Fossil fuel (FF) combustion emissions account for a large, but uncertain, amount of the soot in the atmosphere, play an important role in climate change, and adversely affect human health. However, historical estimates of FF contributions to air pollution are limited by uncertainties in fuel usage and emission factors. Here, we constrained FF soot emissions from southeastern China over the past 110 years, based on a novel radiocarbon method applied to sedimentary soot. The reconstructed soot accumulations reflect the integrated effects of increased FF use caused by economic development and reductions in emissions due to pollution controls. A sharp increase in FF soot started in 1950 as southeastern China industrialized and developed economically, but decreased FF soot fluxes in recent years suggest that pollution controls reduced soot emissions. We compare FF soot history to changes in CO 2 emissions, industrial and economic activities, and pollution controls and show that FF soot fluxes are more readily controlled than atmospheric CO 2 . Our independent FF soot record provides insights into the effects of economic development and controls on air pollution and the environmental impacts from the changes in soot emissions.

Changes in land use and land cover (LULC) influence meteorological fields and biogenic emissions, further affecting the atmospheric chemistry and air quality. Combining the satellite measurements and WRF‐Chem model simulations, we evaluate the impacts of the LULC change between 2001 and 2018 on the summertime ozone (O3) formation in North China Plain and surrounding areas (NCPs). Satellite measurements have revealed that from Taihang to Yanshan Mountain, the fraction of broadleaf and needle forest coverage has increased by 5%–20% and the urban area has increased by up to 25% in the NCP. Additionally, the vegetation density has increased significantly in the NCPs except for urban areas. The LULC change generally enhances biogenic volatile compounds emissions in the NCPs, particularly over Taihang and Yanshan mountain, but the O3 variation is divergent. The maximum daily 8‐ihr average (MDA8) O3 concentrations are reduced by 1%–7% over Taihang and Yanshan Mountain because the raised vegetation density increases O3 dry deposition velocity to accelerate the O3 loss. The raised vegetation density enhances the evapotranspiration to decrease the near‐surface temperature by 0.1°C–1.5°C, which also generates a divergence in the low‐level atmosphere in the NCPs, causing secondary northerly or easterly winds in the NCP. The O3 enhancement along the coastal areas of the NCP is attributed to the perturbation of wind fields and photolysis induced by the LULC change. The divergent variation of the MDA8 O3 concentrations in the NCP is generally caused by the variations of biogenic emissions and photolysis.