The unidirectional causality influence of factors on PM2.5 in Shenyang city of China

Sci Rep. 2020 May 21;10(1):8403. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-65391-5.

Abstract

Air quality issue such as particulate matter pollution (PM2.5 and PM10) has become one of the biggest environmental problem in China. As one of the most important industrial base and economic core regions of China, Northeast China is facing serious air pollution problems in recent years, which has a profound impact on the health of local residents and atmospheric environment in some part of East Asia. Therefore, it is urgent to understand temporal-spatial characteristics of particles and analyze the causality factors. The results demonstrated that variation trend of particles was almost similar, the annual, monthly and daily distribution had their own characteristics. Particles decreased gradually from south to north, from west to east. Correlation analysis showed that wind speed was the most important factor affecting particles, and temperature, air pressure and relative humidity were key factors in some seasons. Path analysis showed that there was complex unidirectional causal relationship between particles and individual or combined effects, and NO2 and CO were key factors affecting PM2.5. The hot and cold areas changed little with the seasons. All the above results suggests that planning the industrial layout, adjusting industrial structure, joint prevention and control were necessary measure to reduce particles concentration.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants / analysis
  • Air Pollution / analysis*
  • China
  • Cities
  • Environmental Monitoring / methods
  • Particulate Matter / analysis*
  • Spatio-Temporal Analysis
  • Weather
  • Wind

Substances

  • Air Pollutants
  • Particulate Matter