Particulate Matter Pollution and Population Exposure Assessment over Mainland China in 2010 with Remote Sensing

Ling Yao and Ning Lu
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Ling Yao: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China
Ning Lu: State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environmental Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China

IJERPH, 2014, vol. 11, issue 5, 1-10

Abstract: The public is increasingly concerned about particulate matter pollution caused by respirable suspended particles (PM 10 ) and fine particles (PM 2.5 ). In this paper, PM 10 and PM 2.5 concentration are estimated with remote sensing and individual air quality indexes of PM 10 and PM 2.5 (IPM 10 and IPM 2.5 ) over mainland China in 2010 are calculated. We find that China suffered more serious PM 2.5 than PM 10 pollution in 2010, and they presented a spatial differentiation. Consequently, a particulate-based air quality index (PAQI) based on a weighting method is proposed to provide a more objective assessment of the particulate pollution. The study demonstrates that, in 2010, most of mainland China faced a lightly polluted situation in PAQI case; there were three areas obviously under moderate pollution (Hubei, Sichuan-Chongqing border region and Ningxia-Inner Mongolia border region). Simultaneously, two indicators are calculated with the combination of population density gridded data to reveal Chinese population exposure to PM 2.5 . Comparing per capita PM 2.5 concentration with population-weighted PM 2.5 concentration, the former shows that the high-level regions are distributed in Guangdong, Shanghai, and Tianjin, while the latter are in Hebei, Chongqing, and Shandong. By comparison, the results demonstrate that population-weighted PM 2.5 concentration is more in line with the actual situation.

Keywords: particulate matter pollution; population exposure; air quality assessment; remote sensing (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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