Global Financial Crisis Making a V-Shaped Fluctuation in NO₂ Pollution over the Yangtze River Delta

The Yangtze River Delta (YRD), China’s main cultural and economic center, has become one of the most seriously polluted areas in the world with respect to nitrogen oxides (NO_x), owing to its rapid industrialization and urbanization, as well as substantial coal consumption. On the basis of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) density data from ozone monitoring instrument (OMI) and ground-based observations, the effects of industrial fluctuations due to the financial crisis on local NO₂ pollution were quantitatively assessed. The results were as follows. (1) A distinct V-shaped fluctuation of major industrial products, thermal generating capacity, electricity consumption, and tropospheric NO₂ densities was associated with the global financial crisis from May 2007 to December 2009, with the largest anomalies 1.5 times more than standard deviations at the height of the crisis period from November 2008 to February 2009. (2) Among all industrial sectors, thermal power plants were mainly responsible for fluctuations in local NO₂ pollution during the crisis period. Thermal generating capacity had its greatest decrease of 12.10% at the height of the crisis compared with that during November 2007–February 2008, leading to local tropospheric NO₂ density decreasing by 16.97%. As the crisis appeased, thermal generating capacity increased by 29.63% from November 2009 to February 2010, and tropospheric NO₂ densities correspondingly increased by 30.07%. (3) Among all industrial sectors in the YRD, the thermal power sector has the greatest coal consumption of about 65.96%. A decline in thermal power of about 10% can induce a decrease of about 30% in NO_x emissions and NO₂ densities, meaning that a relative small fluctuation in industrial production can lead to a large decrease in tropospheric NO₂ densities over industrially developed areas like the YRD region. Since electricity is mainly obtained from local coal-burning thermal plants without NO_x-processing equipment, installing NO_x-removal devices for all thermal power plants is an important and feasible way of controlling local NO_x pollution at present.