Climatic effects of air pollutants over china: A review

Abstract

Tropospheric ozone (O 3 ) and aerosols are major air pollutants in the atmosphere. They have also made significant contributions to radiative forcing of climate since preindustrial times. With its rapid economic development, concentrations of air pollutants are relatively high in China; hence, quantifying the role of air pollutants in China in regional climate change is especially important. This review summarizes existing knowledge with regard to impacts of air pollutants on climate change in China and defines critical gaps needed to reduce the associated uncertainties. Measured monthly, seasonal, and annual mean surface-layer concentrations of O 3 and aerosols over China are compiled in this work, with the aim to show the magnitude of concentrations of O 3 and aerosols over China and to provide datasets for evaluation of model results in future studies. Ground-based and satellite measurements of O 3 column burden and aerosol optical properties, as well as model estimates of radiative forcing by tropospheric O 3 and aerosols are summarized. We also review regional and global modeling studies that have investigated climate change driven by tropospheric O 3 and/or aerosols in China; the predicted sign and magnitude of the responses in temperature and precipitation to O 3 /aerosol forcings are presented. Based on this review, key priorities for future research on the climatic effects of air pollutants in China are highlighted.

Observed changes in temperature extremes over Asia and their attribution

“…Some researchers have speculated that cooling in Eastern China may be related to increased air pollution (e.g., Kaiser and Qian 2002;Zhou and Ren 2014;Liao et al 2015). The spatial patterns of the multimodel ensemble mean intensity indices in the ALL and GHG simulations are consistent with those of observations, as stronger trends are obtained at high latitudes and in the cold extremes indices.…”

Assessment of aerosol effective radiative forcing and surface air temperature response over eastern China in CMIP5 models

“…The surface temperature responses to anthropogenic aerosol forcing over East Asia have been investigated previously via regional and global climate models (Liao, Chang, and Yang 2015). To reduce the uncertainties associated with a single model, a number of studies have used the multi-model results from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project Phase 5 (CMIP5) (Taylor, Stouffer, and Meehl 2012) to examine regional climate change by aerosols in East Asia (Salzmann, Weser, and Cherian 2014;Song, Zhou, and Qian 2014;Li, Zhao, and Ying 2015;Wang, Xie, and Liu 2015;Xu et al 2015;Zhao, Li, and Zuo 2016).…”

A review of current knowledge concerning PM<sub>2. 5</sub> chemical composition, aerosol optical properties and their relationships across China

“…Knowledge of spatiotemporal variations in chemical and optical properties of atmospheric aerosols is needed in addressing regional and global air quality and climate issues (Fuzzi et al, 2015;Ginoux et al, 2012;Li et al, 2016c;Liao et al, 2015;Monks et al, 2009;Qian et al, 2015). Aerosol concentrations across China have been at extremely high levels in the recent two decades, largely caused by rapidly increased energy consumption (Chan and Yao, 2008;Fang et al, 2009;Guan et al, 2014;Wang and Hao, 2012;Zhang et al, 2013b).…”