Characteristics of ambient air quality and its air quality index (AQI) model in Shanghai, China

Long-term observations indicate that, the ambient air quality in Shanghai continues to improve, however the synergistic effects between the air pollutants PM2.5, O3 and NO2 are also increasing. The concentration of chemical components included in PM2.5 is higher in moderately polluted air containing multiple pollutants. This suggests that air pollution metrics based on multi-pollutant synergy are more descriptive of ambient air quality than single-pollutant air quality index (AQI) models that may ignore the effect of synergy between pollutants on ambient air quality forecasts. Therefore, this study proposes a new multi-pollutant air quality index model (NMAQI) based on four air pollutants (PM2.5, SO2, NO2 and O3) that emphasizes the relationship between PM2.5, NO2 and O3 in ambient air. The model successfully categorized observational data into classes of good, moderate, and polluted air quality ratings. Verification of the NMAQI model using the PM2.5 chemical composition spectrum shows that the NMAQI model can more accurately classify samples with high concentrations of chemical components (often misclassified by AQI) into high pollution levels. The model has an improved capacity to assess the degree of pollution in urban ambient air and to reduce the risk of public exposure to highly polluted atmospheric environments.