The recent Journal Environmental Science and Technology contains the findings of a joint Oregon State University and Peking University joint study that looked into the quality of Beijing’s air, and the effectiveness of Beijing’s efforts to clean it, for the Olympics.
Atmospheric Particulate Matter Pollution during the 2008 Beijing Olympics is available by subscription only, but its free abstract provides a bit of background on how the data was collected:
Size fractionated particulate matter (PM) samples (including PM2.5 and PM10) were collected at Peking University in Northwestern Beijing, China for a 2 week period prior to the Olympics, during the 2 week period of the Olympics, and for a 4 week period following the 2008 Olympics, during both source control and nonsource control periods
Why their data conflicts data released during the games
concentrations in this study were high correlated with, but a factor of 1.3 times higher than, the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau’s PM10 concentrations at near-by sites because of differences in the measurement methods used.
…. and just how back the air quality was:
The PM10 concentrations in Beijing during the Olympic period were 2.9, 3.5, and 1.9 times higher than those in Atlanta, Sydney, and Athens. In addition, the PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations during the Olympic period exceeded the WHO 24-h guideline 100% and 81% of the time, respectively.
Giving China the gold, the findings of this study should come as little surprise. The air quality sucked, and now through third party verification, we now know just how bad it really was.
What is really interesting is that the researchers have also looked at the impact of Beijing’s efforts:
“It was a giant experiment and a noble effort. But in the end, the extra added measures didn’t help reduce PM concentration as much as had been expected,” said Staci Simonich, an associate professor of chemistry and toxicology at Oregon State University who worked on the study.
That it was the weather, not the shutdowns, that played the largest role:
Meteorological conditions accounted for 40 percent of the variation in concentrations of coarser particulate matter, while pollution control measures accounted for only 16 percent, the study said.
The findings also showed that the weather ushered some air pollution into Beijing from industrial regions south of the capital that had less severe pollution curbs, including Hebei, Shandong, and Shanxi. Those results indicated the difficulties in trying to control pollution at a local level when air masses tend to move regionally.