Widespread 2013-2020 decreases and reduction challenges of organic aerosol in China.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 38796477.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/s41467-024-48902-0 and PMC identifier 11127919.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
High concentrations of organic aerosol (OA) occur in Asian countries, leading to great health burdens. Clean air actions have resulted in significant emission reductions of air pollutants in China. However, long-term nation-wide trends in OA and their causes remain unknown. Here, we present both observational and model evidence demonstrating widespread decreases with a greater reduction in primary OA than in secondary OA (SOA) in China during the period of 2013 to 2020. Most of the decline is attributed to reduced residential fuel burning while the interannual variability in SOA may have been driven by meteorological variations. We find contrasting effects of reducing NO<sub>x</sub> and SO<sub>2</sub> on SOA production which may have led to slight overall increases in SOA. Our findings highlight the importance of clean energy replacements in multiple sectors on achieving air-quality targets because of high OA precursor emissions and fluctuating chemical and meteorological conditions.