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Radiative Forcing and Health Impact of Aerosols and Ozone in China as the Consequence of Clean Air Actions over 2012–2017
Author(s) -
Dang Ruijun,
Liao Hong
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2019gl084605
Subject(s) - radiative forcing , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , forcing (mathematics) , troposphere , climatology , china , aerosol , radiative transfer , ozone , chemical transport model , meteorology , geography , physics , geology , archaeology , quantum mechanics
We applied the chemical transport model GEOS‐Chem to examine the changes in aerosols and tropospheric O 3 in China from 2012–2017 and the associated radiative forcing and health impact. Simulated surface layer concentrations and column burdens of aerosols and O 3 were evaluated by comparing with ground‐based and satellite‐retrieved measurements. Between 2012 and 2017, simulated annual mean concentrations of PM 2.5 decreased by 21.0%, while O 3 increased by 11.9% over eastern China (20–45°N, 105–122.5°E). Changes in aerosols and O 3 over 2012–2017 jointly exerted a positive radiative forcing of 1.26 W/m 2 over eastern China, which was dominated by the less cooling from PM 2.5 reductions (1.18 W/m 2 ). The Global Exposure Mortality Model predicted 268.3 (247.3–291.6) thousand (9.6%) fewer deaths in eastern China in 2017 relative to 2012. These results suggest an appreciable health benefit and a potential warming as a consequence of clean air actions.