Influence of biomass burning on local air pollution in mainland Southeast Asia from 2001 to 2016. (November 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Yin, Shuai; Wang, Xiufeng; Zhang, Xirui; Guo, Meng; Miura, Moe; Xiao, Yi
• Is Part Of: Environmental pollution. Volume 254(2019)Part A
• Publication Date: 2019-11
• Subjects: AOD -- CO -- EDGAR -- MODIS -- PM2.5 -- PMF; Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Environmental aspects -- Periodicals; Environmental Pollution -- Periodicals; Pollution -- Périodiques; Pollution -- Aspect de l'environnement -- Périodiques; Pollution -- Effets physiologiques -- Périodiques; Pollution; Pollution -- Environmental aspects; Periodicals; Electronic journals; 363.73
• DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2019.07.117
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0269-7491

Abstract

Abstract: In this study, various remote sensing data, modeling data and emission inventories were integrated to analyze the tempo-spatial distribution of biomass burning in mainland Southeast Asia and its effects on the local ambient air quality from 2001 to 2016. Land cover changes have been considered in dividing the biomass burning into four types: forest fires, shrubland fires, crop residue burning and other fires. The results show that the monthly average number of fire spots peaked at 34, 512 in March and that the monthly variation followed a seasonal pattern, which was closely related to precipitation and farming activities. The four types of biomass burning fires presented different tempo-spatial distributions. Moreover, the monthly Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), concentration of particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 μm (PM2.5 ) and carbon monoxide (CO) total column also peaked in March with values of 0.62, 45 μg/m 3 and 3.25 × 10 18 molecules/cm 2, respectively. There are significant correlations between the monthly means of AOD (r = 0.74, P < 0.001), PM2.5 concentration (r = 0.88, P < 0.001), and CO total column (r = 0.82, P < 0.001) and the number of fire spots in the fire season. We used Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF) model to resolve the sources of PM2.5 into 3 factors. The result indicated that the largest contribution (48%) to annual average concentration of PM2.5 was from Factor 1 (dominated by biomass burning), followed by 27% from Factor 3 (dominated by anthropogenic emission), and 25% from Factor 2 (long-range transport/local nature source). The annually anthropogenic emission of CO and PM2.5 from 2001 to 2012 and the monthly emission from the Emission Database for Global Atmosphere Research (EDGAR) were consistent with PMF analysis and further prove that biomass burning is the dominant cause of the variation in the local air quality in mainland Southeast Asia. Graphical abstract: Image 1 Highlights: Various datasets and models have been integrated for a long-time span study. The forest and shrubland fires are the principal form of local biomass burning. The variation of air quality is closely related to local biomass burning. Biomass burning contributed more than human activities to local PM2.5 . The annual number of fire spot consecutively exceeded 100, 000 from 2012 to 2016. Abstract : There are significant correlations between the monthly AOD, PM2.5 concentration, and CO total column and the number of fire spots in the fire season. Biomass burning is the dominant cause of the variation in the local quality in mainland Southeast Asia.