Rapid growth in nitrogen dioxide pollution over Western China, 2005–2013

Cui, Yuanzheng; Lin, Jintai; Song, Chunqiao; Liu, Mengyao; Yan, Yingying; Xu, Yuan; Huang, Bo

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6207-2016

Articles | Volume 16, issue 10

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6207-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Special issue:

East Asia emissions assessment (EA2)

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-6207-2016

© Author(s) 2016. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Articles | Volume 16, issue 10

Research article

|

20 May 2016

Research article |

| 20 May 2016

Rapid growth in nitrogen dioxide pollution over Western China, 2005–2013

Yuanzheng Cui, Jintai Lin, Chunqiao Song, Mengyao Liu, Yingying Yan, Yuan Xu, and Bo Huang

Data sets

OMI NO2 data set DOMINO v2 K. F. Boersma, H. J. Eskes, R. J. Dirksen, R. J. van der A, J. P. Veefkind, P. Stammes, V. Huijnen, Q. L. Kleipool, M. Sneep, J. Claas, J. Leitao, A. Richter, Y. Zhou, and D. Brunner http://www.temis.nl/airpollution/no2.html

Short summary

We find rapid NO₂ growth over Western China over 2005–2013 at a rate which exceeds the rates over the well-known polluted regions in the east. A nested GEOS-Chem simulation and Chinese official emission data confirm that anthropogenic emissions are the main driver of NO₂ variations. Additional socioeconomic analysis suggests that this rapid NO₂ growth is likely related to the fast industrialization and urbanization along with the "Go West" movement as well as relatively weak emission controls.