Exploring the impacts of anthropogenic emission sectors on PM 2.5 and human health in South and East Asia

Abstract

Abstract. To improve poor air quality in Asia and inform effective\nemission-reduction strategies, it is vital to understand the contributions\nof different pollution sources and their associated human health burdens. In\nthis study, we use the WRF-Chem regional atmospheric model to explore the\nair quality and human health benefits of eliminating emissions from six\ndifferent anthropogenic sectors (transport, industry, shipping, electricity\ngeneration, residential combustion, and open biomass burning) over South and\nEast Asia in 2014. We evaluate WRF-Chem against measurements from air\nquality monitoring stations across the region and find the model captures\nthe spatial distribution and magnitude of PM 2.5 (particulate matter\nwith an aerodynamic diameter of no greater than 2.5\u2009 µ m). We find that\neliminating emissions from residential energy use, industry, or open biomass\nburning yields the largest reductions in population-weighted PM 2.5 \nconcentrations across the region. The largest human health benefit is\nachieved by eliminating either residential or industrial emissions, averting\n467\u2009000 (95\u2009% uncertainty interval (95UI): 409\u2009000–542\u2009000) or 283\u2009000\n(95UI: 226\u2009000–358\u2009000) annual premature mortalities, respectively, in India,\nChina, and South-east Asia, with fire prevention averting 28\u2009000 (95UI:\n24\u2009000–32\u2009000) annual premature mortalities across the region. We compare\nour results to previous sector-specific emission studies. Across these\nstudies, residential emissions are the dominant cause of particulate\npollution in India, with a multi-model mean contribution of 42\u2009% to\npopulation-weighted annual mean PM 2.5 . Residential and industrial\nemissions cause the dominant contributions in China, with multi-model mean\ncontributions of 29\u2009% for both sectors to population-weighted annual mean\nPM 2.5 . Future work should focus on identifying the most effective\noptions within the residential, industrial, and open biomass-burning emission\nsectors to improve air quality across South and East Asia.