Background: With growing concern during the COVID-19 pandemic, indoor environmental quality has received significant attention. Radon, a radioactive gas produced from the decay of radium found in soil, rocks, and building materials, can accumulate indoors, posing serious health risks such as lung cancer. University environments, where occupants spend significant time indoors, are particularly susceptible to prolonged radon exposure. Method: This study focused on the estimation of indoor radon concentrations from multiple university buildings in Shanghai. A field investigation was conducted between June 2020 and August 2022. Continuous radon measurements were conducted in the dormitories and classroom buildings. Environmental factors include indoor air temperature and relative humidity. Results: Radon concentrations were influenced by season, floor level, and measurement period, with the highest concentrations recorded during summer and on lower floors due to reduced ventilation. The mean radon concentration in dormitories was 14.8 +/- 9.2 Bq/m3, and in classrooms 12.6 +/- 6.7 Bq/m3, both below national safety limits and lower than those in the pre-pandemic era. Seasonal effect, floor level, and time of measurement were the significant factors for indoor radon concentrations. Conclusion: This study has identified the main factors that affect indoor radon concentration in university campus. The radon concentrations at the lower floor levels remain the highest in the building. The results provide evidence for conducting refined radon monitoring and risk assessment in campus environment, especially during the summer.

Aerosols emitted from biomass burning affect human health and climate, both regionally and globally. The magnitude of these impacts is altered by the biomass burning plume injection height (BB-PIH). However, these alterations are not well-understood on a global scale. We present the novel implementation of BB-PIH in global simulations with an atmospheric chemistry model (GEOS-Chem) coupled with detailed TwO-Moment Aerosol Sectional (TOMAS) microphysics. We conduct BB-PIH simulations under three scenarios: (a) All smoke is well-mixed into the boundary layer, and (b) and (c) smoke injection height is based on Global Fire Assimilation System (GFAS) plume heights. Elevating BB-PIH increases the simulated global-mean aerosol optical depth (10%) despite a global-mean decrease (1%) in near-surface PM2.5. Increasing the tropospheric column mass yields enhanced cooling by the global-mean clear-sky biomass burning direct radiative effect. However, increasing BB-PIH places more smoke above clouds in some regions; thus, the all-sky biomass burning direct radiative effect has weaker cooling in these regions as a result of increasing the BB-PIH. Elevating the BB-PIH increases the simulated global-mean cloud condensation nuclei concentrations at low-cloud altitudes, strengthening the global-mean cooling of the biomass burning aerosol indirect effect with a more than doubling over marine areas. Elevating BB-PIH also generally improves model agreement with the satellite-retrieved total and smoke extinction coefficient profiles. Our 2-year global simulations with new BB-PIH capability enable understanding of the global-scale impacts of BB-PIH modeling on simulated air-quality and radiative effects, going beyond the current understanding limited to specific biomass burning regions and seasons. Plain Language Summary Biomass burning includes wildfires, prescribed burns, and agricultural burns; and is an important source of aerosol particles in the atmosphere. These aerosol particles are important for climate and human health. Our work contributes to understanding the global and interannual impacts of changing the height of these particles in the atmosphere. We ran multiple global atmospheric chemistry model simulations with each simulation having different heights for aerosol particles from biomass burning. Simulations with a higher average emission height had more smoke aerosol particles in the entire atmosphere, resulting in an increase in the cooling radiative impact of biomass burning compared to simulations with a lower average emission height. We found that simulations with a higher average emission height for biomass burning aerosols had slightly better agreement with satellite observations relative to lower heights. This study shows the importance of biomass burning aerosol emission height on Earth's global air quality and climate.

The negative effects of PM2.5 concentration in urban development are becoming more and more prominent. Bernaola-Galvan Segmentation Algorithm (BGSA) and wavelet analysis are powerful tools for processing non-linear and non-stationary signals. First, we use BGSA that reveals there are 41 mutation points in the PM2.5 concentration in Guiyang. Then, we reveal the multi-scale evolution of PM2.5 concentration in Guiyang by wavelet analysis. In the first part, we performed one-dimensional continuous wavelet transform (CWT) on the eight monitoring points in the study area, and the results showed that they have obviously similar multi-scale evolution characteristics, with a high-energy and significant oscillation period of 190-512 days. Next, the wavelet transform coherence (WTC) reveals the mutual relationship between the PM2.5 concentration and the atmospheric pollutants and meteorological factors. PM2.5 concentration variation is closely linked to that of PM10 concentration. But, it is not to be ignored that the increase in the SO2 and NO2 concentrations will cause the PM2.5 concentration to rise on different scales. Lastly, the variation of the PM2.5 concentration can be better explained by the combination of multiple factors (2-4) using the multiple-wavelet coherence (MWC). Under the combination of the two factors, the average temperature (Avgtem) and relative humidity (ReH) have the highest AWC and PASC. In the case of the combination of four factors, CO-Avgtem-Wind-ReH plays the largest role in determining PM2.5 concentration.

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has disrupted health, economy, and society globally. Thus, many countries, including China, have adopted lockdowns to prevent the epidemic, which has limited human activities while affecting air quality. These affects have received attention from academics, but very few studies have focused on western China, with a lack of comparative studies across lockdown periods. Accordingly, this study examines the effects of lockdowns on air quality and pollution, using the hourly and daily air monitoring data collected from Lanzhou, a large city in Northwest China. The results indicate an overall improvement in air quality during the three lockdowns compared to the average air quality in the recent years, as well as reduced PM2.5, PM10, SO2, NO2, and CO concentrations with different rates and increased O3 concentration. During lockdowns, Lanzhou's morning peak of air pollution was alleviated, while the spatial characteristics remained unchanged. Further, ordered multi-classification logistic regression models to explore the mechanisms by which socioeconomic backgrounds and epidemic circumstances influence air quality revealed that the increment in population density significantly aggravated air pollution, while the presence of new cases in Lanzhou, and medium- and high-risk areas in the given district or county both increase the likelihood of air quality improvement in different degrees. These findings contribute to the understanding of the impact of lockdown on air quality, and propose policy suggestions to control air pollution and achieve green development in the post-epidemic era.

The strict Clean Air Action Plan has been in place by central and local government in China since 2013 to alleviate haze pollution. In response to implementation of the Plan, daytime PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 um) showed significant downward trends from 2015 to 2019, with the largest reduction during spring and winter in the North China Plain. Unlike PM2.5, O-3 (ozone) showed a general increasing trend, reaching 29.7 mu g m(-3) on summer afternoons. Increased O-3 and reduced PM2.5 simultaneously occurred in more than half of Chinese cities, increasing to approximately three-fourths in summer. Declining trends in both PM2.5 and O-3 occurred in only a few cities, varying from 19.1% of cities in summer to 33.7% in fall. Meteorological variables helped to decrease PM2.5 and O-3 in some cities and increase PM2.5 and O-3 in others, which is closely related to terrain. High wind speed and 24 h changing pressure favored PM2.5 dispersion and dilution, especially in winter in southern China. However, O-3 was mainly affected by 24 h maximum temperature over most cities. Soil temperature was found to be a key factor modulating air pollution. Its impact on PM2.5 concentrations depended largely on soil depth and seasons; spring and fall soil temperature at 80 cm below the surface had largely negative impacts. Compared with PM2.5, O-3 was more significantly affected by soil temperature, with the largest impact at 20 cm below the surface and with less seasonal variation. (C) 2020 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Due to U.S. air pollution regulations, aerosol and precursor emissions have decreased during recent decades, while changes in emissions in other regions of the world also influence U.S. aerosol trends through long-range transport. We examine here the relative roles of these domestic and foreign emission changes on aerosol concentrations and direct radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere over the continental United States. Long-term (1980-2014) trends and aerosol source apportionment are quantified in this study using a global aerosol-climate model equipped with an explicit aerosol source tagging technique. Due to U.S. emission control policies, the annual mean near-surface concentration of particles, consisting of sulfate, black carbon, and primary organic aerosol, decreases by about -1.1 (+/- 0.1)/-1.4 (+/- 0.1) mu g/m(3) in western United States and -3.3 (+/- 0.2)/-2.9 (+/- 0.2) mu g/m(3) in eastern United States during 2010-2014, as compared to those in 1980-1984. Meanwhile, decreases in U.S. emissions lead to a warming of +0.48 (+/- 0.03)/+0.46 (+/- 0.03)W/m(2) in western United States and +1.41 (+/- 0.07)/+1.32 (+/- 0.09)W/m(2) in eastern United States through changes in aerosol direct radiative forcing. Increases in emissions from East Asia generally have a modest impact on U.S. air quality but mitigated the warming effect induced by reductions in U.S. emissions by 25% in western United States and 7% in eastern United States. As U.S. domestic aerosol and precursor emissions continue to decrease, foreign emissions may become increasingly important to radiative forcing over the United States.

Literature has reported the remarkable aerosol impact on low-level cloud by direct radiative forcing (DRF). Impacts on middle-upper troposphere cloud are not yet fully understood, even though this knowledge is important for regions with a large spatial heterogeneity of emissions and aerosol concentration. We assess the aerosol DRF and its cloud response in June (with strong convection) in Pearl River Delta region for 2008-2012 at cloud-resolving scale using an air quality-climate coupled model. Aerosols suppress deep convection by increasing atmospheric stability leading to less evaporation from the ground. The relative humidity is reduced in middle-upper troposphere due to induced reduction in both evaporation from the ground and upward motion. The cloud reduction offsets 20% of the aerosol DRF. The weaker vertical mixing further increases surface aerosol concentration by up to 2.90 mu g/m(3). These findings indicate the aerosol DRF impact on deep convection and in turn regional air quality.

Light-absorbing, atmospheric particles have gained greater attention in recent years because of their direct and indirect impacts on regional and global climate. Atmospheric black carbon (BC) aerosol is a leading climate warming agent, yet uncertainties in the global direct aerosol radiative forcing remain large. Based on a year of aerosol absorption measurements at seven wavelengths, BC concentrations were investigated in Dhanbad, the coal capital of India. Coal is routinely burned for cooking and residential heat as well as in small industries. The mean daily concentrations of ultraviolet-absorbing black carbon measured at 370 nm (UVBC) and black carbon measured at 880 nm (BC) were 9.8 +/- 5.7 and 6.5 +/- 3.8 mu g m(-3), respectively. The difference between UVBC and BC, Delta-C, is an indicator of biomass or residential coal burning and averaged 3.29 +/- 4.61 mu g m(-3). An alternative approach uses the Angstrom Exponent (AE) to estimate the biomass/coal and traffic BC concentrations. Biomass/coal burning contributed similar to 87% and high temperature, fossil-fuel combustion contributed similar to 13% to the annual average BC concentration. The post-monsoon seasonal mean UVBC values were 10.9 mu g m(-3) and BC of 7.2 mu g m(-3). Potential source contribution function analysis showed that in the post-monsoon season, air masses came from the central and northwestern Indo-Gangetic Plains where there is extensive agricultural burning. The mean winter UVBC and BC concentrations were 15.0 and 10.1 mu g m(-3), respectively. These higher values were largely produced by local sources under poor dispersion conditions. The direct radiative forcing (DRF) due to UVBC and BC at the surface (SUR) and the top of the atmosphere (TOA) were calculated. The mean atmospheric heating rates due to UVBC and BC were estimated to be 1.40 degrees K day(-1) and 1.18 degrees K day(-1), respectively. This high heating rate may affect the monsoon circulation in this region. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

A version of the Community Earth System Model modified at the North Carolina State University (CESM-NCSU) is used to simulate the current and future atmosphere following the representative concentration partway scenarios for stabilization of radiative forcing at 4.5 W m(-2) (RCP4.5) and radiative forcing of 8.5 W m(-2) (RCP8.5). Part I describes the results from a comprehensive evaluation of current decadal simulations. Radiation and most meteorological variables are well simulated in CESM-NCSU. Cloud parameters are not as well simulated due in part to the tuning of model radiation and general biases in cloud variables common to all global chemistry-climate models. The concentrations of most inorganic aerosol species (i.e., SO42-, NH4+, and NO3-) are well simulated with normalized mean biases (NMBs) typically less than 20%. However, some notable exceptions are European NH4+, which is overpredicted by 33.0-42.2% due to high NH3 emissions and irreversible coarse mode condensation, and Cl-, that is negatively impacted by errors in emissions driven by wind speed and overpredicted HNO3. Carbonaceous aerosols are largely underpredicted following the RCP scenarios due to low emissions of black carbon, organic carbon, and anthropogenic volatile compounds in the RCP inventory and efficient wet removal. This results in underpredictions of PM2.5 and PM10 by 6.4-55.7%. The column mass abundances are reasonably well simulated. Larger biases occur in surface mixing ratios of trace gases in CESM-NCSU, likely due to numerical diffusion from the coarse grid spacing of the CESM-NCSU simulations or errors in the magnitudes and vertical structure of emissions. This is especially true for SO2 and NO2. The mixing ratio of O-3 is overpredicted by 38.9-76.0% due to the limitations in the O-3 deposition scheme used in CESM and insufficient titration resulted from large underpredictions in NO2. Despite these limitations, CESM-NCSU reproduces reasonably well the current atmosphere in terms of radiation, clouds, meteorology, trace gases, aerosols, and aerosol-cloud interactions, making it suitable for future climate simulations. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Black carbon (BC) exerts profound impacts on air quality and climate because of its high absorption cross- over a broad range of electromagnetic spectra, but the current results on absorption enhancement of BC particles during atmospheric aging remain conflicting. Here, we quantified the aging and variation in the optical properties of BC particles under ambient conditions in Beijing, China, and Houston, United States, using a novel environmental chamber approach. BC aging exhibits two distinct stages, i.e., initial transformation from a fractal to spherical morphology with little absorption variation and subsequent growth of fully compact particles with a large absorption enhancement. The timescales to achieve complete morphology modification and an absorption amplification factor of 2.4 for BC particles are estimated to be 2.3 h and 4.6 h, respectively, in Beijing, compared with 9 h and 18 h, respectively, in Houston. Our findings indicate that BC under polluted urban environments could play an essential role in pollution development and contribute importantly to large positive radiative forcing. The variation in direct radiative forcing is dependent on the rate and timescale of BC aging, with a clear distinction between urban cities in developed and developing countries, i.e., a higher climatic impact inmore polluted environments. We suggest that mediation in BC emissions achieves a cobenefit in simultaneously controlling air pollution and protecting climate, especially for developing countries.