In order to find the causes of smog in the middle reaches of Yangtze River, a Source Emissions and Regional Atmospheric Environment research team from School of Environmental Studies at CUG participated in comprehensive field observation tests of air pollution in that area. Jointly organized by Wuhan Institute of Heavy Rain of China Meteorological Administration, Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology (NUIST), China University of Geosciences, Jiangsu Institute of Meteorological Sciences, and College of Agriculture of Yangtze University, the study was from December 26, 2018 to January 16, 2019.
It was the first time that comprehensive observation tests of the atmospheric environment in that area had been conducted. The study involved the synchronous intensified observation of pollutants on atmospheric boundary layer and the vertical structure of meteorological elements in three observation points - Xiangyang, Jingzhou and Xianning of Hubei Province. Meanwhile, with the help of Hubei Environmental Monitoring Center, the real-time evolution of atmospheric composition in the heavy air pollution process in Wuhan was also observed.
Equipped with meteorological sensors, aethalometers, air pollutant concentration monitors, and particle counters, tethered balloons and UAVs were used to detect the sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide, fine particles, inhalable particles, mass concentration of black carbon, and concentration profiles of the aerosol numbers of different particle sizes, as well as vertical profiles of meteorological elements such as wind speed, wind direction, temperature, humidity and air pressure within the height of 1500m of atmospheric boundary layer.
During the tests, the observation data on the air pollutants and vertical structure of meteorological elements in the heavy smog pollution process in winter were collected, with the use of synchronous intensified detection eight times a day in the above-mentioned three locations, combined with the ground-based detection of atmospheric boundary layer and meteorological elements, ground observation of physical and chemical properties of atmospheric aerosol, and observation on water vapor and energy exchange between ground and atmosphere,.
The study aimed to find out the thermal and dynamic factors that trigger, maintain and dissipate atmospheric heavy pollution. It focused on the inland humid areas of China and tried to quantify the contribution of the structure of the atmospheric boundary layer to the accumulation of local air pollutants and the formation of heavy pollution, which revealed the hydrothermal process in the "sub-basin" topography similar to the Hubei-Hunan basin and the specially humid areas of lakes and water networks, the “convergence” effect of regional transport of air pollutants formed by heavy pollution in the Hubei-Hunan basin and the structural characteristics of the atmospheric boundary layer.
The field observation tests are key to the study of the Meteorological Influence Mechanism of the Interannual Abnormal Sudden Rise of Atmospheric Aerosol and the Heavy Pollution Formation Process in Sub-basin in the Middle Reaches of Yangtze River, and the study of Key Technologies of Three-dimensional Monitoring and Control on Atmospheric Smog Pollutants in Wuhan City, which are sponsored by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and the Science and Technology Department of Hubei Province respectively.
(Edited and translated from the Chinese version)
