Puzzling Haze Events in China During the Coronavirus (COVID‐19) Shutdown

Abstract

It is a puzzle as to why more severe haze formed during the New Year Holiday in 2020 (NYH-20), when China was in an unprecedented state of shutdown to contain the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak, than in 2019 (NYH-19). We performed a comprehensive measurement and modeling analysis of the aerosol chemistry and physics at multiple sites in China (mainly in Shanghai) before, during, and after NYH-19 and NYH-20. Much higher secondary aerosol fraction in PM_2.5 were observed during NYH-20 (73%) than during NYH-19 (59%). During NYH-20, PM_2.5 levels correlated significantly with the oxidation ratio of nitrogen (<i>r</i> ² = 0.77, <i>p</i> < 0.01), and aged particles from northern China were found to impede atmospheric new particle formation and growth in Shanghai. A markedly enhanced efficiency of nitrate aerosol formation was observed along the transport pathways during NYH-20, despite the overall low atmospheric NO₂ levels.