Air Pollution in China: Mapping of Concentrations and Sources

PLoS One. 2015 Aug 20;10(8):e0135749. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0135749. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

China has recently made available hourly air pollution data from over 1500 sites, including airborne particulate matter (PM), SO2, NO2, and O3. We apply Kriging interpolation to four months of data to derive pollution maps for eastern China. Consistent with prior findings, the greatest pollution occurs in the east, but significant levels are widespread across northern and central China and are not limited to major cities or geologic basins. Sources of pollution are widespread, but are particularly intense in a northeast corridor that extends from near Shanghai to north of Beijing. During our analysis period, 92% of the population of China experienced >120 hours of unhealthy air (US EPA standard), and 38% experienced average concentrations that were unhealthy. China's population-weighted average exposure to PM2.5 was 52 μg/m3. The observed air pollution is calculated to contribute to 1.6 million deaths/year in China [0.7-2.2 million deaths/year at 95% confidence], roughly 17% of all deaths in China.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Air Pollutants / analysis*
  • Air Pollution / analysis*
  • China
  • Cities
  • Nitrogen Dioxide / analysis
  • Ozone / analysis
  • Particulate Matter / analysis*
  • Sulfur Dioxide / analysis
  • Time Factors

Substances

  • Air Pollutants
  • Particulate Matter
  • Sulfur Dioxide
  • Ozone
  • Nitrogen Dioxide

Grants and funding

The authors received support from Berkeley Earth, a 501c3 non-profit, whose website is http://www.berkeleyearth.org. There was no directed funding for this project, and no funders were involved in the design, execution, or reporting of this study.