During my time in Shanghai, China, my Environmental Science class and I got the opportunity to visit Fudan University. This day consisted of a hands-on tour of the air quality monitoring station at the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering. Here we were given the opportunity to learn about Shanghai’s highly polluted city and the striving efforts to improve the quality of their air. One of the environmental researchers at the university showed my fellow classmates and I how pollution was analyzed by using special instruments to gather data. This experience allowed us to better understand how poor air quality negatively impacts the current and future lives of the people living in China.
While observing the measurement site, we experienced many processes and techniques used in measuring air quality all while learning about regional transport and the chemical process of air pollution. In the researcher’s lecture, she explained to us that you can figure out the concentration of certain gasses by using special instruments to look at light from the sun. One of the measurement techniques talked about was the Differential Optical Absorption Spectroscopy (DOAS). This technique is based on beers law, also called Lambert-beer law. This technique looks at gaseous pollutants to see how they absorb light. DOAS systems are usually divided into two groups; passive and active. The active DOAS system uses artificial light, whereas passive uses the sun as its light source. The length of the light path in the atmosphere for active DOAS is very distinct, but for passive DOAS it is hard to make out. Later on, we discussed external energy sources and how the energy flux from the sun varies with wavelength. We even learned about black body radiation along with the different laws associated with it like Planck’s Law, Wien’s Displacement Law, and Stefan-Boltzmann Law.
During our visit, we also experimented with MAX-DOAS; a widely-used method that is implemented when observing trace gasses. This method allows you to identify the type of radiation you get for each wavelength and the concentration of certain gasses by using special instruments to measure light. We were able to do so by looking at sunlight wavelengths through a measurement instrument on the side of the building which provided us with data that was projected on a computer screen. We were also shown two instruments that measured air pollution through different means. One instrument was UV, and the other, LED.
The air quality in Shanghai has been at hazardous levels for quite some time now. These levels tend to be at their worst in the winter season due to the trade winds. For, in the winter Shanghai gets wind from the North instead of from the ocean (like they do in the summertime) which is much cleaner. The winds from the North carry a lot of pollutants and gasses to the South, causing more pollution in the air. An outstanding amount of China’s air pollution is also due to the production of goods for exportation along with emissions from many factories, and since Shanghai is overpopulated, much of this pollution comes from the people themselves. Not to mention, the impact of poor air quality is a serious health issue for children. Since their lungs are still developing, they are more affected by the poor air quality. Plus, children tend to spend more time outside playing and participating in activities causing them to acquire serious asthma problems.
After the tour, we visited The Wusong Paotaiwan Wetland Forest Park and learned more about how Shanghai is trying to improve its air quality. The city of Shanghai and other parts of China have provided the growth of various types of vegetation through the development of wetland parks. This plays a helpful role in the improvement process of air quality in urban areas. For, wetland parks contribute to biodiversity and vegetations can help eliminate air pollutants. These wetland areas also contribute to the people living nearby and help improve their quality of life and counteract the effects of climate change.
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