Division of Environment and Sustainability, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Department of Mathematics, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong SAR, China.
Environ Pollut. 2021 Feb 1;270:116003. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2020.116003. Epub 2020 Dec 1.
PM pollution has adverse health effects on humans. Urbanization and long-term meteorological variations play important roles in influencing the PM concentration and its associated health effects. Our results indicate that the urbanization process can enhance the PM concentration globally. The PM-caused mortality density (deaths/100 km) is also positively correlated with the urbanization degree in both developed and developing countries. The results from machine learning technique revealed that the meteorology-driven variation in PM-caused health burden has increased with the increase in the urbanization degree from 1980 to 2018, suggesting that residents living in urban areas are more vulnerable to experiencing unfavorable meteorological conditions (e.g. low wind speed and planetary boundary layer height). The maximum difference in PM-caused mortality due to the variation in annual meteorological conditions (between 2013 and 1986) was 270 600 (196 800-317 900). Our findings indicate an urgent need to understand the driving force behind the appearance of unfavorable meteorological situations and propose suitable climate mitigation measures.
PM 污染对人类健康有不良影响。城市化和长期气象变化在影响 PM 浓度及其相关健康影响方面起着重要作用。我们的结果表明，城市化进程可以在全球范围内增加 PM 浓度。在发达国家和发展中国家，由 PM 导致的死亡率（每 100 公里的死亡人数）也与城市化程度呈正相关。机器学习技术的结果表明，自 1980 年至 2018 年，城市化程度的增加导致由 PM 引起的健康负担的气象驱动变化增加，这表明居住在城市地区的居民更容易受到不利气象条件（例如，低风速和行星边界层高度）的影响。由于年度气象条件的变化导致的 PM 引起的死亡率的最大差异（在 2013 年和 1986 年之间）为 270600（196800-317900）。我们的研究结果表明，迫切需要了解不利气象情况出现的驱动力，并提出合适的气候缓解措施。
