Variations of Haze Pollution in China Modulated by Thermal Forcing of the Western Pacific Warm Pool
Yingchang You,
Xugeng Cheng,
Tianliang Zhao,
Xiangde Xu,
Sunling Gong,
Xiaoye Zhang,
Yu Zheng,
Huizheng Che,
Chao Yu,
Jiacheng Chang,
Guoxu Ma,
Ming Wu
Affiliations
Yingchang You
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Science Information & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Xugeng Cheng
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Science Information & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Tianliang Zhao
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Science Information & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Xiangde Xu
State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Sunling Gong
Institute of Atmospheric Composition/Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry of China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Xiaoye Zhang
Institute of Atmospheric Composition/Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry of China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Yu Zheng
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Science Information & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Huizheng Che
Institute of Atmospheric Composition/Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry of China Meteorological Administration (CMA), Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China
Chao Yu
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Science Information & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Jiacheng Chang
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Science Information & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Guoxu Ma
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Science Information & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
Ming Wu
Key Laboratory for Aerosol-Cloud-Precipitation of China Meteorological Administration, School of Atmospheric Physics, Nanjing University of Science Information & Technology, Nanjing 210044, China
In addition to the impact of pollutant emissions, haze pollution is connected with meteorology and climate change. Based on the interannual change analyses of meteorological and environmental observation data from 1981 to 2010, we studied the relationship between the winter haze frequency in central-eastern China (CEC) and the interannual variations of sea surface temperature (SST) over Western Pacific Warm Pool (WPWP) and its underlying mechanism to explore the thermal effect of WPWP on haze pollution variation in China. The results show a significant positive correlation coefficient reaching up to 0.61 between the interannual variations of SST in WPWP and haze pollution frequency in the CEC region over 1981–2010, reflecting the WPWP’s thermal forcing exerting an important impact on haze variation in China. The anomalies of thermal forcing of WPWP could induce to the changes of East Asian winter monsoonal winds and the vertical thermal structures in the troposphere over the CEC region. In the winter with anomalously warm SST over the WPWP, the near-surface winds were declined, and vertical thermal structure in the lower troposphere tended to be stable over the CEC-region, which could be conducive to air pollutant accumulation leading to the more frequent haze occurrences especially the heavy haze regions of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) and Pearl River Delta (PRD); In the winter with the anomalously cold WPWP, it is only the reverse of warm WPWP with the stronger East Asian winter monsoonal winds and the unstable thermal structure in the lower troposphere, which could attribute to the less frequent haze pollution over the CEC region. Our study revealed that the thermal forcing of the WPWP could have a modulation on air environment change in China.
