Influence of transboundary air pollution on air quality in southwestern China

Air pollution is a grand challenge of our time due to its multitude of adverse impacts on environment and society, with the scale of impacts more severe in developing countries, including China. Thus, China has initiated and implemented strict air pollution control measures over last several years to reduce impacts of air pollution. Monitoring data from Jan 2015 to Dec 2019 on six criteria air pollutants (SO2, NO2, CO, O3, PM2.5, and PM10) at eight sites in southwestern China were investigated to understand the situation and analyze the impacts of transboundary air pollutants in this region. In terms of seasonal variation, the maximum concentrations of air pollutants at these sites were observed in winter or spring season depending on individual site. For diurnal variation, surface ozone peaked in the afternoon while the other pollutants had a bimodal pattern with peaks in the morning and late afternoon. There was limited transport of domestic emissions of air pollutants in China to these sites. Local emissions enhanced the concentrations of air pollutants during some pollution events. Mostly, the transboundary transport of air pollution from South Asia and Southeast Asia was associated with high concentrations of most air pollutants observed in southwestern China. Since air pollutants can be transported to southwestern China over long distances from the source regions, it is necessary to conduct more research to properly attribute and quantify transboundary transport of air pollutants, which will provide more solid scientific guidance for air pollution management in southwestern China.