Estimation of winter time NOx emissions in Hefei, a typical inland city of China, using mobile MAX-DOAS observations

Abstract

In this paper, we present a quantitative determination of the NOx emission in Hefei using mobile Multi-Axis Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) measurements. The measurements were carried out during winter time from December 2016 to February 2017. The measured NO2 vertical column densities (VCDs) show a strong spatial gradient with higher values within the city center, indicating the majority of NOx emission sources are located at the city center. A significant “holiday effect” was found by comparing measurements taken during weekdays and weekend. The weekend reduction is more significant in the suburban (∼28) compared to the city center (∼13). Mobile measurements of NO2 vertical column densities (VCDs) were analyzed together with meteorological data to determine the NOx emission by applying the loop-integral method. Detailed error analysis of the NOx emission shows the variation of wind field and large measurement gap dominated the total error of NOx emission calculation. The result shows the NOx emission in Hefei during winter time varies in a wide range from 10 × 1024 to 40 × 1024molecs−1 with an average of 18.44 × 1024molecs−1. Our estimation is about 43 lower than the number reported in the previous emission inventory in 2012. The reduction of NOx emission reflects the successful implementation of emission control measures in recent years. Our result also shows about 73 of the total NOx in the city were transported from outside of the city during winter. The impacts of transported NOx are especially large when air masses originated from heavily polluted regions, i.e. North China Plain and Yangtze River Delta. The result presented provides a better understanding of the impacts of local emissions and transportation of pollutants on the local air quality of Hefei.