Abstract
Abstract. China has experienced a substantial increase in severe haze events over the past several decades, which is primarily attributed to the increased pollutant emissions caused by its rapid economic development. The climate changes observed under the warming scenarios, especially those induced by increases in greenhouse gases (GHGs), are also conducive to the increase in air pollution. However, how the air pollution changes in response to the GHG warming has not been thoroughly elucidated to date. We investigate this change using the century-long large ensemble simulations with the Community Earth System Model 1 (CESM1) with the fixed anthropogenic emissions at the year 2005. Our results show that although the aerosol emission is assumed to be a constant throughout the experiment, anthropogenic air pollution presents positive responses to the GHG-induced warming. The anthropogenic PM2.5 concentration is estimated to increase averaged over eastern China at the end of this century, but varying from regions, with an increase over northwestern part of eastern China and a decrease over southeastern part. Similar changes can be observed for the light air pollution days. However, the severe air pollution days are reported to increase across eastern China at the end of this century, particularly around the Jing–Jin–Ji region. Further research indicates that the increased stagnation days and the decreased light precipitation days are the possible causes of the increase in PM2.5 concentration, as well as the anthropogenic air pollution days. Estimation shows that the effect of climate change induced by the GHG warming can account for 11 %–28 % of the changes in anthropogenic air pollution days over eastern China. Therefore, in the future, more stringent regulations on regional air pollution emissions are needed to balance the effect from climate change.
Highlights
The extraordinarily rapid development of China has caused extremely high aerosol loading and gaseous pollutant emissions that have enveloped most regions across China in recent decades
The aerosol emission was constant throughout the experiment, our study reveals that the PM2.5 loadings and their associated pollution days still present increases throughout the 21st century, primarily resulting from the impact of climate change induced by the greenhouse gases (GHGs) warming
The research question we aim to address in this study is how the GHG warming would affect the anthropogenic PM2.5 pollution across China
Summary
The extraordinarily rapid development of China has caused extremely high aerosol loading and gaseous pollutant emissions that have enveloped most regions across China in recent decades. The annual averaged PM2.5 in Beijing exceeded 75 μg m−3 during 2009–2016 (Fig. 1b), which is more than 3 times the recommended 24 h standard (25 μg m−3) of the World Health Organization (WHO). This degeneration of the air pollution across China, which is similar to that in Beijing, is primarily caused by the integrated effects of high emissions and poor ventilation The question remains as to whether climate change will offset or facilitate these efforts
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
