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Climatic Factors and Their Availability in Estimating Long‐Term Variations of Fine Particle Distributions Over East China
Author(s) -
Wang Yanyu,
Duan Junyan,
Xie Xin,
He Qianshan,
Cheng Tiantao,
Mu Haizhen,
Gao Wei,
Li Xiang
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
journal of geophysical research: atmospheres
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2169-8996
pISSN - 2169-897X
DOI - 10.1029/2018jd029622
Subject(s) - environmental science , china , empirical orthogonal functions , particulates , range (aeronautics) , climatology , air quality index , east asia , estimation , geography , satellite , climate change , physical geography , atmospheric sciences , meteorology , ecology , archaeology , geology , materials science , management , engineering , aerospace engineering , economics , composite material , biology
Concerns about air pollutions in China have made fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) estimation a hot research topic in recent years. Using satellite‐based PM 2.5 data obtained over East China in 2000–2015, climatic factors affecting the PM 2.5 variability were revealed in different seasons. Relevant climatic factors were used to estimate seasonal PM 2.5 distributions by combining empirical orthogonal function with stepwise regression. The assessment results indicate a greater impact by climatic factors on PM 2.5 variability in western East China than over coastal areas, and more significant influence by climatic factors on PM 2.5 variability also occurs in summer and autumn than spring and winter. Our favorable results for PM 2.5 estimation in 2016 further validate the capability of the estimation method for PM 2.5 distributions based on climatic factors. Individual contributions of dominant climatic factors to PM 2.5 variability over East China during the past 16 years range from 5% to 30%. In conclusion, climatic factors play nonnegligible roles in modulating PM 2.5 concentrations, and they can feasibly be considered as predictors in the estimation of PM 2.5 concentrations in East China. Our work underscores the importance of climate change impacts on air pollutions and improves air quality forecasts over East China.