Impact of Climate Change on Extreme Air Pollution Meteorology and the Implications for Air Quality

Abstract:

Extreme meteorological events, such as temperature inversion, heat wave and atmospheric stagnation, can significantly affect air quality. In this work, we first analyze the extreme air pollution meteorology in the past decades to identify the possible trends in the context of global climate change. The results show that the occurrence of temperature inversion and heat waves have increased considerably, while no statistically significant trends is identified for atmospheric stagnation. We then examine the air quality data together with the meteorology data to investigate the potential impacts of extreme air pollution meteorology on air quality. Our results show that the air pollution episodes are generally associated with one or more extreme air pollution meteorological events, although there are large seasonal and spatial variations. We also carry out model simulations for climate and air quality in the coming decades to project their future evolution in the context of global change.