PM2.

5 POLLUTION IN CHINA
AND HOW IT HAS BEEN
EXACERBATED BY TERRAIN
AND METEOROLOGICAL
CONDITIONS
Xiaoyan Wang, Robert E. Dickinson, Liangyuan Su, Chunlüe Zhou, and K aicun Wang

Frequent air stagnation events due to the interaction of meteorological conditions

and terrain in China exacerbate its severe air pollution.

B
ecause of its dense population and rapid indus- diameters less than 2.5 µm). These particles have
trial development, China has become extremely received considerable attention owing to their effects
polluted, a focus of public concern (Ding and on human health and public welfare (Jerrett 2015;
Liu 2014; Qiu 2014; Xin et al. 2016b; Zhang et al. Lelieveld et al. 2015; Tai et al. 2010). In addition, they
2012). A good metric for this pollution is PM 2.5 (i.e., are efficient in scattering and absorbing solar radia-
the mass concentration of atmospheric particles with tion, resulting in a reduction of atmospheric visibility
(Li et al. 2016; Wang et al. 2009; Wang et al. 2015) and
significant climatic impacts (Che et al. 2015; Li et al.
AFFILIATIONS: Wang —Institute of Atmospheric Science, 2016; Liao et al. 2015; Xia 2015).
Fudan University, Shanghai, and College of Global Change and Extensive studies have been carried out to establish
Earth System Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China;
the severity and frequency of recent air pollution in
Dickinson—Department of Geological Sciences, Jackson School of
China. The increase of emissions with rapid urban-
Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, Austin, Texas; Su,
Zhou, and Wang —College of Global Change and Earth System ization and economic development are generally
Science, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China considered as the primary reason for the increase
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR: Kaicun Wang, kcwang@[Link] of polluted days in China (Wang and Chen 2016).
However, the observed air pollution has significant
The abstract for this article can be found in this issue, following the
table of contents. interannual and decadal variability, although the in-
doi:10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0301.1 crease of the local total energy consumption has been
A supplement to this article is available online (10.1175/BAMS-D-16-0301.2).
persistent and rapid (Li et al. 2016; Wang et al. 2016).
Evidently, these variabilities must depend on the
In final form 9 June 2017
©2018 American Meteorological Society
effects of meteorological conditions (Mao et al. 2016;
For information regarding reuse of this content and general copyright Xu et al. 2015). For example, Zhang et al. (2016) show
information, consult the AMS Copyright Policy. that the reduction of horizontal advection and bound-
ary layer height due to the shallow East Asia trough

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 and weak Siberian high have increased the frequency on the variation of air quality should be considered
of air pollution over the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region in evaluation of the effect of emission reduction
in recent years. Wang and Chen (2016) show that the and development of further mitigation policies. The
decline of Arctic sea ice extent intensified the haze quantitative assessment of the effects of atmospheric
pollution of central north China after 2000. Other conditions on air quality over the whole country has
studies have demonstrated that the recent weakening been far from sufficient.
of the East Asia winter monsoon, reduction of wind The Chinese government has made tremendous
shear of horizontal zonal winds, increase of humidity, efforts to control air pollution and improve air qual-
decrease of precipitation, anomalous stabilization in ity but mostly by emission reduction at its source
the lower troposphere, increase of calmer winds, and (State Council 2013). In January 2013, China began
the decrease of cold-air outbreaks in wintertime have to deploy instruments to measure PM 2.5 nationally
also contributed to the increase in episodes of pollu- and released hourly observational data to the public,
tion over eastern China (Chen and Wang 2015; Ding giving us an opportunity to investigate the effect of
and Liu 2014; Li et al. 2016; Niu et al. 2010; Zhang meteorological conditions on air quality on a coun-
et al. 2015; Zhang et al. 2016). trywide basis. Using this unique dataset, we have
The formation mechanisms of specific cases of addressed the following questions:
heavy air pollution in recent years over China have
been thoroughly studied (Mu and Zhang 2014; Wang 1) What are the PM2.5 concentrations in major cities
et al. 2014; Wang et al. 2014; Zhang et al. 2014), these of China, and how do these compare to those in
studies indicating that the formation of severe air Europe and the United States?
pollution episodes in northern China is closely linked 2) How can the atmospheric dispersion capability
with the high emissions, large secondary particulate for the air pollutants be evaluated? And what is
matter (PM) formation, effective transport of air the difference of this capability between China
masses from highly polluted areas, and unfavorable and developed countries?
and stagnant meteorological conditions (Bi et al. 2014; 3) How does the terrain interact with meteorological
Guo et al. 2014; He et al. 2014; Zhang et al. 2016). It has conditions to affect the air quality in China?
been estimated that secondary aerosol formation con-
tributed 30%–77% of PM2.5 in episodes of severe haze DATASET. The hourly observational PM2.5 concen-
pollution in northern China (Huang et al. 2014). Sun tration data released since 2013 was obtained from the
et al. (2016a) emphasized the roles of regional trans- website of the Ministry of Environmental Protection
port and downward mixing during the formation ([Link] (He et al. 2016; Zhang
and evolution of a haze episode in winter 2015. Zhang and Cao 2015). Because the observational system is
et al. (2014) found that atmospheric dynamic and under development and improving gradually, the
thermodynamic factors could explain two-thirds of duration of available datasets is different for each sta-
the evolution of daily haze over eastern China in 2013. tion. This study uses only the 512 stations that have
Stable anticyclonic synoptic conditions at the surface, had more than two years of valid data.
leading to low boundary layer height, dominated the Hourly mass concentrations of PM2.5 data in the
formation and evolution of the haze episode that oc- United States and Europe were also collected for
curred in Beijing in 2011 (Liu et al. 2013). Moreover, the comparisons of this study. The European PM2.5
some feedbacks between atmospheric boundary layer database was downloaded from AirBase, an air qual-
processes and air pollutants have also been evaluated ity database maintained by the European Environ-
to estimate their contribution to the haze evolution ment Agency (EEA) through its European topic center
(Gao et al. 2015; Leng et al. 2016; Ye et al. 2016). on air pollution and climate change mitigation. It con-
In sum, air pollutant emission is the initial cause tains metainformation on those monitoring networks
of air pollution episodes, but their daily fluctuations involved, their stations, and their measurements. This
and evolution are exacerbated by unfavorable meteo- database covers geographically all European Union
rological conditions. The recent severe air pollution (EU) member states, the EEA member countries, and
in China has generally been attributed to its higher some EEA collaborating countries.
emissions compared to those of developed countries, The AirData website gives access to hourly PM2.5
but a quantitative evaluation of the differences of the data collected at outdoor monitors across the United
capability of the atmospheric dispersion to remove States and contains ambient air quality data collected
pollutants between China and other countries has by the Environmental Protection Agency and state and
been lacking. Such effects of meteorological factors local air pollution control agencies from thousands

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of monitoring stations. Its data come primarily from Health Organization 2014). As shown in Fig. 1, the
the air quality system (AQS) database and contain annual PM2.5 level at 116 of the 271 U.S. stations (43%)
information about each monitoring station and data and 96 of the 549 Europe stations (12%) are less than
quality assurance/quality control information. this level, but none of the 512 Chinese stations meet
All the hourly PM 2.5 concentration data were this criterion, and only 9% of them satisfy even the
averaged for longer periods (i.e., daily, monthly, and weaker Interim target-1 level (i.e., an annual PM 2.5
annual) with missing data no more than 40% in each of 35 µg m−3).
step. Only stations with effective PM2.5 data for at least The spatial and seasonal differences of PM 2.5 in
two years and at least three months for the warm or the United States are small, with relatively high con-
cold seasons, respectively, were included (i.e., 271 centrations over the Southeast in summer (as shown
stations in the United States and 549 in Europe were in Fig. 2). Most of the stations in Europe had higher
used); their spatial distribution and data duration are PM2.5 concentrations in winter than in other seasons,
given in Fig. ES1 (see [Link] but their averages for all seasons were less than 25 µg m−3
-D-16-0301.2). with the exception of those of the Czech Republic,
European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Slovakia, and Poland. Significant seasonal variation
Forecasts (ECMWF) interim reanalysis (ERA- of PM2.5 concentration occurred over China, with its
Interim) four-times-daily wind speed and boundary highest concentration of 86 ± 28 µg m−3 in winter and
layer height (gridded at 0.25° × 0.25°) were bilinearly lowest of 43 ± 16 µg m−3 in summer. There is a distinct
interpolated to the PM 2.5 stations. Station-based contrast in concentrations between those of China’s
daily observed synoptic phenomena from the U.S. coastal area and of its central-northern inland region,
National Climatic Data Center [NCDC, now known in particular those of Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei
as National Centers for Environmental Information Province [i.e., the Jing-Jin-Ji area (J3)] and the Sichuan
(NCEI)] Global Surface Summary of the Day (GSOD) basin (marked in Fig. 2 and Fig. ES1). The annual-
database were used to define the occurrence of pre- mean PM 2.5 concentration in J3 is 87 µg m−3 (i.e.,
cipitation (i.e., the occurrence of either rain, hail, or approximately 1.5 times that of the national mean).
snow), rather than the daily precipitation amount
because of the large fraction of missing data for the Relationship of annual PM2.5 concentrations to annual
latter in China. Each PM2.5 station was paired to the polluted days. The U.S. Environmental Protection
nearest available weather station. Daily records of Agency has proposed an air quality index (AQI)
the Global Precipitation Climatology Project (GPCP; to report daily air quality in terms of its effects on
1° × 1°) were used in all grid-based figures. human health; that is, air quality is classified into

RESULTS. Comparison of
the annual PM2.5 concentra-
tions in China with those in
the United States and Europe.
The annual mean average
of PM 2.5 concentrations in
China for the period exam-
ined is 61 µg m−3, compared
to 16 µg m−3 for Europe and
10 µg m−3 for the United
States. The annual lowest
level at which total cardio-
pulmonary and lung cancer
mortality have been shown
to increase with more than
95% confidence in response
to long-term exposure to
Fig . 1. Frequency of PM 2.5 concentrations in different ranges. The World
PM2.5 is 10 µg m−3 according Health Organization AQG for annual PM 2.5 is 10 µg m−3 and interim target 1
to the air quality guideline (IT-1) is 35 µg m –3, adding an about 15% higher long-term mortality risk rela-
(AQG) of the World Health tive to the AQG level, IT-2 is 25 µg m−3, and IT-3 is 15 µg m−3, adding a 9% and
O r g a n i z a t i o n ( Wo r l d 3% risk level comparing to the AQG level, respectively.

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 six categories, from good to hazardous (cf. Table ES1 concentrations exceed about 80 µg m−3 level, a station
for more detailed information). We further sum- is polluted nearly the entire year, and so there can be
marize these categories as two classes: unpolluted little further increase of its annual number of polluted
(good or moderate quality) and polluted (unhealthy days. In other words, a slight decrease of the annual-
to sensitive groups, unhealthy, very unhealthy, and mean PM 2.5 concentrations does little to decrease
hazardous) conditions; Fig. 3 shows that 97% of the the annual number of polluted days for the currently
stations in Europe and 98% in the United States have highly polluted cities. This concept is quantified by
more than 200 days that are unpolluted during a year, the derivative of the sigmoid curve (shown in Fig. 3d)
while 78% of the stations in China have more than that indicates the sensitivity of the number of annual
200 days that are polluted. polluted days to the annual-mean pollution.
We calculate the sensitivity of the total number China’s State Council released its Air Pollution
of annual polluted days to the annual-mean PM 2.5 Prevention and Control Action Plan on 12 September
concentrations. Figure 3 shows the number of annual 2013, which set the road map for air pollution and
unpolluted (good, moderate, and their sum) and pol- control for the next five years in China with a focus on
luted days (i.e., PM 2.5 concentration > 35.5 µg m−3) three key regions: the J3 area, the Yangtze River delta
versus annual-mean PM2.5 concentrations. The latter and the Pearl River delta, requiring these regions to
(Fig. 3d) is a “sigmoid” curve. When its annual PM 2.5reduce their atmospheric levels of PM2.5 by 25%, 20%,
and 15%, respectively, by
the year 2017 (State Council
2013). However, since most
stations in China are located
in the insensitive range,
especially those in J3, with
annual PM 2.5 concentra-
tion exceeding 80 µg m−3,
such air quality control as
planned cannot signifi-
cantly reduce the number
of polluted days during a
year. The “sigmoid” curve
in Fig. 3 shows that a reduc-
tion of 25% of the current
PM 2.5 annual-mean con-
centration would decrease
the current annual polluted
days by 42%, 21%, 6%, and
1% if the current annual
PM 2.5 concentrations were
40, 60, 80, and 100 µg m−3,
respectively (based on the
fitting equation used for
Fig. 3d; cf. its legend).
Figure ES2 shows the
number of annua l pol-
luted days at China’s sta-
Fig . 2. Seasonal-mean PM 2.5 mass concentration (left) in Europe and the tions that would occur if
United States (20°−70°N, 170°W−40°E) and (right) in China (18°–55°N, their current annual-mean
72°–136°E) (µg m −3). Different color bar scales were used for the United PM 2.5 concentrations were
States/Europe and China to show the regional distribution of PM 2.5 concen- reduced by 15%, 20%, and
trations more clearly. The data duration of each station is given in Fig. ES1.
25%, respectively. It shows
The months Mar–May were defined as spring in this study. Regional averages
of seasonal-mean PM 2.5 concentrations are shown in Table 1. The red and that this number of days
black lines in China indicate the location of Jing-Jin-Ji region and Sichuan for most of inland highly
basin, respectively. polluted stations is not

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sensitive to such reduc-
tion of annual-mean PM2.5
concentrations. The annual
polluted days over the J3
region would decrease by
less than 10% if its current
annual PM 2.5 concentra-
tions were reduced by 25%.

Evaluation of the atmo -

spheric dispersion capabil-
ity. PM 2.5 variations with
meteorological conditions
du ring the 2014 APEC.
Evidently, a significant im-
provement of air quality Fig. 3. Scatterplots of station climatological PM 2.5 concentrations vs their an-
nual total number of days in each AQI category: (a) good, (b) moderate, (c)
in China would require
the sum of good and moderate levels (considered as unpolluted air quality),
more extreme controls than and (d) the sum of levels of unhealthy to sensitive groups, unhealthy, very
have been planned. For unhealthy, and hazardous (i.e., polluted air quality). The dashed line in (b)
example, in preparation for indicates the inflection point at which moderate days stop increasing and begin
the Asia-Pacific Economic to decrease with further increase of annual-mean PM 2.5 concentrations. The
C o o p e r a t i o n (A P E C ) magenta solid line in (d) is the sigmoid fitting of station-mean PM 2.5 concen-
summit in Beijing during trations vs annual polluted days [Np = 334.3/(1 + 28.08e –0.081C), where Np is the
number of polluted days in a year and C is the annual-mean PM 2.5 concentra-
10 –12 November 2014,
tions (μg m−3) of each station]. The brown curve, corresponding to the right
the Chinese government coordinate, indicates the sensitivity of annual polluted days with the variation
applied special controls to of station annual-mean PM 2.5 concentration [(dN/N)/(dC/C) = CdN/NdC; dN
improve air quality for the is the variation of annual polluted days for a given variation of annual-mean
period 1–12 November. PM 2.5 concentration dC].
The results of this emis-
sions reduction achieved the desired reduction of emission reduction is highly effective. However, such
pollution, with the shade of the clear skies being emission mitigation comes at a cost to the economy
dubbed “APEC blue.” The APEC blue period was so large that it is not sustainable.
ideal for assessing the effect of emission reduction.
The air pollutant concentration in Beijing decreased The concept of air stagnation. Emissions from a par-
by 60% compared to its monthly mean value before ticular area do not normally change much over a short
and after the emission reduction period (Tang et al. period, but local meteorological patterns can strongly
2015). The decreases of local emission and regional affect the accumulation, removal, and transport of
transport suppressed the formation of secondary air pollutants (Tai et al. 2011; Zhang 2017) and thus
aerosols (Chen et al. 2015; Sun et al. 2016b). However, the day-to-day variation of air pollutants. Evidently,
weak pollution episodes occurred on 4–5 and 7–11 we need to exclude the effect of such meteorological
November in Beijing during the emission reduc- factors on the variation of air quality when evaluating
tion period (Huang et al. 2015; Wang and Dai 2016). the observed effect of emission reduction for making
Figure ES3 shows the variation of 10-m wind speed further mitigation policies. Indeed, major pollution
(Wsp) and boundary layer height (BLH) during the episodes are usually related to the presence of air
APEC emission reduction period. Both the Wsp stagnation; that is, the near-surface circulation is
and BLH were lower than normal when the periods insufficient to disperse accumulated pollutants in the
of weak pollution occurred. The end of the last one horizontal and vertical directions. The United States
came with a rapid decrease of PM2.5 concentrations (i.e., NOAA/NCEI; [Link]/societal
at midnight of 10–11 November over Beijing, Tianjin, -impacts/air-stagnation/overview) has defined an
and Shijiazhuang accompanied by a sudden increase air stagnation day as occurring when the daily 10-m
of wind speed and well-developed boundary layer wind speed is less than 3.2 m s−1 (so that the near-
and a change of wind direction (Sun et al. 2016b). surface circulation is insufficient to disperse accu-
The APEC blue experience shows that such a large mulated air pollutants), the 500-hPa midtropospheric

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 wind is less than 13 m s−1 (i.e., a high pressure ridge To interpret this unusual pattern of weak 10-m wind
at 500 hPa, implying weak vertical mixing), and but relatively strong 500-hPa midtropospheric wind
moreover, no precipitation occurred during the day over east China in wintertime, the seasonal patterns
(i.e., excluding the effect of wet deposition) (Horton of the vertical shear of horizontal wind and vertical
et al. 2014; Wang and Angell 1999). An air stagnation distribution of wind fields from the surface to midtro-
event indicates that the air stagnation days last for at posphere are shown in Fig. 5 and Fig. ES4, respectively.
least three more days. Using this definition, authors Although strong wind shear exists in the upper to
have reported higher air pollutant concentrations in midtroposphere (i.e., 700–500 hPa) over east China in
the United States on air stagnation days than on days winter, which is favorable for the downward transport
without stagnation (Dawson et al. 2014; Hou and Wu of momentum, weak wind shear occurs in the lower
2016), but we are not aware of any such studies that troposphere (i.e., 925–850 hPa) because of the blocking
have used this definition of air stagnation for China. by large mountains (i.e., the Tibetan Plateau in the west,
Figure 4 shows the frequency of weak 10-m and Yen Mountains, and Taihang Mountains) suppressing
500-hPa winds (less than the wind speed thresholds) the farther downward transport of momentum (Figs. 5
and the frequency of air stagnation events using and ES4) and so resulting in both the low 10-m winds
the definition of NOAA. Air stagnation so defined and weak vertical mixing. These weak near-surface
is nearly absent over the east-central United States winds reduce the dispersion of air pollutants in the
and east China during the wintertime, a result of horizontal direction. In conclusion, because of the poor
the strong midtropospheric winds over those areas. agreement during winter in China between the occur-
However, in reality much pollution is observed to rence of pollution episodes and NOAA’s air stagnation
occur in China during this time. Why do the NOAA threshold, the NOAA air stagnation definition appears
criteria not predict it? If the midtroposphere weak not to be applicable for China.
wind threshold was dropped but the other criteria
retained, China would have frequent air stagnation A new approach to defining air stagnation conditions.
conditions at this time. We propose a new method, seemingly more broadly

Fig. 4. Climatology of the frequency of (left) no near-surface 10-m wind (10-m wind speed less than 3.2 m s−1),
(middle) no midtropospheric wind (500-hPa wind speed less than 13 m s−1), and air stagnation frequency based
on the NOAA air stagnation definition from 2000 to 2014 (%). The presence of no near-surface wind and no
midtropospheric wind along with the absence of precipitation was defined as the occurrence of air stagnation.
GPCP daily precipitation amounts larger than 1 mm day−1 were defined as the occurrence of precipitation.

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 applicable, differing from that of NOAA in its index Generally, weak 10-m winds along with shallow
of downward mixing, to quantify the presence of boundary layer heights tend to restrict the diffusion
air stagnation conditions. It retains the 10-m wind of PM2.5. The wind and BLH locations, in which the
speed and the occurrence of precipitation as indi- normalized PM2.5 is closest to 100% in each row, are
ces of atmospheric horizontal dispersion capability used to fit an equation of the quantitatively related
and wet deposition, respectively. However, it uses wind and BLH (i.e., the dashed line in Fig. 6). To the
the atmospheric BLH rather than midtropospheric lower-left side of the fitting line occur the wind–BLH
winds to indicate the strength of atmospheric vertical conditions with daily PM 2.5 concentrations higher
mixing. The BLH determines the volume in which than normal (i.e., conditions of air stagnation as
the emitted pollutant is dispersed (Wang and Wang defined). A specific day is defined as an air stagnation
2014, 2016). Extensive studies have been conducted to day provided it has no precipitation and the wind–
investigate the effect of BLH on air quality (Tang et al. BLH are below the fitting line. An air stagnation
2016). To eliminate the effect of seasonal, spatial, and event is defined as the occurrence of at least three
long-term variation of PM2.5 concentration, monthly consecutive air stagnation days in this study as in
means of days without precipitation are determined. the NOAA definition. Details about the duration of
Daily PM 2.5 concentrations of those rain-free days air stagnation events are shown in the online supple-
are normalized by their current so-defined monthly ment (Fig. ES5).
mean value. For example, for a specific station with
the available dataset from 2000 to 2010, the daily PM2.5 E valuation of the newly defined air stagnation
concentrations of days without precipitation during conditions. This new criteria for an air stagnation event
January 2000 were normalized by the mean PM 2.5 depends on the strength of atmospheric horizontal
concentration of rain-free days in January of 2000 and vertical dispersion and on the absence of wet
rather than by a monthly mean for January during deposition. Figure ES6 shows a case of the occur-
the whole study period. Such normalized daily PM2.5 rence of air stagnation events and the variation of
concentrations of all the available stations are divided PM2.5 concentrations, indicating that air stagnation
into different bins based on their contemporaneous events, as just defined, track the daily variation of air
daily 10-m wind speed and BLH. Figure 6 shows the pollutants. Figure 7 evaluates the performance of our
average value of the normalized PM2.5 concentrations definition of air stagnation events and measures its
for each wind–BLH bin. Only the wind–BLH bands influence on the ambient air quality by comparing the
with sample sizes larger than 100 are shown here. relative difference of PM2.5 concentrations between

Fig. 5. Seasonal mean of vertical shear of horizontal wind between 925 and 850, 850 and 700, 700 and 500, and
500 and 300 hPa (m s−1 km−1). The 0.5° × 0.5° ERA-Interim monthly wind field and geopotential from 2000 to
2014 were used here. The wind shear was calculated as [(uz1 – uz2)2 + (υz1 – υz2)2](1/2)/(z1 – z2) × 1,000 , where uz1 indicates
the zonal wind at the height of z1.

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Fig. 6. Seasonal dependence of normalized daily PM2.5 concentrations on the 10-m wind speed and boundary layer
height (unit of normalized PM 2.5 is %). For a specific station, daily PM 2.5 mass concentrations were normalized
by its monthly mean to avoid the effect of seasonal, spatial, and long-term variation of PM 2.5 . The dashed lines
fitting the wind and BLH at 100% normalized PM 2.5 concentrations were used as the thresholds of air stagna-
tion (unit of BLH is km, and unit of wind is m s−1). All the available data in Europe, the United States, and China
were used in this figure. Rainy days were excluded in these statistics; that is, the occurrence of precipitation
was considered as a no-stagnation condition by default. Grids with sample sizes larger than 100 are shown here.

air stagnation and no-stagnation events (i.e., relative even higher PM2.5 concentrations occur in the absence
to the latter). It shows that most stations have higher of stagnation conditions, possibly from the occur-
PM 2.5 concentrations during air stagnation events rence of dust storms with strong winds. In the sum-
than during no-stagnation events. Air stagnation mer, air stagnation effects are small or even reversed,
events have the largest impact on PM 2.5 dispersion especially over the United States and China (cf. Figs.
in winter (i.e., with PM 2.5 concentrations higher by ES7 and ES8 for details as to reasons).
46%, 68%, and 60% under air stagnation events for
the United States, Europe, and China, respectively), Frequency of the air stagnation events . Figure 8
followed by autumn. European PM2.5 concentrations demonstrates the seasonal occurrence of air stagnation
are most sensitive to air stagnation in winter with a events. Europe has the strongest atmospheric disper-
relatively weak effect in summer, possibly due to an sion conditions over the study area, with the lowest an-
increase of sea salt aerosol carried by summer sea nual air stagnation frequency of 20%, compared to 24%
breezes or the transport of dust aerosols from the and 29% in the United States and China, respectively.
North Africa desert during heavy wind (Megaritis In the United States, air stagnation events are more fre-
et al. 2014; Moulin et al. 1997; Pey et al. 2013). Air quent in summer and autumn, with a higher air stag-
stagnation effects are significant over central and nation frequency over the West Coast and Southeast.
north China during autumn and winter. However, Europe has more frequent air stagnation events in au-
some negative effects appear over northwest China tumn and winter, 24% and 20%, respectively. Figure 8
and the central United States in springtime; that is, shows that a significant northwest–southeast increase

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Fig . 7. Seasonal effects of
air stagnation events on
PM 2.5 mass concentration
(%). A day can be defined
as an air stagnation day or
no-stagnation day based on
the wind–BLH thresholds
of Fig. 6. Three continuous
stagnation days are defined
as an air stagnation event.
The relative difference of
PM 2.5 concentrations be-
tween the air stagnation
events and no-stagnation
events (relative to the lat-
ter) was considered as the
effect of air stagnation on
PM 2.5 dispersion. Regional
air stagnation effects are
summarized in Table 1.
The reason for some nega-
tive air stagnation effects
occurring in summer is dis-
cussed in Figs. ES7 and ES8.

of air stagnation occurs over

Europe, with the most fre-
quent stagnation over the
Mediterranean basin. The air
stagnation frequency shows
obvious seasonal and spatial
differences over China. The
average stagnation frequency
is 33% in winter over China,
approximately 10% more
than in springtime. Strong
atmospheric dispersion oc-
curs in the eastern coastal
region. Central and north
China have strong air stagna-
tion conditions from autumn
to winter, especially in the J3
region, with 35% and 42%
air stagnation condition in
these respective seasons. The
Sichuan basin (marked in
Fig. ES1) experiences quite
frequent air stagnation con-
ditions (more than 40%) over
the whole year.

Terrain and meteorological con-

ditions exacerbate PM2.5 pollu-
tion in China. As shown in Fig. Fig. 8. Seasonal occurrence of air stagnation events (%).

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 9, the magnitude of 10-m winds is clearly tied to local China had the same meteorological dispersion condi-
terrain; for example, weak or calm winds occur over tions as those of Europe or the United States, what would
the low elevations of eastern China, the Mediterranean happen to its air quality? We replaced the air stagnation
basin, and U.S. West Coast all year-round, while rela- frequencies of China during autumn and winter by
tively strong 10-m winds occur over the central Great the average of Europe with the following method [the
Plains of the United States. High altitudes block surface average air stagnation frequency of the United States is
wind, triggering more frequent air stagnation over almost the same as that of Europe (cf. Table 1); therefore,
basin regions than over the surrounding regions (e.g., just the European case is shown here].
the Sichuan basin and Mediterranean basin). Weak The average PM2.5 concentrations of a specific sta-
winds accompanied by infrequent precipitation lead tion are designated as C1 and C0 during air stagnation
to frequent stagnation events over the U.S. West Coast, events and their absence, respectively. We applied the
especially in summer. The frequency of precipitation average seasonal air stagnation frequency of Europe
over eastern China has an obvious seasonal difference Feur (i.e., 24.12% and 19.66% in autumn and winter
due to the effect of the Asian monsoon. Perennial lack as shown in Table 1) to each station in China using
of near-surface wind in conjunction with the seasonal the following equation: C ʹ = C1 × Feur + C0 × (1 – Feur),
variation of precipitation and BLH determines the where C ʹ is what the climatological PM2.5 concentra-
persistent stagnation over central and north China tion of the station would be if its meteorological con-
during autumn and winter. dition (i.e., air stagnation frequency) was converted
The frequent air stagnation events that occur in into that of Europe.
China in autumn and winter exacerbate the air pollu- The relative differences between C ʹ and the
tion that occurs with its high emissions background. If original observed PM2.5 concentrations are shown in

Fig. 9. Digital terrain elevation map (kilometers above the sea level) and seasonal-mean 10-m wind speed,
boundary layer height, and the occurrence of precipitation. The terrain data used were from the Global 30 arc s
elevation dataset (GTOPO30). The 0.25° × 0.25° daily ERA-Interim 10-m wind and boundary layer height and
1° × 1° GPCP precipitation frequency from 2000 to 2014 were used to illustrate the seasonal frequency of pre-
cipitation. A daily total precipitation amount exceeding 1 mm was defined as the occurrence of precipitation.

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Fig. 10. They indicate that Table 1. Regional average of the seasonal PM 2.5 concentrations, the effect
the local PM 2.5 concentra- of air stagnation on PM 2.5 , and the occurrence frequency of air stagnation
tions would substantially events.
decrease if China had the
Spring Summer Autumn Winter
same air stagnation fre-
quency as Europe, with PM2.5 concentration (µg m−3)
67% and 82% of stations United States 9.67 11.25 10.34 10.65
having lower autumn and Europe 16.17 11.65 15.09 19.31
winter PM 2.5 concentra- China 54.15 43.39 61.20 83.88
tions, respectively. The av-
J3 77.77 65.60 92.13 111.60
erage PM2.5 concentrations
Sichuan 59.51 40.68 49.63 94.13
over the J3 area would de-
crease by 5.2% and 11.6% Effect of air stagnation events (%)
during autumn and winter United States 31.48 20.04 34.97 46.47
(5.8% and 12.3% for the Europe 58.47 37.77 75.08 75.39
Sichuan basin). China 17.68 17.23 44.33 49.00

DISCUSSION. Atmo- Frequency of air stagnation events (%)

spheric conditions on days United States 18.88 29.77 26.30 20.63
without precipitation with Europe 17.00 17.61 24.12 19.66
daily PM 2.5 concentrations China 23.53 27.04 29.87 33.39
higher than their monthly J3 9.67 21.77 35.48 42.16
average are defined as the
Sichuan 56.17 39.18 58.72 47.23
occurrence of air stagna-
tion (i.e., the 100% nor-
malized daily PM 2.5 con-
centration was taken as the
threshold of the presence
of air stagnation). But a
daily PM 2.5 concentration
higher than its monthly
average (i.e., air stagnation)
does not necessarily mean a
polluted day or vice versa.
It is quite possible to have
an unpolluted day in the
United States and Europe
with air stagnation; that
is, although a daily PM 2.5 Fig . 10. Relative differences between PM2.5 concentrations that would be
concentration exceeds its expected if China had the same meteorological diffusion conditions as Europe
and the actually observed concentrations (percent, relative to the actual
monthly mean, it can still
observation).
have a low daily PM 2.5 con-
centration because of its
relatively low monthly average, and in China, absence show the occurrence of air stagnation events taking
of stagnation, as defined, can occur during a pollution 80% and 120% normalized PM 2.5 as dividing lines
episode. In other words, different thresholds for air to determine occurrence of stagnation, respectively.
stagnation will determine the occurrence of pollution The 120% threshold might be most appropriate to
in different locations, depending on the local monthly define pollution for the United States and Europe
average of the PM2.5 concentration. and 80% for China. The most frequent air stagna-
To address this issue, sensitivity tests of the thresh- tion occurs over the western United States, the west
olds of air stagnation conditions (i.e., different rela- coast of Europe, and central China during autumn
tive values of PM2.5) were carried out as summarized to winter, consistent with the location of moun-
in Fig. ES9 and Table ES2. Figures ES10 and ES11 tainous terrain and consequent high air pollutant

AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY JANUARY 2018 | 115

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 concentrations. Application in autumn and winter conditions. Thus, a new quantitative threshold of air
of the 80% threshold to China would greatly increase stagnation events is proposed in this study based on the
its occurrence of stagnation, and application of the 10-m wind speed, boundary layer height, and the oc-
120% threshold to the United States and Europe cor- currence of precipitation. China has more frequent air
respondingly reduce theirs (cf. Figs. ES10 and ES11). stagnation events than the United States and Europe,
Consequently, the estimated decrease of the autumn especially during winter and autumn, during which
and winter PM2.5 concentrations over China shown time the local emission is usually higher than normal.
in Fig. 10 if it had conditions of Europe or the United The Sichuan basin is exposed to the air stagna-
States would be much larger. tion conditions for approximately half of the year,
The PM2.5 producing pollution would be expected compared to 20% in Europe and 24% in the United
to introduce absorptive aerosols to the middle and low States. Over the J3 region, 42% of the winter atmo-
troposphere, which would provide a positive feedback spheric conditions are unfavorable for air pollutant
on PM2.5 pollution; that is, they would absorb solar dispersion (35% for autumn). If China had the same
radiation to heat the atmosphere and would reduce atmospheric dispersion conditions as those of the
the amount of solar radiation reaching the Earth’s United States and Europe, 67% and 82% of stations
surface, and so cool the surface (Gong et al. 2014; in China would improve their current air quality to
Petäjä et al. 2016; Xin et al. 2016a). The consequent a certain extent during autumn and winter (e.g., by
increase of atmospheric stability would suppress the a 12% decrease of PM 2.5 concentrations for J3 and
development of atmospheric boundary layer, and this Sichuan basin in wintertime). Though many emission
more shallow boundary layer height would increase reduction measures have been taken in China, its
the surface PM 2.5 concentrations by compressing severe pollution and frequent unfavorable meteoro-
their dispersion volume (Wang et al. 2016; Zhu et al. logical conditions make this air quality control less
2016). In addition, enhanced atmospheric stability effective, so that further controls would be neces-
would impair the downward transport of momentum sary to reach unpolluted conditions. The presence
and lead to weaker dispersion conditions with low- of unfavorable atmospheric diffusion conditions in
velocity near-surface winds (Bell et al. 2008; Jacobson China should not be neglected when evaluating the
and Kaufman 2006; Lin et al. 2015). effects of emission reduction and developing further
This study reports the effect of atmospheric dis- mitigation policies.
persion on the dispersion of air pollutants and esti-
mates how much PM 2.5 concentrations are elevated ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. K.W. and X.W. designed
with air stagnation conditions in Europe or the and conducted the research and analysis. L.S. and C.Z.
United States. Although fit to mean conditions, its collected data and contributed analysis tools. R.D.,
threshold estimates will be somewhat inaccurate on K.W., and X.W. worked together on the interpretation
a day-to-day basis since the air pollutant concentra- of results and wrote the paper. We thank Drs. Mark Z.
tions are significantly different on different air stag- Jacobson, Armistead G. Russell, and Hongbin Yu for
nation days (or days without stagnation), and each their comments and suggestions. This study was funded
air stagnation period may differ in air temperature, by the Key R&D Program of China (2017YFA0603601)
humidity, and wind direction, which will influence a nd t he Nat iona l Natura l Science Fou ndat ion of
the emission, formation, and transport of air pollut- China (41525018). The European PM 2 . 5 data were
ants and so increase the uncertainty of our estimation downloaded from AirBase European topic center on
of what PM2.5 concentrations China would have if it air pollution and climate change mitigation ([Link]
had the same air stagnation as Europe. .[Link]/data-and-maps/data/airbase-the-european
-air-quality-database-8#tab-european-data). The U.S.
CONCLUSIONS. China has severe pollution, with hourly PM 2.5 data were collected from the AirData
its annual-mean PM 2.5 concentrations for the year website ([Link]
analyzed to be 61 µg m−3 compared to 16 and 10 µg m−3 /download_files.html). PM 2.5 real-time data in China were
for Europe and the United States. None of the 512 downloaded from China’s Ministry of Environmental
Chinese observation stations met the PM 2.5 annual Protection website ([Link]
quality guideline of the World Health Organization
of 10 µg m−3 during the study period. The quantita-
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