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Arid Land Geography ›› 2026, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (1): 47-55.doi: 10.12118/j.issn.1000-6060.2025.045

• Climatology and Hydrology • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Long-term variation trends and short-term elevation events of PM10 and PM2.5 mass concentrations at Akedala station

LI Jialin1(), ZHONG Yuting2, DONG Yinxi1, CAI Haiyang1, TAO Rui1   

  1. 1 Akedala Atmospheric Background Station, Altay 836000, Xinjiang, China
    2 Institute of Desert Meteorology, China Meteorological Administration, Urumqi 830002, Xinjiang, China
  • Received:2025-01-21 Revised:2025-04-26 Online:2026-01-25 Published:2026-01-18

Abstract:

Based on continuous observations of PM10 and PM2.5 at the Akedala regional atmospheric background station from 2011 to 2023, we employed statistical and meteorological correlation analyses, the HYSPLIT-4 model, the potential source contribution function (PSCF), and the concentration-weighted trajectory (CWT) method to investigate the variation trends and source characteristics of PM10 and PM2.5 mass concentrations. The results showed that: (1) From 2011 to 2023, the annual average mass concentration of PM10 increased from 12.1 μg·m-3 to 23.2 μg·m-3, while PM2.5 increased from 7.3 μg·m-3 to 10.8 μg·m-3, with annual growth rates of 0.81 μg·m-3·a-1 and 0.31 μg·m-3·a-1, respectively, indicating that PM10 increased faster than PM2.5. (2) PM10 and PM2.5 exhibited clear seasonal variations, with higher values in spring and winter and lower values in summer and autumn. The PM2.5/PM10 ratio displayed a bimodal distribution (0.4-0.5 and 0.8-0.9), where lower ratios indicated natural contributions and higher ratios reflected anthropogenic sources. (3) Air mass trajectory analysis suggested that PM10 primarily originated from eastern arid regions of Kazakhstan (PSCF values 0.4-0.7), whereas PM2.5 mainly came from anthropogenic sources in northern Xinjiang (PSCF values 0.5-0.8). (4) In 2023, four high-concentration PM10 events (peaks 681.1-822.6 μg·m-3) and five high-concentration PM2.5 events (peaks 294.2-551.4 μg·m-3) were observed, with durations typically less than one hour, exhibiting “short-term high-intensity” characteristics. (5) Compared with Lin’an station, PM10 and PM2.5 at Akedala showed “low baseline, high variability, and short peaks”, with baseline values lower than Lin’an but higher peak concentrations. This study provides a scientific basis for understanding atmospheric background particulate matter in arid regions and analyzing transboundary transport patterns, supporting air quality assessment and regional collaborative governance in northwest China.

Key words: PM2.5, PM10, pollution characteristics, temporal variation, regional transport