Impact of Biomass Burning on Local Air Quality in South China

Abstract

Degradation of air quality from biomass burning (BB) in South China is attributed to a wide range of emission sources, including burning activities in local areas, subregional burning from the northern/western parts of China, and fires from Southeast Asia (SEA). As these sources possess significant seasonal variations, their impacts on air quality and relative emission contributions are profound. In this study, a review of BB influencing South China has been addressed with detailed discussion on the types of BB, emission estimations, and seasonal variations. Both experimental and numerical studies using measurements and models have been summarized to reveal the impact of air quality from different sources. The result shows that Southeast Asian BB, in fact, results in a higher springtime air quality impact than the local and regional burning sources, which is contributed by the massive burning in the Indochina Peninsula with an efficient long-range transport mechanism.