Arid Zone Research ›› 2023, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (5): 691-702.doi: 10.13866/j.azr.2023.05.02

• Weather and Climate • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Comparison of the distribution and applicability of two typical atmospheric diffusion indices in Xinjiang

ZHAO Keming1(),SUN Mingjing1,LI Xia2(),SHI Junjie1,AN Dawei1,XU Tingting1   

  1. 1. Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region Meteorological Service, Urumqi 830002, Xinjiang, China
    2. Institute of Desert and Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Urumqi 830002, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2023-01-09 Revised:2023-03-21 Online:2023-05-15 Published:2023-05-30

Abstract:

To quantitatively evaluate the effect of meteorological conditions on air pollution, data from 14 meteorological sounding stations and surface observation stations in Xinjiang were used to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of atmospheric self-purification capacity index (ASI) and air stagnation index (ASITS) from 2010 to 2020. Results showed a negative correlation between ASI and ASITS. ASI was the largest in summer and the smallest in winter. It was generally greater in southern Xinjiang than in northern Xinjiang, whereas ASITS showed the opposite trend. This implied that the atmospheric diffusion conditions were better in southern Xinjiang than in northern Xinjiang, and a static and stable atmospheric circulation more easily formed in northern Xinjiang than in southern Xinjiang. The daily pollution data of air environment monitoring stations from 2015 to 2020 were used to determine the correlation between the air quality of Xinjiang in different seasons and the air quality of five heavily polluted stations and the two indexes. The two indexes highly correlated with the air pollution data of Urumqi station, and the static stability index was better, which can well indicate the degree of air pollution. However, no good correlation was found between the two indexes and the air pollution data of four stations in the southern Xinjiang basin. In the heavy pollution case in the spring of 2018, the PM10 concentration span was very large, so the two indexes showed a high dispersion on the scatter diagram, which is not applicable. In particular, in Hotan and Aksu, the two indexes showed a certain correlation with the pollutant concentration, and ASITS performed better. In Kashgar, ASI showed no correlation with air quality, and ASITS showed a weak correlation; the two indexes showed no correlation with the air quality of Korla, implying poor applicability. Further study on the distribution of indexes under different pollution levels in the capital city of Urumqi showed that the early warning indicators can be preliminarily condensed as follows: When pollutant emission is serious, and if ASI is distributed at 0-20 t·(d·km2)-1, it is susceptible to heavy weather pollution, and the range of ASITS is of little significance.

Key words: atmospheric dispersion index, static stability index, air pollution, distribution characteristics, Xinjiang