Climate-induced Air Quality Deterioration and Associated Health Risks
PENGFEI LIU, Qiao Zhu, Haisu Zhang, Haomin Li, Bin Bai, Howard Chang, Loretta Mickley, Joel Schwartz, Liuhua Shi,
Georgia Institute of Technology Abstract Number: 197
Working Group: Health-Related Aerosols
AbstractClimate change is the greatest public health challenge of the 21st century. While previous studies have proposed numerous pathways of climate-related health impacts, the “climate penalty” effect via air quality remains poorly understood. Here, we examine the sensitivities of surface fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone concentrations to summer mean temperature anomalies in the contiguous US, by leveraging high-resolution (1×1 km2) datasets derived from remote sensing and machine learning models. The results indicate higher PM2.5 and ozone levels in warmer summers compared to the cooler summers in most regions of the US. GEOS-Chem simulations indicate that the observed PM2.5-temperature sensitivity in the Southeast US is mostly attributable to the aqueous-phase formation of secondary organic aerosol, while the PM2.5-temperature sensitivity in the Western US is largely due to wildfires. Statistical analyses suggest that the mediation effect of air pollution can explain a significant fraction of the association between summer temperature and various cardiovascular and respiratory outcomes.