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Climate change and the meteorological drivers of PM air pollution: Understanding U.S. particulate matter concentrations in a changing climate
Citation:
Dawson, J., B. Bloomer, D. Winner, AND C. Weaver. Climate change and the meteorological drivers of PM air pollution: Understanding U.S. particulate matter concentrations in a changing climate. BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY. American Meteorological Society, Boston, MA, 95(4):521-532, (2014).
Impact/Purpose:
This paper summarizes the state of research on the impacts of climate change on particulate matter air pollution in the US and suggests future directions for research on this topic.
Description:
Particulate matter (PM) air pollution is a serious public health issue for the United States. While there is a growing body of evidence that climate change will partially counter the effectiveness of future precursor emission reductions to reduce ozone (O3) air pollution, the links between PM and climate change are more complex and less understood. This paper discusses what we currently understand about the potential sensitivity of PM episodes to climate change related changes in air pollution meteorology, in the broader context of the emissions and atmospheric chemistry drivers of PM. For example, initial studies have focused largely on annual average concentrations of inorganic aerosol species, but the potential for future changes in the occurrence of PM episodes, and their underlying meteorological drivers, are likely more important to understand and remain highly uncertain. In addition, a number of other poorly understood factors, such as changes in emissions from wildfires and atmospheric processing of organic aerosol precursor chemicals, interact with these likely critical meteorological changes. More work is needed to support management of the health and environmental risks of climate induced changes in PM. We suggest five priorities for the research community to address based on the current state of the literature.
