Deciphering decadal urban ozone trends from historical records since 1980
Ozone pollution is a major environmental threat to human health. Timely assessment of ozone trends is crucial for informing environmental policy. Here we show that for the most recent decade (2013-2022) in the northern hemisphere, warm-season (April-September) mean daily 8-h average maximum ozone increases much faster in urban regions with top ozone levels (mainly in the North China Plain, 1.2 ± 1.3 ppbv year<sup>-1</sup>) than in other, low-ozone regions (0.2 ± 0.9 ppbv year<sup>-1</sup>). These trends widen the ozone differences across urban regions, and increase extreme pollution levels and health threats from a global perspective. Comparison of historical trends in different urban regions reveals that ozone increases in China during 2013-2022 differ in magnitude and mechanisms to historical periods in other regions since 1980. This reflects a unique chemical environment characterized by exceptionally high nitrogen oxides and aerosol concentrations, where reducing ozone precursor emissions leads to substantial ozone increase. Ozone increase in China has slowed down in 2018-2022 compared to 2013-2017, driven by ongoing emission reductions, but with ozone-favorable weather conditions. Historical ozone evolution in Japan and South Korea indicates that ozone increases should be suppressed with continuous emission reduction. Increasing temperature and associated wildfires have also reversed ozone decreases in the USA and Europe, with anthropogenic ozone control slowing down in recent decades.
Authors
- Paul I. Palmer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1487-0969)
- Xiao Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5989-0912)
- Meng Chun Gao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8657-3541)
- Keding Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9425-9520)
- Hiroshi Tanimoto (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5424-9923)
- Ke Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9181-3562)
- Kai Wu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2054-4278)
- Cheng He (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8470-0834)
- Lin Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2383-8431)
- Haichao Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7306-780X)
- Shaojia Fan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9158-0199)
- Yuanhang Zhang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4442-9303)
- Haolin Wang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8783-3782)
- Ja‐Ho Koo
- Tatsuya Nagashima
Institutions
- Hong Kong Baptist University (HK)
- Sun Yat-sen University (CN)
- Yonsei University (KR)
- National Institute for Environmental Studies (JP)
- Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- National Institute for Materials Science (JP)
- Tsukuba University of Technology (JP)
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou) (CN)
- National Centre for Earth Observation (GB)
- State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control (CN)
- Irvine University (US)
- Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Zhuhai) (CN)
- University of Edinburgh (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- National Science Review
- Published
- 2024-10-21
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1093/nsr/nwae369
- Citations
- 23
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 8.65
Funders
- China Association for Science and Technology
- Sight Research UK
- University of Edinburgh
- Sun Yat-sen University
- Natural Environment Research Council
- National Key Research and Development Program of China
- Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities
- Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation of Guangdong Province
- National Centre for Earth Observation