Accurate monitoring of the atmospheric environment and its evolution are important for understanding the sources, chemical mechanisms, and transport processes of air pollution and carbon emissions in China, and for regulatory and control purposes. This study gives an overview of atmospheric environment monitoring technology and equipment in China and summarizes the major achievements obtained in recent years. China has made great progress in the development of atmospheric environment monitoring technology and equipment with decades of effort. The manufacturing level of atmospheric environment monitoring equipment and the quality of products have steadily improved, and a technical & production system that can meet the requirements of routine monitoring activities has been initiated. It is expected that domestic atmospheric environment monitoring technology and equipment will be able to meet future demands for routine monitoring activities in China and provide scientific assistance for addressing air pollution problems.

Emissions from mobile sources and stationary sources contribute to atmospheric pollution in China, and its components, which include ultrafine particles (UFPs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and other reactive gases, such as NH3 and NOx, are the most harmful to human health. China has released various regulations and standards to address pollution from mobile and stationary sources. Thus, it is urgent to develop online monitoring technology for atmospheric pollution source emissions. This study provides an overview of the main progress in mobile and stationary source monitoring technology in China and describes the comprehensive application of some typical instruments in vital areas in recent years. These instruments have been applied to monitor emissions from motor vehicles, ships, airports, the chemical industry, and electric power generation. Not only has the level of atmospheric environment monitoring technology and equipment been improving, but relevant regulations and standards have also been constantly updated. Meanwhile, the developed instruments can provide scientific assistance for the successful implementation of regulations. According to the potential problem areas in atmospheric pollution in China, some research hotspots and future trends of atmospheric online monitoring technology are summarized. Furthermore, more advanced atmospheric online monitoring technology will contribute to a comprehensive understanding of atmospheric pollution and improve environmental monitoring capacity.

Observations and numerical models are mainly used to investigate the spatiotemporal distribution and vertical structure characteristics of aerosols to understand aerosol pollution and its effects. However, the limitations of observations and the uncertainties of numerical models bias aerosol calculations and predictions. Data assimilation combines observations and numerical models to improve the accuracy of the initial, analytical fields of models and promote the development of atmospheric aerosol pollution research. Numerous studies have been conducted to integrate multi-source data, such as aerosol optical depth and aerosol extinction coefficient profile, into various chemical transport models using various data assimilation algorithms and have achieved good assimilation results. The definition of data assimilation and the main algorithms will be briefly presented, and the progress of aerosol assimilation according to two types of aerosol data, namely, aerosol optical depth and extinction coefficient, will be presented. The application of vertical aerosol data assimilation, as well as the future trends and challenges of aerosol data assimilation, will be further analysed.

Atmospheric pollution has been considered one of the most important topics in environmental science once it can be related to the incidence of respiratory diseases, climate change, and others. Knowing the composition of this complex and variable mixture of gases and particulate matter is crucial to understand the damages it causes, help establish limit levels, reduce emissions, and mitigate risks. In this work, the current scenario of the legislation and guideline values for indoor and outdoor atmospheric parameters will be reviewed, focusing on the inorganic and organic compositions of particulate matter and on biomonitoring. Considering the concentration level of the contaminants in air and the physical aspects (meteorological conditions) involved in the dispersion of these contaminants, different approaches for air sampling and analysis have been developed in recent years. Finally, this review presents the importance of data analysis, whose main objective is to transform analytical results into reliable information about the significance of anthropic activities in air pollution and its possible sources. This information is a useful tool to help the government implement actions against atmospheric air pollution.

Civil aviation is fast-growing (about +5% every year), mainly driven by the developing economies and globalisation. Its impact on the environment is heavily debated, particularly in relation to climate forcing attributed to emissions at cruising altitudes and the noise and the deterioration of air quality at ground-level due to airport operations. This latter environmental issue is of particular interest to the scientific community and policymakers, especially in relation to the breach of limit and target values for many air pollutants, mainly nitrogen oxides and particulate matter, near the busiest airports and the resulting consequences for public health. Despite the increased attention given to aircraft emissions at ground-level and air pollution in the vicinity of airports, many research gaps remain. Sources relevant to air quality include not only engine exhaust and non-exhaust emissions from aircraft, but also emissions from the units providing power to the aircraft on the ground, the traffic due to the airport ground service, maintenance work, heating facilities, fugitive vapours from refuelling operations, kitchens and restaurants for passengers and operators, intermodal transportation systems, and road traffic for transporting people and goods in and out to the airport. Many of these sources have received inadequate attention, despite their high potential for impact on air quality. This review aims to summarise the state-of-the-art research on aircraft and airport emissions and attempts to synthesise the results of studies that have addressed this issue. It also aims to describe the key characteristics of pollution, the impacts upon global and local air quality and to address the future potential of research by highlighting research needs.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are ubiquitous in the atmosphere and they mostly stem from the imperfect combustion of fossil fuels and biofuels. PAHs are inherently associated with homogenous fine particles or distributed to different-sized particles during the aging of air masses. PAHs carried by fine particles undergo a long-range transport to remote areas while those adsorbed on coarse particles have a shorter lifetime in ambient air. More importantly, PAHs with higher molecular weights tend to be bound with finer particles and can deeply enter the lungs, posing severe health risks to humans. Thus, the environmental fate and health effects of particulate PAHs are strongly size-dependent. This review summarizes the size distributions of particulate PAHs freshly emitted from combustion sources as well as the distribution patterns of PAHs in ambient particles. It was found that PAHs from stationary sources are primarily bound to fine particles, which are slightly larger than particles to which PAHs from mobile sources are bound. In ambient air, particulate PAHs are distributed in larger size modes than those in the combustion fume, and the particle size decreases with PAH molecular weight increasing. The relevant mechanisms and influencing factors of particle size distribution changes are illustrated in this article, which are essentially attributed to combustion and ambient temperature as well as the physical and chemical properties of PAHs. Overall, the study on the particle size distribution of PAHs will contribute for a full understanding of the origin, atmospheric behaviors and health effects of particulate PAHs.

With the rapid development of the economy, the atmospheric pollution in China has become very severe, and poses a great threat to human health. On the basis of relevant research achievements at home and abroad, this paper summarizes the impact of atmospheric pollution on the health of residents from the two aspects of research content and method. It was found that current research is mainly focused on calculating the health losses, evaluating the economic cost of health losses, and analyzing the health benefits of controlling atmospheric pollutants at the macro level, while studies at the micro level are relatively scarce. Moreover, current studies at the micro individual level is mostly empirical research related to epidemic cases abroad; however, domestic research at the micro individual level is still at the initial stage of qualitative analysis. In addition, the quantitative assessment method of atmospheric pollution on the health of residents is also improving. Apart from methods in common use (meta-analysis, Poisson regression model, human capital method, willingness to pay method and disease cost method), there are other methods that are widely used (input-output model and computable general equilibrium model). In general, the effects of atmospheric pollution on resident health include both chronic and short-term acute effects, and involve many other factors as well, such as socioeconomics, natural conditions, behavioral preferences, and personal physiology. Although the depth and breadth of the research are expanding, and the level of discipline integration is being continuously improved, it is necessary to strengthen domestic epidemiological studies, to pay attention to the integration of macro (regions) and micro (individuals), to focus on the reduction and distribution of atmospheric pollutants from a health perspective, and to attach importance to the construction of a basic database in the future to provide a scientific basis for establishing a systematic framework for the analysis of the effects of atmospheric pollution on the health of residents.

Particulate matter (PM) has gained significant attention due to the increasing concerns related to their effects on human health. Although several reviews have shed light on the effect of PM on human health, their critical adverse effect on material\'s structure and sustainability was almost neglected. The current study is an attempt to fill this gap related to PM impact on structural materials under the overall consideration of sustainability. More specifically, this review highlights the existing knowledge by providing an overview on PM classification, composition, and sources in different locations around the world. Then, it focuses on PM soiling of surfaces such as solar panels due to an increasing need to mitigate the impact of soiling on reducing photovoltaic (PV) power output and financial competitiveness in dusty regions. This topic is of critical importance for sustainable deployment of solar energy in arid and desert areas around the world to help in reducing their impact on overall climate change and life quality. In addition, this review summarizes climate change phenomena driven by the increase of PM concentration in air such as radiative forcing and acid rain deposition due to their impact on human health, visibility and biodiversity. To this end, this work highlights the role of process management, choice of fuel, the implementation of clean technologies and urban vegetation as some possible sustainable mitigation policies to control PM pollution in cities and urban regions. This research is designed to conduct a comprehensive narrative literature review which targets broad spectrum of readers and new researchers in the field. Moreover, it provides a critical analysis highlighting the need to fill main research gaps in this domain. The findings of this review paper show that PM pollution imposes severe adverse impacts on materials, structures and climate which directly affect the sustainability of urban cities. The advantages of this review include the value of the extensive works that elaborate on the negative impacts of PM atmospheric pollution towards high level of public awareness, management flexibility, stakeholder\'s involvements, and collaboration between academy, research, and industry to mitigate PM impact on materials and human welfare.