Recent Decreasing Trends in Surface PM2.5 over East Asia in the Winter-Spring Season: Different Responses to Emissions and Meteorology between Upwind and Downwind Regions

Abstract This study developed and evaluated a WRF-Chem modeling system that reflects the effect of recent emission regulations on the PM2.5 above East Asia by utilizing an updated anthropogenic emission inventory for 2013–2018. This system accurately reproduced the monthly means, daily variations, a...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Young-Hee Ryu, Seung-Ki Min, Alma Hodzic
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Springer 2021-02-01
Series:Aerosol and Air Quality Research
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.200654
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1825197539520937984
author Young-Hee Ryu
Seung-Ki Min
Alma Hodzic
author_facet Young-Hee Ryu
Seung-Ki Min
Alma Hodzic
author_sort Young-Hee Ryu
collection DOAJ
description Abstract This study developed and evaluated a WRF-Chem modeling system that reflects the effect of recent emission regulations on the PM2.5 above East Asia by utilizing an updated anthropogenic emission inventory for 2013–2018. This system accurately reproduced the monthly means, daily variations, and vertical profiles of PM2.5 during winter and spring over the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) in South Korea and the North China Plain (NCP) and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in China. Furthermore, it demonstrated that the decline in PM2.5 over the latter nation is attributable to control measures in China that have been in effect since 2013. The most polluted of the three target regions, the NCP, which is also upwind (in contrast to the downwind YRD and SMA), exhibited the largest decrease due to emission reduction. For example, the simulated mean PM2.5 concentration for February dropped by 39% over the NCP but by merely 17% over the YRD between 2013 and 2018. Additionally, the SMA displayed only minor changes in the concentration during winter and a weak decreasing trend during spring. In addition to emission reduction, meteorology significantly modulated the level of PM2.5; it produced larger interannual variations in the downwind regions than the upwind one, accounting for changes in concentration as high as 35% and 45% in the SMA during winter and spring, respectively, versus 11% and 12% in the NCP. Finally, the downwind regions also showed more complex behaviors for the secondary aerosols, which did not always follow the decreasing trends of their precursors.
format Article
id doaj-art-d0ddf9959433457ab3e42a99c5e1752a
institution Kabale University
issn 1680-8584
2071-1409
language English
publishDate 2021-02-01
publisher Springer
record_format Article
series Aerosol and Air Quality Research
spelling doaj-art-d0ddf9959433457ab3e42a99c5e1752a2025-02-09T12:19:44ZengSpringerAerosol and Air Quality Research1680-85842071-14092021-02-0121612210.4209/aaqr.200654Recent Decreasing Trends in Surface PM2.5 over East Asia in the Winter-Spring Season: Different Responses to Emissions and Meteorology between Upwind and Downwind RegionsYoung-Hee Ryu0Seung-Ki Min1Alma Hodzic2Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)Division of Environmental Science and Engineering, Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH)National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR)Abstract This study developed and evaluated a WRF-Chem modeling system that reflects the effect of recent emission regulations on the PM2.5 above East Asia by utilizing an updated anthropogenic emission inventory for 2013–2018. This system accurately reproduced the monthly means, daily variations, and vertical profiles of PM2.5 during winter and spring over the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA) in South Korea and the North China Plain (NCP) and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) in China. Furthermore, it demonstrated that the decline in PM2.5 over the latter nation is attributable to control measures in China that have been in effect since 2013. The most polluted of the three target regions, the NCP, which is also upwind (in contrast to the downwind YRD and SMA), exhibited the largest decrease due to emission reduction. For example, the simulated mean PM2.5 concentration for February dropped by 39% over the NCP but by merely 17% over the YRD between 2013 and 2018. Additionally, the SMA displayed only minor changes in the concentration during winter and a weak decreasing trend during spring. In addition to emission reduction, meteorology significantly modulated the level of PM2.5; it produced larger interannual variations in the downwind regions than the upwind one, accounting for changes in concentration as high as 35% and 45% in the SMA during winter and spring, respectively, versus 11% and 12% in the NCP. Finally, the downwind regions also showed more complex behaviors for the secondary aerosols, which did not always follow the decreasing trends of their precursors.https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.200654PM2.5WRF-ChemTrendsEmissions
spellingShingle Young-Hee Ryu
Seung-Ki Min
Alma Hodzic
Recent Decreasing Trends in Surface PM2.5 over East Asia in the Winter-Spring Season: Different Responses to Emissions and Meteorology between Upwind and Downwind Regions
Aerosol and Air Quality Research
PM2.5
WRF-Chem
Trends
Emissions
title Recent Decreasing Trends in Surface PM2.5 over East Asia in the Winter-Spring Season: Different Responses to Emissions and Meteorology between Upwind and Downwind Regions
title_full Recent Decreasing Trends in Surface PM2.5 over East Asia in the Winter-Spring Season: Different Responses to Emissions and Meteorology between Upwind and Downwind Regions
title_fullStr Recent Decreasing Trends in Surface PM2.5 over East Asia in the Winter-Spring Season: Different Responses to Emissions and Meteorology between Upwind and Downwind Regions
title_full_unstemmed Recent Decreasing Trends in Surface PM2.5 over East Asia in the Winter-Spring Season: Different Responses to Emissions and Meteorology between Upwind and Downwind Regions
title_short Recent Decreasing Trends in Surface PM2.5 over East Asia in the Winter-Spring Season: Different Responses to Emissions and Meteorology between Upwind and Downwind Regions
title_sort recent decreasing trends in surface pm2 5 over east asia in the winter spring season different responses to emissions and meteorology between upwind and downwind regions
topic PM2.5
WRF-Chem
Trends
Emissions
url https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.200654
work_keys_str_mv AT youngheeryu recentdecreasingtrendsinsurfacepm25overeastasiainthewinterspringseasondifferentresponsestoemissionsandmeteorologybetweenupwindanddownwindregions
AT seungkimin recentdecreasingtrendsinsurfacepm25overeastasiainthewinterspringseasondifferentresponsestoemissionsandmeteorologybetweenupwindanddownwindregions
AT almahodzic recentdecreasingtrendsinsurfacepm25overeastasiainthewinterspringseasondifferentresponsestoemissionsandmeteorologybetweenupwindanddownwindregions