Causes of an extremely low visibility event in Northeast China

Abstract

An extreme haze-fog event occurred during October 20–22, 2013, in Harbin, Northeast China, which lasted for nearly 60 h with local visibility as low as 20 m. However, causes of the extreme haze-fog formation remain unclear. Through the analysis of in situ data and objective weather circulation classification, it is revealed that high pollutant emissions from biomass burning played a very important role in the extreme event. Stable weather conditions under the circulation type 8 (CT8), marked by weak high-pressure control, strong inversion (6.55°C), shallow boundary layer depth (<300 m), and high relative humidity (>90%), aided in the accumulation of pollutants and hygroscopic aerosol growth. All of these factors collectively contributed to the extreme haze-fog formation. The insights derived from this study can improve the predictability of extreme haze-fog events, and indicate that pollution emissions should be tightly controlled in the adverse meteorological circulation type in Northeast China.