Assessment of Air Quality Status in Wuhan, China

摘要

In this study, air quality characteristics in Wuhan were assessed through descriptive statistics and Hierarchical Cluster Analysis (HCA). Results show that air quality has slightly improved over the recent years. While the NO 2 concentration is still increasing, the PM 10 concentration shows a clearly downward trend with some small fluctuations. In addition, the SO 2 concentration has steadily decreased since 2008. Nevertheless, the current level of air pollutants is still quite high, with the PM 10 and NO 2 levels exceeding the air quality standard. Seasonal variation exists consistently for all the pollutants, with the highest concentration in winter and the lowest in summer. Cluster analysis evidenced that nine urban monitoring sites could be classified into three clusters. Cluster I consists of only the LY site, which is located in the famous East Lake scenic area with the best air quality. Cluster II corresponds to three monitoring sites with heavily trafficked roads nearby, where relatively severe NO 2 pollution occurred. Cluster III is comprised of the remaining five sites, characterized by PM 10 and SO 2 pollution.