Impacts of the near-surface urban boundary layer structure on PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing during winter

The Urban Boundary layer (UBL) structure plays an important role in the accumulation of air pollutants in cities. To understand how the near-surface UBL structure affects air pollutants, we analyzed 40-day vertical observations collected at a 325-m meteorology tower in Beijing from 1 December 2016 to 9 January 2017. The occurrences of heavy pollution episodes (HPEs) in the study period were closely associated with weak wind speed (WS), high temperature, high relative humidity, weak fraction velocity (u(*)) and weak turbulence kinetic energy (TKE) in near-surface UBL. In particular, the thickness and intensity of the temperature inversions were enhanced during all HPEs at nighttime. In addition, the PM2.5 concentration at the ground was significantly negative/positive correlation with vertical dynamic factors (e.g., WS, u(*) and TKE)/temperature inversion in the near-surface UBL. Diurnal variations in the vertical WS, potential temperature (theta), u(*) and TKE were less evident on the 23 polluted days than those on the 14 clean days; specifically, there were larger differences in the WS and theta between polluted and clean days at higher levels. Note that the varying quantitative relationships between the observed PM2.5 concentration and UBL dynamic factors during the daytime were much more significant than those at nighttime at all vertical levels. Compared with the WS, u(*) and TKE, the PM2.5 concentration showed a much more sensitive change with u(*) (WS) during the daytime (at nighttime). (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.