Impacts of local circulations on the wintertime air pollution in the Guanzhong Basin, China

Urbanization and industrialization in the recent 30 years have caused frequent heavy haze pollution in the Guanzhong basin, China during winter time. Based on the categorized large-scale synoptic situations, the local circulation and its impact on the air pollution in the basin have been investigated using observational data analyses and model simulations with the WRF-CHEM model. The simulated mountain-valley breeze circulations are well established under most of the large-scale synoptic situations in the south-north direction. The downward mountain-breeze not only causes the convergence zone in the basin but also tends to bring the pollutants back from the mountain areas to the basin and enhance pollutants concentrations in the evening. The intensity of the mountain-valley breeze circulations may be different under different synoptic situations, but in general, aside emissions, every pollution event is the synthetic result of the synoptic situation at the large scale and the local circulation at the small scale in the Guanzhong basin. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.