Abstract:
In order to comprehensively understand the air quality in Baoding and reveal the changing characteristics and relationship between PM
2.5 and O
3, this study used wavelet analysis to analyze the daily data of AQI, PM
2.5, O
3-8 h (the maximum 8-hour moving average of O
3) and NO
2 from April to September in Baoding City from 2013 to 2020. The results show that: (1) From 2013 to 2018, O
3 concentration showed an increasing trend, and the maximum daily concentration reached 347 μg/m
3. The O
3 concentrations began to decline since 2019. There were more days when the PM
2.5 concentrations exceeded the secondary limit of the
National Ambient Air Quality Standard (GB 3095-2012) (NAAQS) in 2013 than in other years. With the promulgation and implementation of governance measures, the situation of high PM
2.5 pollution has improved. (2) The number of days when PM
2.5 concentrations exceeded the NAAQS secondary limit was reduced from 97 days in 2013 to 1 day in 2020. The number of days of O
3-8 h exceeding the NAAQS secondary limit increased from 3 days in 2013 to 95 days in 2018, and then decreased to 61 days in 2020. The proportion of O
3-8 h exceeding-limit days in the total number of days in which the two pollutants exceeded the limit increased from 3% in 2013 to 98% in 2020, indicating that O
3 has become a major pollutant affecting air quality in Baoding. (3) In 2013, the concentration of O
3-8 h in Baoding City was lower than the average value of ‘2+26’ cities, and the concentration was higher than or close to the average value of ‘2+26’ cities during 2014-2020, indicating that the increase in O
3-8 h concentration in Baoding City exceeded the average level of ‘2+26’ cities in recent years. (4) Wavelet analysis found that the AQI was similar to the first major cycle of PM
2.5 from 2013 to 2020 (except for 2015 and 2018). Since 2017, the AQI and O
3-8 h's first and second major cycles were consistent with each other. It shows that the air pollution in Baoding City changed from PM
2.5 pollution to PM
2.5 and O
3 pollution. (5) Within the same time scale, the oscillation frequencies of PM
2.5 and O
3-8 h were basically the same, indicating that there was a clear positive correlation between PM
2.5 and O
3-8 h. From 2015 to 2019, the oscillation frequencies of NO
2 and O
3-8 h tended to be the same, indicating that the concentration of O
3-8 h in Baoding City was greatly affected by the precursor NO
2. The large difference in the frequency of oscillations in 2020 may be due to the fact that the production scale was not fully recovered after the resumption from the epidemic, which led the reduction of emission intensity of pollutants such as NO
2 and PM
2.5 during the epidemic period. Therefore, reducing NO
2 emissions and coordinated control of multi-pollutants are the main ways to improve air quality in Baoding City.