Articles | Volume 26, issue 2
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-851-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-851-2026
Research article
 | 
19 Jan 2026
Research article |  | 19 Jan 2026

Tracking surface ozone responses to clean air actions under a warming climate in China using machine learning

Jie Fang, Yunjiang Zhang, Didier Hauglustaine, Bo Zheng, Ming Wang, Jingyi Li, Yong Sun, Haiwei Li, Junfeng Wang, Yun Wu, Bin Yuan, Mindong Chen, and Xinlei Ge

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Cited articles

Agathokleous, E., Feng, Z., Oksanen, E., Sicard, P., Wang, Q., Saitanis, C. J., Araminiene, V., Blande, J. D., Hayes, F., Calatayud, V., Domingos, M., Veresoglou, S. D., Peñuelas, J., Wardle, D. A., De Marco, A., Li, Z., Harmens, H., Yuan, X., Vitale, M., and Paoletti, E.: Ozone affects plant, insect, and soil microbial communities: A threat to terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity, Sci. Adv., 6, eabc1176, https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abc1176, 2020. 
Bao, J., Li, X., Kong, L., Li, J., Chen, Q., and Zhang, Y.: Comparative analysis of the impact of rising temperatures on ozone levels in China and the United States, npj Clean Air, 1, 23, https://doi.org/10.1038/s44407-025-00023-8, 2025. 
Chen, S., Wang, H., Lu, K., Zeng, L., Hu, M., and Zhang, Y.: The trend of surface ozone in Beijing from 2013 to 2019: Indications of the persisting strong atmospheric oxidation capacity, Atmos. Environ., 242, 117801, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2020.117801, 2020. 
Chen, Y., Lu, X., and Fung, J. C. H.: Spatiotemporal source apportionment of ozone pollution over the Greater Bay Area, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8847–8864, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8847-2024, 2024. 
Dai, Q., Dai, T., Hou, L., Li, L., Bi, X., Zhang, Y., and Feng, Y.: Quantifying the impacts of emissions and meteorology on the interannual variations of air pollutants in major Chinese cities from 2015 to 2021, Sci. China Earth Sci., 66, 1725–1737, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11430-022-1128-1, 2023. 
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Short summary
Surface ozone pollution is a pressing global challenge driven by human activities and a warming climate. Using nationwide observations (2013–2023) across China together with satellite data, we developed a new machine learning approach to decouple the impacts of emission controls and weather changes. Our results show that while emission reductions improved ozone in some regions, climate change is increasingly offsetting these gains, underscoring the need for joint air quality and climate actions.
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