Spatiotemporal variation and source analysis of air pollutants in the Harbin-Changchun (HC) region of China during 2014–2020

Abstract This study analyzed the characteristics of air pollution and specific pollution periods within the Harbin-Changchun (HC) metropolitan area during 2014–2020. Regarding annual, seasonal, and monthly variations of the six pollutants, the change trend in 11 cities of HC showed strong consistency in spatial distribution. The western cities (Songyuan, Daqing, and Siping) were vulnerable to dust storms from Inner Mongolia. The concentrations of all air pollutants, except O3-8h, showed downward fluctuation trends from 2014 to 2018 and remained stable from 2018 to 2020 in terms of annual variations. The inter-annual trend of significant reductions in SO2 and SO2/PM2.5 during the heating period indicated that strict emission reduction measures posed by the government were highly successful. The ratio of PM2.5/SO2 was used to identify open biomass burning (OBB), which showed a double peak (October–November (Oct–Nov), March–April (Mar–Apr)). The burning prohibition shifted the OBB from Oct–Nov to Mar–Apr.