Air pollution in mega cities in China: A Review
Air pollution (both gas and particle) in Chinese mega cities is one of the biggest growing problems due to rapid increase in industrial activities in the area. A review article on air pollution in China entitled “Air pollution in mega cities in China” by Chan and Yao is published in January 2008 issue of Atmospheric Environment. This article provides through review of available literature on air pollution research in China and focused areas are Beijing, Shanghai, and the Pearl River Delta region. Here, I am providing some highlights of the article. Please refer original article for more details.
"Air pollution has become one of the top environmental concerns in China. Currently, Beijing, Shanghai, and the Pearl River Delta region including Guangzhou, Shenzhen and Hong Kong, and their immediate vicinities are the most economically vibrant regions in China.”“Air quality in most Chinese cities has improved despite the rapid growth of the economy…, however… He et al. (2001) and Ye et al. (2003) reported that PM2.5 concentrations in Beijing and Shanghai, the two largest cities in China, were about 10 times and six times the WHO guideline values, respectively.”
“From 1980 to 2005, the urban population in China increased from 19.6 to 40.5%. The number of cities increased to over 660, and more than 170 cities had over 1 million permanent residents (not including the migrant population) in 2004.”
“Much attention has been paid to reducing emissions, particularly vehicle emissions. Although the number of vehicles has increased by about 10% per year in these cities, NO2 and CO concentrations have not increased due to effective control measures… Particulate pollution is still severe, and it is the major air pollution problem in the mega cities.”
Complete Reference:
Chan, C. K. and X. Yao (2008, January), Air pollution in mega cities in china, Atmospheric Environment 42 (1), 1-42, doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2007.09.003
Comments
Richter et al. (Nature, 2005) and Van der A et al. (JGR, 2006) report trend using satellite data.
It is indeed interesting and important to know what is reason for such a big discrepancy between satellite and ground-based observations?
References:
1) see blog for Chen and Yao reference
2) Richter, A., J. P. Burrows, H. Nüß, C. Granier, and U. Niemeier. Increase in tropospheric nitrogen dioxide over china observed from space. Nature 437 (7055), 129-132.
3) van der A, R. J., D. H. M. U. Peters, H. Eskes, K. F. Boersma, M. Van Roozendael, I. De Smedt, and H. M. Kelder (2006), Detection of the trend and seasonal variation in tropospheric NO2 over China, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D12317, doi:10.1029/2005JD006594.