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Title: Dust-wind interactions can intensify aerosol pollution over eastern China

Journal Article · · Nature Communications
ORCiD logo [1];  [2];  [1];  [3]; ORCiD logo [4];  [5];  [5];  [5]
  1. Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States); Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
  2. Univ. of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA (United States)
  3. Nanjing Univ. of Information Science & Technology, Nanjing (China)
  4. Chinese Academy of Meteorological Science, Beijing (China)
  5. Pacific Northwest National Lab. (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

Eastern China has experienced severe and persistent winter haze episodes in recent years due to intensification of aerosol pollution, which has adverse impacts on hundreds of millions of people across China1–4. In addition to anthropogenic emissions, the winter aerosol pollution over eastern China is associated with abnormal meteorological conditions, including weaker wind speeds5–9. Using a global climate model and a chemical transport model, we show that variations in dust emissions decrease the wintertime land-sea surface air temperature difference between eastern China and the South China Sea and weaken winds below the lowest 10th percentile of wind speed by 0.06 m s-1. Here, the weakened winds enhance stagnation and account for 13% of the increases in PM2.5 aerosol concentrations over eastern China. Although recent increases in anthropogenic emissions are the main factor causing haze over eastern China, we conclude that natural emissions also exert a significant influence on the increases in wintertime PM2.5 concentrations, with important implications that should be considered in air quality studies.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830
OSTI ID:
1358504
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA--119019; KP1703010
Journal Information:
Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Vol. 8; ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (30)

Recent intensification of winter haze in China linked to foreign emissions and meteorology journal February 2018
Attribution of Anthropogenic Influence on Atmospheric Patterns Conducive to Recent Most Severe Haze Over Eastern China journal February 2018
How Light-Absorbing Properties of Organic Aerosol Modify the Asian Summer Monsoon Rainfall? journal February 2018
Skill and uncertainty in surface wind fields from general circulation models: Intercomparison of bias between AGCM, AOGCM and ESM global simulations journal April 2020
Anthropogenic impacts on recent decadal change in temperature extremes over China: relative roles of greenhouse gases and anthropogenic aerosols journal July 2018
Declining diurnal temperature range in the North China Plain related to environmental changes journal October 2018
Black Carbon Amplifies Haze Over the North China Plain by Weakening the East Asian Winter Monsoon journal January 2019
Short‐Term Weather Patterns Modulate Air Quality in Eastern China During 2015–2016 Winter journal January 2019
Multi‐Index Attribution of Extreme Winter Air Quality in Beijing, China journal April 2019
Estimates of African Dust Deposition Along the Trans‐Atlantic Transit Using the Decadelong Record of Aerosol Measurements from CALIOP, MODIS, MISR, and IASI journal July 2019
The Trend Reversal of Dust Aerosol Over East Asia and the North Pacific Ocean Attributed to Large‐Scale Meteorology, Deposition, and Soil Moisture journal October 2019
Recent intensification of winter haze in China linked to foreign emissions and meteorology journal February 2018
Aerosol and boundary-layer interactions and impact on air quality journal September 2017
Development of stratigraphically controlled, eolian-modified unconsolidated gravel surfaces and yardang fields in the wind-eroded Hami Basin, northwestern China journal October 2017
Trends and Variability in Aerosol Optical Depth over North China from MODIS C6 Aerosol Products during 2001–2016 journal November 2017
Changes in Haze Trends in the Sichuan-Chongqing Region, China, 1980 to 2016 journal July 2018
Vertical Wind Shear Modulates Particulate Matter Pollutions: A Perspective from Radar Wind Profiler Observations in Beijing, China journal February 2020
Heterogeneous reactions of mineral dust aerosol: implications for tropospheric oxidation capacity journal January 2017
Transport, mixing and feedback of dust, biomass burning and anthropogenic pollutants in eastern Asia: a case study journal January 2018
The strengthening relationship between Eurasian snow cover and December haze days in central North China after the mid-1990s journal January 2018
An assessment of aerosol optical properties from remote-sensing observations and regional chemistry–climate coupled models over Europe journal January 2018
Assessing the formation and evolution mechanisms of severe haze pollution in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region using process analysis journal January 2019
Spatiotemporal variation of aerosol and potential long-range transport impact over the Tibetan Plateau, China journal January 2019
Anthropogenic fine particulate matter pollution will be exacerbated in eastern China due to 21st century GHG warming journal January 2019
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An assessment of aerosol optical properties from remote-sensing observations and regional chemistry–climate coupled models over Europe text January 2018

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