Climate Change Impact on Eco-biology and Socio-economy …
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2 Climate Change and Air Quality
Weather, instantaneous state of atmosphere, defined in terms of parameters viz. air
temperature, relative humidity, wind regime, and mixing height (the vertical height
of mixing in the atmosphere) and thus climate i.e. average weather over a region
play important roles in determining patterns of air quality over multiple temporal
and spatial scales (Kinney 2008). These connections can drive through alteration in
emission, transportation, dilution, chemical transformation, and ultimately dry and
wet deposition of air pollutants (Younger et al. 2008). There is growing concern that
development of most favourable control strategies for key pollutants like ozone and
fine particles demands proper assessment of potential future climatic conditions and
their influence on the achievement of air quality parameters (Bernard et al. 2001).
When framing policies to improve air quality and human health, meteorological
variables are usually taking into account. To determine when, where, and how to
control pollution emissions, it is assumed that weather reported in the past is a good
proxy for weather that will occur in the future (Bransford and Lai 2002).
Air-quality and climate have strong coupling (linear/non-linear). Most of the
sources of air pollutants also emit carbon dioxide, other Green House Gases, and/or
particulate matter that affect local, regional or global climate (Fiore et al. 2015).
These air pollutants interact with solar and terrestrial radiation and perturb the Earth’s
energy balance, leading to changes in regional or global climate (IPCC 2013). Climate change influences air-quality by changing the frequency, severity, and duration
of heat waves, air stagnation events, precipitation, and other meteorology conducive
to pollutant accumulation (Jacob and Winner 2009; Weaver et al. 2009; Ordóñez
et al. 2005; Tressol et al. 2008; Vieno et al. 2010).
It has been well established that the meteorology over a region influences the
air quality substantially. Patterns of air pollution concentrations in a specific region
are governed by this climate alteration. Increase in air temperature could speed-up
the thermo-chemical reactions that led to the formation of tropospheric ozone and
secondary aerosols. Under higher temperature and elevated carbon dioxide concentrations regime, vegetation emits more amounts of ozone-relevant Volatile Organic
Carbon precursors (Hogrefe et al. 2005). Studies examining empirical statistical relationships between meteorological parameters and observed ozone concentrations
have shown that higher temperatures typically result in increased simulated ozone
concentrations (Gaza 1998; Lin and Fiore 2001; Ordóñez et al. 2005; Vukovich
1995). Using an integrated Global Climate modelling approach, when future ozone
projections were examined, it was found that ozone concentrations (daily maximum
8-hours data) in the summer-season will be increased by 2.7, 4.2, and 5.0 parts
per billion (ppb) in the 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s, respectively, as compared to the
1990s, due to climate change alone (Hogrefe et al. 2004a, b). The influence of climate change on PM 2.5 aerosols and its constituent species have been investigated
in an integrated Global Climate Modelling system-based simulation study. In the
study it has been concluded that though PM 2.5 concentrations increased with climate
change, the effects varied with the variation of their component species. Sulphates
529
2 Climate Change and Air Quality
Weather, instantaneous state of atmosphere, defined in terms of parameters viz. air
temperature, relative humidity, wind regime, and mixing height (the vertical height
of mixing in the atmosphere) and thus climate i.e. average weather over a region
play important roles in determining patterns of air quality over multiple temporal
and spatial scales (Kinney 2008). These connections can drive through alteration in
emission, transportation, dilution, chemical transformation, and ultimately dry and
wet deposition of air pollutants (Younger et al. 2008). There is growing concern that
development of most favourable control strategies for key pollutants like ozone and
fine particles demands proper assessment of potential future climatic conditions and
their influence on the achievement of air quality parameters (Bernard et al. 2001).
When framing policies to improve air quality and human health, meteorological
variables are usually taking into account. To determine when, where, and how to
control pollution emissions, it is assumed that weather reported in the past is a good
proxy for weather that will occur in the future (Bransford and Lai 2002).
Air-quality and climate have strong coupling (linear/non-linear). Most of the
sources of air pollutants also emit carbon dioxide, other Green House Gases, and/or
particulate matter that affect local, regional or global climate (Fiore et al. 2015).
These air pollutants interact with solar and terrestrial radiation and perturb the Earth’s
energy balance, leading to changes in regional or global climate (IPCC 2013). Climate change influences air-quality by changing the frequency, severity, and duration
of heat waves, air stagnation events, precipitation, and other meteorology conducive
to pollutant accumulation (Jacob and Winner 2009; Weaver et al. 2009; Ordóñez
et al. 2005; Tressol et al. 2008; Vieno et al. 2010).
It has been well established that the meteorology over a region influences the
air quality substantially. Patterns of air pollution concentrations in a specific region
are governed by this climate alteration. Increase in air temperature could speed-up
the thermo-chemical reactions that led to the formation of tropospheric ozone and
secondary aerosols. Under higher temperature and elevated carbon dioxide concentrations regime, vegetation emits more amounts of ozone-relevant Volatile Organic
Carbon precursors (Hogrefe et al. 2005). Studies examining empirical statistical relationships between meteorological parameters and observed ozone concentrations
have shown that higher temperatures typically result in increased simulated ozone
concentrations (Gaza 1998; Lin and Fiore 2001; Ordóñez et al. 2005; Vukovich
1995). Using an integrated Global Climate modelling approach, when future ozone
projections were examined, it was found that ozone concentrations (daily maximum
8-hours data) in the summer-season will be increased by 2.7, 4.2, and 5.0 parts
per billion (ppb) in the 2020s, 2050s, and 2080s, respectively, as compared to the
1990s, due to climate change alone (Hogrefe et al. 2004a, b). The influence of climate change on PM 2.5 aerosols and its constituent species have been investigated
in an integrated Global Climate Modelling system-based simulation study. In the
study it has been concluded that though PM 2.5 concentrations increased with climate
change, the effects varied with the variation of their component species. Sulphates