The Interaction between Anthropogenic Activities and Atmospheric Environment in North China

Lanlan Yao, Ruirui Si (), Wenyu Zhang () and Yanling Guo
Additional contact information
Lanlan Yao: School of Management, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Ruirui Si: Henan Key Laboratory of Agrometeorological Support and Applied Technique, China Meteorological Administration, Zhengzhou 450003, China
Wenyu Zhang: School of Geoscience and Technology, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, China
Yanling Guo: Henan Key Laboratory of Agrometeorological Support and Applied Technique, China Meteorological Administration, Zhengzhou 450003, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 5, 1-13

Abstract: To quantify the interaction between anthropogenic activities and the atmospheric environment in North China, spatiotemporal characteristics, transmission, source apportionment and a health risk assessment of the elements were analyzed in regional and background atmospheric research stations during a period of 2017. This study found that the concentration of PM 2.5 and 16 elements in the regional station was 1.5 and 2.8 times higher, respectively, than that in the background station. Under the combined influence of human activities and the dusty weather in Spring, the concentration of 16 elements in the regional station was up to 3 times that in the background station. In terms of the transmission of PM 2.5 , the potential source regions of PM 2.5 in North China were mainly the central and southern parts of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH), as well as parts of northern Henan and western Shandong. The source apportionment of the elements proved that the elements in North China were mainly derived from soil dust (29.9–68.2%), followed by traffic (8.8–26.3%), with coal combustion and oil consumption accounting for 5.8–24.5% and 4.1–12.9%, respectively. Although the proportion was not the largest, traffic posed the highest health risk to people, which should draw the attention of the relevant authorities.

Keywords: anthropogenic activities; elements; source apportionment; potential source regions; health risk assessment; North China (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4636/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/15/5/4636/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:15:y:2023:i:5:p:4636-:d:1088451

Access Statistics for this article

Sustainability is currently edited by Ms. Alexandra Wu

More articles in Sustainability from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().