Investigation of the influence of mineral dust on airborne particulate matter during the COVID-19 epidemic in spring 2020 over China

A regional air quality model system (RAQMS) driven by the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) is applied to investigate the distribution and evolution of mineral dust and anthropogenic aerosols over China in April 2020, when air quality was improved due to reduced human activity during the COVID-19 epidemic, whereas dust storms began to attack China and deteriorated air quality. A dust deflation model was developed and improved mineral dust prediction. Model validation demonstrated that RAQMS was able to reproduce PM(10), PM(2.5) and aerosol components reasonably well. China suffered from three dust events in April 2020, with the maximum hourly PM(10) concentrations exceeding 700 μg m(−3) in downwind cities over the North China Plain (NCP). Mineral dust dominated PM(10) mass (>80%) over the Gobi deserts in north and west China, while it comprised approximately 30–50% of PM(10) over wide areas of east China. The domain and monthly mean dust mass fractions in PM(10) were estimated to be 47% and 43% over the North China Plain and east China, respectively. On average, mineral dust contributed up to 22% and 21% of PM(2.5) mass over the North China Plain and east China in April 2020, respectively. Sulfate and nitrate produced by heterogeneous chemical reactions on dust surface accounted for approximately 9% and 13% of secondary inorganic aerosols (SIA) concentration over the North China Plain and east China, respectively. The results from this study demonstrated that mineral dust made an important contribution to particulate matter mass during the COVID-19 epidemic in spring 2020 over China.