CHARACTERIZATION OF SPRING AIR POLLUTION OF BEIJING IN 2019 USING ACTIVE AND PASSIVE REMOTE SENSING INSTRUMENTS

Abstract

As the capital of China, the Beijing area needs to be paid special attention to its air quality. We used active remote sensing instrument (ground-based lidar), combined with passive remote sensing instrument (VIIRS onboard the NPP spacecraft), to study the serious pollution event over Beijing in spring of 2019. At the same time, the ground-based particulate matter (PM) data and the meteorological element data were analyzed. It is found that the ratio of concentrations of PM_2.5 to PM₁₀ is very large during the pollution period. The mean value of ratio is 0.75464, indicated it is fine particulate matter pollution. The Range correction signal (RCS) of lidar is very large in the layer below 0.5 km. But the volume depolarization ratio (VDR) is much less than 0.05. It indicated it is anthropogenic urban aerosols. The change in the aerosol optical depth (AOD) of VIIRS during pollution is consistent with the change in optical properties observed by lidar. The backward trajectory model of HYSPLIT shows that the pollutant came from the Hebei area where industrial pollution is serious, and the local meteorological conditions in Beijing are conducive to the continuous accumulation of pollutants. This work can deepen the understanding of the mechanism of haze formation and can help and support pollution prevention work.