Interdecadal changes of summer aerosol pollution in the Yangtze River Basin of China, the relative influence of meteorological conditions and the relation to climate change

Jizhi Wang; Xiaoye Zhang; Duo Li; Yuanqin Yang; Junting Zhong; Yaqiang Wang; Haochi Che; Huizheng Che; Yangmei Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.236

Interdecadal changes of summer aerosol pollution in the Yangtze River Basin of China, the relative influence of meteorological conditions and the relation to climate change

Sci Total Environ. 2018 Jul 15:630:46-52. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.236. Epub 2018 Feb 20.

Authors

Jizhi Wang¹, Xiaoye Zhang², Duo Li³, Yuanqin Yang¹, Junting Zhong¹, Yaqiang Wang¹, Haochi Che¹, Huizheng Che¹, Yangmei Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather & Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry of CMA, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather & Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry of CMA, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China; Center for Excellence in Regional Atmospheric Environment, IUE, CAS, Xiamen 361021, China. Electronic address: xiaoye@cma.gov.cn.
³ National Climate Centre, China Meteorological Administration, Beijing 100081, China.

PMID: 29471190
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.01.236

Abstract

Winter is a season of much concern for aerosol pollution in China, but less concern for pollution in the summertime. There are even less concern and larger uncertainty about interdecadal changes in summer aerosol pollution, relative influence of meteorological conditions, and their links to climate change. Here we try to reveal the relation among interdecadal changes in summer's most important circulation system affecting China (East Asian Summer Monsoon-EASM), an index of meteorological conditions (called PLAM, Parameter Linking Air Quality and Meteorological Elements, which is almost linearly related with aerosol pollution), and aerosol optical depth (AOD) in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River (M-LYR) in central eastern China during summertime since the 1960's. During the weak monsoon years, the aerosol pollution load was heavier in the M-LYR and opposite in the strong monsoon years mainly influenced by EASM and associated maintenance position of the anti-Hadley cell around 115°E. The interdecadal changes in meteorological conditions and their associated aerosol pollution in the context of such climate change have experienced four periods since the 1960's, which were a relatively large decreased period from 1961 to 1980, a large rise between 1980 and 1999, a period of slow rise or maintenance from 1999 to 2006, and a relatively rapid rise between 2006 and 2014. Among later three pollution increased periods, about 51%, 25% and 60% of the aerosol pollution change respectively come from the contribution of worsening weather conditions, which are found to be greatly affected by changes in EASM.

Keywords: EASM; Interdecadal change; Middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River; Pollution-related meteorological condition; Summer aerosol pollution.