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Full-coverage mapping and spatiotemporal variations of ground-level ozone (O3) pollution from 2013 to 2020 across China
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  • Jing Wei,
  • Zhanqing Li,
  • Ke Li,
  • Russell R. Dickerson,
  • Rachel T. Pinker,
  • Jun Wang,
  • Xiong Liu,
  • Lin Sun,
  • Wenhao Xue,
  • Maureen Cribb
Jing Wei
University of Iowa

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Zhanqing Li
University of Maryland
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Ke Li
Harvard University
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Russell R. Dickerson
University of Maryland
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Rachel T. Pinker
University of Maryland
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Jun Wang
University of Iowa
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Xiong Liu
Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
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Lin Sun
Shandong University of Science and Technology
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Wenhao Xue
Beijing Normal University
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Maureen Cribb
University of Maryland
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Abstract

Ozone (O3) is an important trace and greenhouse gas in the atmosphere yet, and it threatens the ecological environment and human health at the ground level. Large-scale and long-term studies of O3 pollution in China are few due to highly limited direct measurements whose accuracy and density vary considerably. To overcome these limitations, we employed the ensemble learning method of the extremely randomized trees model by utilizing the spatiotemporal information of a large number of input variables from ground-based observations, remote sensing, atmospheric reanalysis, and model simulation products to estimate ground-level O3. This method yields uniform, long-term and continuous spatiotemporal information of daily maximum eight-hour average (MDA8) O3 over China (called ChinaHighO3) from 2013 to 2020 at a 10 km resolution without any missing values (spatial coverage = 100%). Evaluation against observations indicates that our O3 estimations and predictions are reliable with an average out-of-sample (out-of-station) coefficient of determination (CV-R2) of 0.87 (0.80) and root-mean-square error of 17.10 (21.10) μg/m3 [units here are at standard conditions (273K, 1013hPa)], and are also robust at varying spatial and temporal scales in China. This high-quality and full-coverage O3 dataset allows us to investigate the exposure and trends in O3 pollution at both long- and short-term scales. Trends in O3 concentrations varied substantially but showed an average growth rate of 2.49 μg/m3/yr (p < 0.001) from 2013 to 2020 in China. Most areas show an increasing trend since 2015, especially in summer ozone over the North China Plain. Our dataset accurately captured a recent national and regional O3 pollution event from 23 April to 8 May in 2020. Rapid increase and recovery of O3 concentrations associated with variations in anthropogenic emissions were seen during and after the COVID-19 lockdown, respectively. This carefully vetted and smoothed dataset is valuable for studies on air pollution and environmental health in China.
Mar 2022Published in Remote Sensing of Environment volume 270 on pages 112775. 10.1016/j.rse.2021.112775