Spatiotemporal Variations and Driving Factors of Air Pollution in China.

Dongsheng Zhan,Shaojian Wang,Mei-Po Kwan,Jianhui Yu,Wenzhong Zhang

doi:10.3390/ijerph14121538

Abstract

In recent years, severe and persistent air pollution episodes in China have drawn wide public concern. Based on ground monitoring air quality data collected in 2015 in Chinese cities above the prefectural level, this study identifies the spatiotemporal variations of air pollution and its associated driving factors in China using descriptive statistics and geographical detector methods. The results show that the average air pollution ratio and continuous air pollution ratio across Chinese cities in 2015 were 23.1 ± 16.9% and 16.2 ± 14.8%. The highest levels of air pollution ratio and continuous air pollution ratio were observed in northern China, especially in the Bohai Rim region and Xinjiang province, and the lowest levels were found in southern China. The average and maximum levels of continuous air pollution show distinct spatial variations when compared with those of the continuous air pollution ratio. Monthly changes in both air pollution ratio and continuous air pollution ratio have a U-shaped variation, indicating that the highest levels of air pollution occurred in winter and the lowest levels happened in summer. The results of the geographical detector model further reveal that the effect intensity of natural factors on the spatial disparity of the air pollution ratio is greater than that of human-related factors. Specifically, among natural factors, the annual average temperature, land relief, and relative humidity have the greatest and most significant negative effects on the air pollution ratio, whereas human factors such as population density, the number of vehicles, and Gross Domestic Product (GDP) witness the strongest and most significant positive effects on air pollution ratio.

Highlights

Due to rapid industrialization and urbanization over the past few decades, many developing countries, especially the largest ones like China, are experiencing serious air pollution along similar historical trajectories as developed countries [1,2,3,4]
Given the above knowledge gaps and Chinese government’s policy goals, this paper examines the spatiotemporal variations of air pollution in China and its associations with various driving factors, using air quality data collected by ground monitoring stations in 2015 in Chinese cities above the prefectural level
The average heavy-above air pollution ratio accounts only for 3.1% over the whole study area, the city with the maximum ratio has a ratio of 38.1%, a startling figure which indicates that this city had heavy-above air pollution over a third of the year

Summary

Introduction

Due to rapid industrialization and urbanization over the past few decades, many developing countries, especially the largest ones like China, are experiencing serious air pollution along similar historical trajectories as developed countries [1,2,3,4]. Public Health 2017, 14, 1538; doi:10.3390/ijerph14121538 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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Conclusion