Journal of Ecology and Rural Environment ›› 2016, Vol. 32 ›› Issue (5): 724-728.doi: 10.11934/j.issn.1673-4831.2016.05.006

Previous Articles     Next Articles

Holiday Effect of Spring Festival on PM2.5 Pollution in Chang-Zhu-Tan Metropolitan Area

CHANG Jing-liang1, YU Hong2, LUO Wei-wei3, WANG Lei4,5   

  1. 1. Business School, Hunan City University, Yiyang 413000, China;
    2. City Management School, Hunan City University, Yiyang 413000, China;
    3. Basic Department, Military Economics School, Wuhan 430035, China;
    4. Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Beijing 100101, China;
    5. School of Humanities, Ningxia University, Yinchuan 750021, China
  • Received:2016-01-29 Online:2016-09-25 Published:2016-10-08

Abstract:

PM2.5 has been a major concern of the public due to its obvious effect of reducing visibility and endangering human health. Based on the hourly PM2.5 monitoring data gathered around the clock at 24 monitoring sites in the Chang-Zhu-Tan metropolitan area, analysis was performed of variation of PM2.5 pollution throughout 7 days before spring festival, 7 days of spring festival and 7 days after the festival in 2013, 2014 and 2015 to explore impacts of holiday activities, including tourism, on air quality. After excluding the effect of meteorological factors (e.g. daily precipitation >4 mm), holiday impacts were analyzed from the following three aspects, namely, difference in PM2.5 pollution level, difference in daily variation of PM2.5 concentrations, and spatial variation of the holiday effect. Results show that PM2.5 concentration was 12 μg·m-3 higher during the holiday period than during the days before and after the holiday, as a whole in the metropolitan area, and 41.5% lower during the 7 days after the holiday than during the holiday period, revealing an obvious "post-holiday effect". Strongly affected by holiday activities, like setting off fire-cracks and fireworks, PM2.5 concentration soared dramatically during the early hours from 00:00 to 02:00 each day of the holiday period, peaking at 02:00 and being 47.6% higher than that during the non-holiday periods. The holiday effect varied spatially across the study area. In Changsha, being the destination of tourists during the holiday period, PM2.5 concentration was 33.5% higher during the Spring Festival than during the non-holiday periods, demonstrating apparent impacts of travelling and tourism activities on air quality.

Key words: air pollution, PM2.5, holiday effect, tourism activity, Chang-Zhu-Tan metropolitan area

CLC Number: