Poor air quality causes an estimated 2.6–4.4 million premature deaths per year. Hazardous conditions form when meteorological components allow the accumulation of pollutants in the near-surface atmosphere. Global-warming-driven changes to atmospheric circulation and the hydrological cycle are expected to alter the meteorological components that control pollutant build-up and dispersal, but the magnitude, direction, geographic footprint and public health impact of this alteration remain unclear. We used an air stagnation index and an ensemble of bias-corrected climate model simulations to quantify the response of stagnation occurrence and persistence to global warming. Our analysis projects increases in stagnation occurrence that cover 55% of the current global population, with areas of increase affecting ten times more people than areas of decrease. By the late twenty-first century, robust increases of up to 40 days per year are projected throughout the majority of the tropics and subtropics, as well as within isolated mid-latitude regions.
Links:
[1] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/feature-article/occurrence-and-persistence-future-atmospheric-stagnation-events
[2] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/daniel-e-horton
[3] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/christopher-b-skinner
[4] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/author/deepti-singh-et-al
[5] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/journal/nature-climate-change
[6] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/air-pollution
[7] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/health-effects
[8] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/atmosphere
[9] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/global-warming
[10] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/ozone
[11] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/china
[12] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/pm-25
[13] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/russia
[14] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/asia
[15] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/africa
[16] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/united-states-america-us
[17] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/india
[18] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/mexico
[19] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/amazon
[20] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/green-house-gases
[21] http://admin.indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/category/thesaurus/air-quality-and-health