Impacts of meteorological factors and ozone variation on crop yields in China concerning carbon neutrality objectives in 2060.

Carbon neutrality objectives affect meteorology and ozone (O3) concentration in China, both of which would influence crop yields, thus food security. However, the joint impact of these two factors on crop yields in China is not clear. In this study, we investigated future trends in China's maize, rice, soybean, and wheat yields under a carbon-neutral scenario considering both regional emission reduction and global climate change in 2060. By combining a process-based crop model (Agricultural Production Systems sIMulator, APSIM) with O3 exposure equations, the impacts of regional emission reduction and global climate change were studied. The results suggest that regional emission reduction dominated the increase in yield by reducing the O3 concentration, whereas global climate change led to yield loss mainly through meteorological factors. The national yield decreases for the four crops ranged from 1.0% to 38.0% owing to meteorological factors, while O3 reduction resulted in additional yield increases ranging from 2.8% to 7.0%. The combined effect of carbon neutrality, which included both meteorological factors and O3 concentration, resulted in changes to the yields of maize, rice, soybean, and wheat of +4.3%, -7.3%, -24.0%, and -31.7%, respectively. It seems that crop production loss caused by meteorological factors in 2060 would be mitigated by the O3 reduction. Given the advantages of declining O3 concentration, regional emission reduction would likely benefit crop growth. However, global climate change may offset the benefits and threaten food production in China. Therefore, more strict emission reduction policies and global climate change mitigation actions are necessary to ensure food security in China.

Air pollution characteristics and their relationship with emissions and meteorology in the Yangtze River Delta region during 2014-2016.

With rapid economic growth and urbanization, the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in China has experienced serious air pollution challenges. In this study, we analyzed the air pollution characteristics and their relationship with emissions and meteorology in the YRD region during 2014-2016. In recent years, the concentrations of all air pollutants, except O3, decreased. Spatially, the PM2.5, PM10, SO2, and CO concentrations were higher in the northern YRD region, and NO2 and O3 were higher in the central YRD region. Based on the number of non-attainment days (i.e., days with air quality index greater than 100), PM2.5 was the largest contributor to air pollution in the YRD region, followed by O3, PM10, and NO2. However, particulate matter pollution has declined gradually, while O3 pollution worsened. Meteorological conditions mainly influenced day-to-day variations in pollutant concentrations. PM2.5 concentration was inversely related to wind speed, while O3 concentration was positively correlated with temperature and negatively correlated with relative humidity. The air quality improvement in recent years was mainly attributed to emission reductions. During 2014-2016, PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NOx, CO, NH3, and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in the YRD region were reduced by 26.3%, 29.2%, 32.4%, 8.1%, 15.9%, 4.5%, and 0.3%, respectively. Regional transport also contributed to the air pollution. During regional haze periods, pollutants from North China and East China aggravated the pollution in the YRD region. Our findings suggest that emission reduction and regional joint prevention and control helped to improve the air quality in the YRD region.

Typical winter haze pollution in Zibo, an industrial city in China: Characteristics, secondary formation, and regional contribution.

Heavy haze pollution occurs frequently in northern China, most critically in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area (BTH). Zibo, an industrial city located in Shandong province, is often listed as one of the top ten most polluted cities in China, particularly in winter. However, no studies of haze in Zibo have been conducted, which limits the understanding of the source and formation of haze pollution in this area, as well as mutual effects with the BTH area. We carried out online and continuous integrated field observation of particulate matter in winter, from 11 to 25 January 2015. SO42-, NO3-, and NH4+ (SIA) and organics were the main constituents of PM2.5, contributing 59.4% and 33.6%, respectively. With the increasing severity of pollution, the contribution of SIA increased while that of organics decreased. Meteorological conditions play an important role in haze formation; high relative humidity (RH) and low wind speed increased both the accumulation of pollutants and the secondary transition from gas precursors (gas-particle phase partitioning). Since RH and the presence of O3 can indicate heterogeneous and photochemistry processes, respectively, we carried out correlation analysis and linear regression to identify their relative importance to the three main secondary species (sulfate, nitrate, and secondary organic carbon (SOC)). We found that the impact of RH is in the order of SO42- > NO3- > SOC, while the impact of O3 is reversed, in the order of SOC > NO3- > SO42-, indicating different effect of these factors on the secondary formation of main species in winter. Cluster analysis of backward trajectories showed that, during the observation period, six directional sources of air masses were identified, and more than 90% came from highly industrialized areas, indicating that regional transport from industrialized areas aggravates the haze pollution in Zibo. Inter-regional joint prevention and control is necessary to prevent further deterioration of the air quality.

Characteristics of the secondary water-soluble ions in a typical autumn haze in Beijing.

Four haze episodes (EPs) were observed in October 2014 in Beijing, China. For better understanding of the characteristics and the formation mechanisms of PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 2.5 µm), especially secondary water-soluble inorganic species in these haze events, hourly concentrations of PM2.5, sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium (SNA) were measured in this study. Concentrations of gaseous pollutants and meteorological parameters were also measured. The average concentration of PM2.5 was 106.6 ± 83.5 µg m-3, which accounted for around 53% of PM10 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter ≤ 10 µm) mass. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) concentration was much higher than that of sulfur dioxide (SO2) since October is a non-heating month. SNA is the most abundant secondary water-soluble inorganic species and contributed to 33% of PM2.5 mass concentration. Sulfur oxidation ratio (SOR) was much higher than nitrogen oxidation ratio (NOR). NOR and SOR increased with elevated PM2.5 levels and heterogeneous processes seemed to be the most plausible explanation of this increase. Relative humidity (RH), which is of great influence on aerosol liquid water content (ALWC), played a considerable role in the formation of secondary inorganic aerosols, accelerated the secondary transformation of gaseous precursors, and further aggravated haze pollution. The positive feedback loop associated with high aerosol levels and low planetary boundary layer (PBL) height led to the evolution and exacerbation of heavy haze pollution. Fire maps and 48-h air mass backward trajectories supported the significant impact of biomass burning activities and regional transport on haze formation over Beijing in October 2014.