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Effects of Residential Customs on Spatio-Temporal Pollution Characteristics of Fireworks Burning during Chinese New Year

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Abstract

Burning of fireworks at the Chinese New Year (CNY) is a traditional culture in China, but it may adversely deteriorate air quality, cause fire accident and damage residential health. Numeral studies had proved into this environmental problem on the city scale, it is also important to quantify the spatio-temporal effects of fireworks emissions on air quality and their associations with residential customs during the CNY. Based on the monitored data, we analyzed the characteristics of primary air pollutants caused by fireworks burning, as well as the temporal and spatial variations in the concentrations of particulate matters during the periods of fireworks burning and non-fireworks (one day before CNY’s Eve and two days after CNY’s Eve). The results indicated that the main air pollutants were particles released from fireworks burning over the whole China, with showing an obvious peak during the CNY of 2015 and 2016. The highest concentrations of particulate matters with size less than 10 μm (PM10) and 2.5 μm (PM2.5) were occurred during the early morning at 1:00–3:00 on 19th (2015), reaching 408 μg/m3 and 112 μg/m3in Northeast China (NEC), respectively. And the highest values in 2016 were 358 μg/m3 and 126 μg/m3, but occurred in North China (NC), respectively. It revealed that the residential customs had significant effects on the temporal distribution of fireworks pollution on the regional scale. The patterns of temporal variations in SO2, NO2 and CO were similar to those of PM10 and PM2.5, but CO was opposite to that of other pollutants. The spatial distributions of particulate pollutants concentrations showed that the most severely polluted regions were located at NEC, East China (EC) and Central China(CC), where had higher population density and gross domestic product (GDP) and local conservative customs. Otherwise, although stricter regulations were implemented in 2016, the concentrations of pollutants were still greater than them in 2015, revealing that meteorological conditions can have a significant effect on mass concentrations of particles. The governments should make control strategies of fireworks burning with comprehensive considering the balance between environmental protection and traditional culture heritage.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the National key R&D Plan of China (No. 2017YFC0212304), National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) (No. 41571063 and 41771071) and Doctoral Research Project of Shenyang Aerospace University (No. 120419067).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Wetland Ecology and Environment, Northeast Institute of Geography and Agroecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun, 130102, China

    Zhao Liu, Xinyuan Cao & Xuelei Zhang

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Zhao Liu

  3. College of Energy and Environment, Shenyang Aerospace University, Shenyang, 110136, China

    Qi Liu & Xinyuan Cao

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  1. Zhao Liu
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  2. Qi Liu
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  3. Xinyuan Cao
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  4. Xuelei Zhang
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Correspondence to Xinyuan Cao or Xuelei Zhang.

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Liu, Z., Liu, Q., Cao, X. et al. Effects of Residential Customs on Spatio-Temporal Pollution Characteristics of Fireworks Burning during Chinese New Year. Asia-Pacific J Atmos Sci 58, 169–180 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13143-021-00246-1

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