The spatially heterogeneous response of aerosol properties to anthropogenic activities and meteorology changes in China during 1980-2018 based on the singular value decomposition method.

The unsustainable and rapid economy development brings air pollution prominently in China. In the last decade, the haze weather and its influencing mechanism across China have received increasingly attention. Although previous research has extensively focused on the characteristics of aerosols, better understanding of long-term variation in aerosols and their determinants since the Reform and Opening-up still lack in China. Furthermore, the previous studies exploring the influencing mechanism behind haze episodes by using statistical method only reflect correlation between pollutant concentration and indicators at single station, which cannot consider the remote influences resulting from atmosphere transport. In this research, we investigated the spatiotemporal pattern of aerosol optical depth (AOD) and aerosol species in China during 1980-2018 and explored the spatially heterogeneous response of AOD and aerosol component to meteorological conditions and urbanization based on singular value decomposition (SVD) method. The results indicated that AOD exhibited an upward trend in nearly 40 years, especially in eastern China with the fastest growth of sulfate aerosol. The heterogeneity of determinants revealed a great gap in anthropogenic activities and meteorological influences on aerosol varing regions. In eastern China, anthropogenic activities should be closely monitored. Besides, scientific desert governance and urban construction exert positive impact on air pollution in Xinjiang province.