THE INFLUENCES OF SOURCE INTENSITY ON SULFUR DIOXIDE AND NITROGEN OXIDES BASED ON THE PATH ANALYSIS MODEL

With rapid economic development and industrialization, air pollution is becoming a critical global issue affecting health. Sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides are the major contributors to acid rain and the key indicators for evaluating atmospheric pollution. And source intensity and meteorological factors are the main ways to influence the concentrations of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Thus, to investigate the specific effects of source intensity, temperature, humidity, wind speed and atmospheric pressure on SO2 and NOx, the path analysis method was used for the model. The results showed that Source intensity significantly affects the concentrations of SO2 and NO2. For both NO2 and SO2, the source intensity accounted for around 40%. Meteorological factors have very limited effects on the concentrations of SO2 and NO2. The effects of the meteorological factors on air pollutants are specific as differences in material properties. Humidity significantly affects the concentration of SO2 while temperature, humidity and wind speed have significantly affected the concentration of NO2.