REDUCED SPRING FESTIVAL EFFECTS ON THE AIR QUALITY IN BEIJING: EVIDENCE FROM 2014 TO 2019

Air pollution is harmful to health. Firework displays can decrease air quality, and thus enhance air pollution. As a traditional festival, the spring festival in China has been illustrated its role in enhancing air pollution due to firework displays. Moreover, due to the heavy air pollution issue, it is has been carried out the war on air pollution in Beijing since 2014. The fireworks displays were limited officially for reducing the air pollutant emission in Beijing during the spring festival. However, it is still unclear to know the effort of this management for air pollution and the spring festival effect. Here, we analyzed the changes in the concentration of the main air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, CO, and O-3) and the air quality index (AQI) using the hourly observed data during the spring festival from 2014 to 2019 in Beijing. Our results showed the AQI in 2018 and 2019 decreased compared with the previous years, Specifically, all the air pollutants decreased in the 2018 and 2019 except for the O-3. The daily averaged O-3 concentration kept stable over the past years. Our results showed the changes in the air quality are associated with the revision of the restrict firework display control since 2018. These results imply the ban on the firework display during the spring festival can improve the air quality, and thus reduce the spring festival effect on the air condition in Beijing.