Research on the Growth Mechanism of PM_2.5 in Central and Eastern China during Autumn and Winter from 2013–2020

Haze is a majorly disastrous type of weather in China, especially central and eastern of China. The development of haze is mainly caused by highly concentrated fine particles (PM_2.5) on a regional scale. Here, we present the results from an autumn and winter study conducted from 2013 to 2020 in seven highly polluted areas (27 representative stations) in central and eastern China to analyze the growth mechanism of PM_2.5. At the same time, taking Beijing Station as an example, the characteristics of aerosol composition and particle size in the growth phase are analyzed. Taking into account the regional and inter-annual differences of fine particles (PM_2.5) distribution, the local average PM_2.5 growth value of the year is used as the boundary value for dividing slow, rapid, and explosive growth (only focuses on the hourly growth rate greater than 0). The average value of PM_2.5 in the autumn and winter of each regional representative station shows a decreasing trend as a whole, especially after 2017, whereby the decreasing trend was significant. The distribution value of +ΔPM_2.5 (PM_2.5 hourly growth rate) in the north of the Huai River is lower than that in the south of the Huai River, and both of the +ΔPM_2.5 after 2017 showed a significant decreasing trend. The average PM_2.5 threshold before the explosive growth is 70.8 µg m⁻³, and the threshold that is extremely prone to explosive growth is 156 µg m⁻³ to 277 µg m⁻³ in north of the Huai River. For the area south of the Huai River, the threshold for PM_2.5 explosive growth is relatively low, as a more stringent threshold also puts forward stricter requirements on atmospheric environmental governance. For example, in Beijing, the peak diameters gradually shift to larger sizes when the growth rate increases. The number concentration increasing mainly distributed in Aitken mode (AIM) and Accumulation mode (ACM) during explosive growth. Among the various components of submicron particulate matter (PM₁), organic aerosol (OA), especially primary OA (POA), have become one of the most critical components for the PM_2.5 explosive growth in Beijing. During the growth period, the contribution of secondary particulate matter (SPM) to the accumulated pollutants is significantly higher than that of primary particulate matter (PPM). However, the proportion of SPM gradually decreases when the growth rate increases. The contribution of the PPM can reach 48% in explosive growth. Compared to slow and rapid growth, explosive growth mainly occurs in the stable atmosphere of higher humidity, lower pressure, lower temperature, small winds, and low mixed layers.