Air quality improvement in Los Angeles Perspectives for developing cities

Air quality improvement in Los Angeles, California is reviewed with an emphasis on aspects that may inform air quality policy formulation in developing cities. In the mid-twentieth century the air quality in Los Angeles was degraded to an extent comparable to the worst found in developing cities today; ozone exceeded 600 ppb and annual average particulate matter 〈 10 μm reached -150 μg.m -3. Today＇s air quality is much better due to very effective emission controls; e.g., modem automobilcs emit about 1% of the hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide emitted by vehicles of 50 years ago. An overview is given of the emission control efforts in Los Angeles and their impact on anabient concentrations of primary and secondary pollutants： the costs and health benefits of these controls arc briefly summarized, Today＇s developing cities have new challenges that are discussed： the effects of regional pollution transport are much greater in countries with very high population densities： often very large current populations must be supplied with goods and services even while economic development and air quality concerns are addressed; and many of currently developing cities arc located in or close to the tropics where photochemical processing of pollution is expected to be more rapid than at higher latitudes. The air quality issues of Beijing are briefly compared and contrasted with those of Los Angeles, and the opportunities for co-benefits for climate and air quality improvement are pointed out.

重型柴油车对空气质量的影响及其排放的控制

通过对柴油车污染物排放的特征和机动车排放清单的分析,探讨了重型柴油车对我国城市空气质量的影响及其排放的控制.重型柴油车排放大量的氮氧化物和颗粒物,其中氮氧化物为大气中产生二次细粒子以及臭氧的重要前体物之一,导致区域性灰霾的形成,而柴油颗粒物是影响健康的一个主要有毒空气污染物,尤其是其中粒径为30～100 nm的超细粒子,由于其粒径非常微小,对人体健康有极大的危害性.目前机动车已成为我国很多大城市和城市群地区的重要空气污染源,而其中的重型柴油车则排放了很大部分的氮氧化物和细颗粒物.因此,控制重型柴油车的排放应当是今后我国城市空气质量管理中的一个关键部分,一些与重型柴油车排放控制相关的问题需要引起重视.

Source apportionment of atmospheric particulate carbon in Las Vegas,Nevada,USA

A study was conducted to quantify wintertime contributions of source types to carbonaceous PM2.5 at four urban sites in the Las Vegas Valley, one of the most rapidly growing urban areas in the southwestern United States. Twenty-four hour average ambient samples were collected for mass, ions, elements, organic carbon （OC）, elemental carbon （EC）, and trace organic markers analysis. Additional measurements were made to determine diurnal patterns in light-absorbing black carbon （BC） as a marker for combustion sources. Carbonaceous PM sources of on-road gasoline vehicles, on-road diesel vehicles, and off-road diesel engines were characterized with their chemical profiles, as well as fuel-based emission factors, using an In-Plume Sampling System. The Effective Variance Chemical Mass Balance （EV-CMB） source apportionment model was applied to the ambient samples collected, using source profiles developed in this study as well as profiles from other relevant studies. Four main sources contributed to PM2.5 carbon within the Las Vegas Valley： （1） paved road dust, （2） on-road gasoline vehicles, （3） residential wood combustion, and （4） on-road diesel vehicles. CMB estimated that on-road mixed fleet gasoline vehicles are the largest source for OC and EC at all the sites. The contribution of paved road dust to both OC and EC was 5-10% at the four sites. On-road diesel vehicles contribute 22% of the OC and 34% of the EC at a site near the city center, which is located immediately downwind of a major freeway. Residential wood combustion is a more important source than on-road diesel vehicles for two residential neighborhood sites, These results are consistent with our conceptual model, and the research methodology may be applied to studying other urban areas.

Comparison of four scanning mobility particle sizers at the Fresno Supersite

Size distributions of ambient aerosols at the Fresno Supersite were measured with four commercially available scanning mobility particle sizers （SMPS）. TSI nano, TSI standard, Grimm, and MSP instruments were collocated at the Fresno Supersite and particle size distributions were measured continuously from August 18 through September 18, 2005. For particles with diameters between 10 and 200 nm, differences among hourly-average ambient particle concentrations ranged from 0% between the TSI nano and Grimm in the 30-50 nm size range to 39% between the Grimm and MSP in the 10-30 nm size range. MSP concentrations were 10-33% lower than those measured with the TSI standard for particles smaller than 200 nm. The TSI nano and TSI standard agreed to within 5% in their overlapping size range （10-84 nm）. The TSI nano and Grimm agreed to within 40% for 5-10 nm particles.

Influence of High Relative Humidity on Secondary Organic Carbon: Observations at a Background Site in East China

To investigate the impacts of relative humidity(RH) on secondary organic aerosol(SOA) concentrations and chemical reactions, the carbonaceous aerosol components [i.e., organic carbon(OC) and element carbon(EC)] were quantified in daily PM2.5 samples collected at a background site in East China during summer 2015. Based on the method of EC-tracer, the concentration of secondary organic carbon(SOC) demonstrated an obvious negative relationship with RH higher than 60%. Moreover, the ratio of SOC/EC also exhibited obvious decreasing trends with increasing RH, indicating negative effects for chemical production of SOA under high RH conditions. Due to high RH,photochemistry was weakened, gaseous oxidant concentrations was lowered(e.g., significantly decreased O3 levels),and the production rates of SOA were relatively low. On the other hand, because of more water uptake under higher RH conditions, the aerosol droplet acidity was reduced and enhancement of SOA formation by acidity was accordingly absent. In addition, high RH also plays an important role in changing viscosity of pre-existing aerosol coatings,which can affect reactive uptake yield of SOA. Overall, the results from this study imply that SOA production may be more associated with photochemical processes, while aqueous-phase chemistry is not very important for some SOA formation in a moist ambient environment. In the ambient atmosphere, oxidant concentrations, reaction rates,airborne species, etc., are highly variable. How do these factors affect SOA yields under given ambient environment warrants further detailed investigations.