Local and transboundary transport contributions to the wintertime particulate pollution in the Guanzhong Basin (GZB), China: A case study

Heavy haze with high levels of fine particulate matters (PM_2.5) frequently engulfs the Guanzhong Basin (GZB) in northwestern China during wintertime. Although it is an enclosed basin with a narrow opening to the east, prevailing easterly winds during heavy haze episodes have a large potential to bring air pollutants to the GZB from the two highly polluted neighboring provinces of Shanxi and Henan (SX&HN). The source-oriented WRF-Chem model simulations of a persistent and heavy haze episode that occurred in the GZB from December 6 to 21, 2016, reveal that local emissions dominate PM_2.5 concentrations in the GZB, with an average near-surface PM_2.5 contribution of about 56.0% during the episode. The transboundary transport of emissions from SX&HN accounts for around 22.2% of the total PM_2.5 in the GZB. Furthermore, with the deterioration of the air quality in the GZB from being slightly polluted to severely polluted in terms of hourly PM_2.5 concentration, transboundary transport of emissions from SX&HN plays an increasingly important role in the particulate pollution, with the average PM_2.5 contribution increasing from 8.0% to 27.5%. Compared with the source-oriented method (SOM), the brute force method (BFM) overestimates the contribution of GZB local emissions and transboundary transport of emissions from SX&HN to the total PM_2.5 in the GZB. In addition, the BFM-estimated NH₃ contribution of transboundary transport of emissions from SX&HN is negative, indicating the limitation of the BFM in source apportionment. Our results suggest that cooperative emission mitigation strategies with neighboring provinces are beneficial for lowering the particulate pollution in the GZB, particularly under severely polluted conditions.