx ratios during air pollution episodes were 4.2-18.3 and 13.7-80.5, respectively, compared with the corresponding ratios of 38.1-255.7 and 18.0-245.9 during non-pollution periods. Our investigations suggest that dust storms have a significant influence on air quality in areas far from their source, and this large-scale transport of dust and air pollutants produces major uncertainties in the quantification of the global effects of emissions over Northwest China.

Large inter annual variation in air quality during the annual festival ‘Diwali' in an Indian megacity

A network of air quality and weather monitoring stations was established under the System of Air Quality Forecasting and Research（SAFAR） project in Delhi. We report observations of ozone（O_3）, nitrogen oxides（NO_x）, carbon monoxide（CO） and particulate matter（PM_2.5and PM_（10）） before, during and after the Diwali in two consecutive years, i.e., November 2010 and October 2011. The Diwali days are characterised by large firework displays throughout India. The observations show that the background concentrations of particulate matter are between 5 and 10 times the permissible limits in Europe and the United States. During the Diwali-2010, the highest observed PM_（10） and PM_2.5mass concentration is as high as2070 μg/m^3 and 1620 μg/m3, respectively（24 hr mean）, which was about 20 and 27 times to National Ambient Air Quality Standards（NAAQS）. For Diwali-2011, the increase in PM_（10） and PM_2.5mass concentrations was much less with their peaks of 600 and of 390 μg/m^3 respectively, as compared to the background concentrations. Contrary to previous reports,firework display was not found to strongly influence the NO_x, and O_3 mixing ratios, with the increase within the observed variability in the background. CO mixing ratios showed an increase. We show that the large difference in 2010 and 2011 pollutant concentrations is controlled by weather parameters.