Comparison of air pollutants and their health effects in two developed regions in China during the COVID-19 pandemic

JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

卷:287

Article

Wang, Junfeng^1,2  Lei, Yali³  Chen, Yi⁴  Wu, Yangzhou⁵  Ge, Xinlei²  Shen, Fuzhen²  Zhang, Jie⁶  Ye, Jianhuai¹  Nie, Dongyang⁷  Zhao, Xiuyong⁸  Chen, Mindong² 

[1] Harvard Univ, Sch Engn & Appl Sci, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA

[2] Nanjing Univ Informat Sci & Technol, Sch Environm Sci & Engn, Jiangsu Key Lab Atmospher Environm Monitoring & P, Nanjing 210044, Peoples R China

[3] East China Normal Univ, Sch Geog Sci, Minist Educ, Key Lab Geog Informat Sci, Shanghai 200241, Peoples R China

[4] Yangzhou Environm Monitoring Ctr, Yangzhou 225007, Jiangsu, Peoples R China

[5] Zhejiang Univ, Sch Earth Sci, Dept Atmospher Sci, Hangzhou 310027, Peoples R China

[6] SUNY Albany, Atmospher Sci Res Ctr, Albany, NY 12203 USA

[7] Nanjing Univ, Sch Atmospher Sci, Nanjing 210023, Peoples R China

[8] State Power Environm Protect Res Inst, State Environm Protect Key Lab Atmospher Phys Mod, Nanjing 210000, Peoples R China

关键词: Air pollution;    Anthropogenic emissions;    Health risks;    COVID-19;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112296

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Air pollution attributed to substantial anthropogenic emissions and significant secondary formation processes have been reported frequently in China, especially in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) and Yangtze River Delta (YRD). In order to investigate the aerosol evolution processes before, in, and after the novel coronavirus (COVID19) lockdown period of 2020, ambient monitoring data of six air pollutants were analyzed from Jan 1 to Apr 11 in both 2020 and 2019. Our results showed that the six ambient pollutants concentrations were much lower during the COVID-19 lockdown due to a great reduction of anthropogenic emissions. BTH suffered from air pollution more seriously in comparison of YRD, suggesting the differences in the industrial structures of these two regions. The significant difference between the normalized ratios of CO and NO2 during COVID-19 lockdown, along with the increasing PM2.5, indicated the oxidation of NO2 to form nitrate and the dominant contribution of secondary processes on PM2.5. In addition, the most health risk factor was PM2.5 and healthrisked based air quality index (HAQI) values during the COVID-19 pandemic in YRD in 2020 were all lower than those in 2019. Our findings suggest that the reduction of anthropogenic emissions is essential to mitigate PM2.5 pollution, while O3 control may be more complicated.

【 授权许可】

Free