Topic
Air pollution
About: Air pollution is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 15407 publications have been published within this topic receiving 339089 citations. The topic is also known as: atmospheric pollution.
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TL;DR: The evidence for adverse effects on health of selected air pollutants is discussed, and it is unclear whether a threshold concentration exists for particulate matter and ozone below which no effect on health is likely.
4,010 citations
TL;DR: The results suggest that, in addition to mitigating primary particulate emissions, reducing the emissions of secondary aerosol precursors from fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning is likely to be important for controlling China’s PM2.5 levels and for reducing the environmental, economic and health impacts resulting from particulate pollution.
Abstract: Rapid industrialization and urbanization in developing countries has led to an increase in air pollution, along a similar trajectory to that previously experienced by the developed nations. In China, particulate pollution is a serious environmental problem that is influencing air quality, regional and global climates, and human health. In response to the extremely severe and persistent haze pollution experienced by about 800 million people during the first quarter of 2013 (refs 4, 5), the Chinese State Council announced its aim to reduce concentrations of PM2.5 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than 2.5 micrometres) by up to 25 per cent relative to 2012 levels by 2017 (ref. 6). Such efforts however require elucidation of the factors governing the abundance and composition of PM2.5, which remain poorly constrained in China. Here we combine a comprehensive set of novel and state-of-the-art offline analytical approaches and statistical techniques to investigate the chemical nature and sources of particulate matter at urban locations in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xi'an during January 2013. We find that the severe haze pollution event was driven to a large extent by secondary aerosol formation, which contributed 30-77 per cent and 44-71 per cent (average for all four cities) of PM2.5 and of organic aerosol, respectively. On average, the contribution of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) and secondary inorganic aerosol (SIA) are found to be of similar importance (SOA/SIA ratios range from 0.6 to 1.4). Our results suggest that, in addition to mitigating primary particulate emissions, reducing the emissions of secondary aerosol precursors from, for example, fossil fuel combustion and biomass burning is likely to be important for controlling China's PM2.5 levels and for reducing the environmental, economic and health impacts resulting from particulate pollution.
3,372 citations
TL;DR: Air pollution has both acute and chronic effects on human health, affecting a number of different systems and organs, and ranges from minor upper respiratory irritation to chronic respiratory and heart disease, lung cancer, acute respiratory infections in children and chronic bronchitis in adults.
3,000 citations
TL;DR: Increased mortality is associated with sulfate and fine particulate air pollution at levels commonly found in U.S. cities, although the increase in risk is not attributable to tobacco smoking, although other unmeasured correlates of pollution cannot be excluded with certainty.
Abstract: Time-series, cross-sectional, and prospective cohort studies have observed associations between mortality and particulate air pollution but have been limited by ecologic design or small number of subjects or study areas. The present study evaluates effects of particulate air pollution on mortality using data from a large cohort drawn from many study areas. We linked ambient air pollution data from 151 U.S. metropolitan areas in 1980 with individual risk factor on 552,138 adults who resided in these areas when enrolled in a prospective study in 1982. Deaths were ascertained through December, 1989. Exposure to sulfate and fine particulate air pollution, which is primarily from fossil fuel combustion, was estimated from national data bases. The relationships of air pollution to all-cause, lung cancer, and cardiopulmonary mortality was examined using multivariate analysis which controlled for smoking, education, and other risk factors. Although small compared with cigarette smoking, an association between mor...
2,792 citations
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01 Jan 1986
TL;DR: The Gaussian Plume Equation and Air Quality Models Atmospheric Removal Processes and Residence Times Air Pollution Statistics Acid Rain Index (AIRI) as mentioned in this paper, which measures the amount of acid rain in the air.
Abstract: Air Pollutants Effects of Air Pollution Sources of Pollutants in Combustion Processes Gas-Phase Atmospheric Chemistry Aqueous-Phase Atmospheric Chemistry Mass Transfer Aspects of Atmospheric Chemistry Properties of Aerosols Dynamics of Single Aerosol Particles Thermodynamics of Aerosols and Nucleation Theory Dynamics of Aerosol Population Air Pollution Meteorology Micrometeorology Atmospheric Diffusion Theories The Gaussian Plume Equation The Atmospheric Diffusion Equation and Air Quality Models Atmospheric Removal Processes and Residence Times Air Pollution Statistics Acid Rain Index.
2,708 citations