India suffers from severe fine particulate matter (PM2.5) air pollution in winter that harms public health and disrupts economic activities. Seasonal prediction of pollution severity could facilitate proactive mitigation planning but is hindered by incomplete understanding of the drivers of pollution variations. Here, using over a decade of quality-controlled Indian government PM2.5 monitoring data, we find that ∼70% of the interannual variations in winter PM2.5 pollution across northern India are explained by western disturbances (WDs)—prevailing extratropical storms originating from the Mediterranean region—through PM2.5 removal via enhanced ventilation and precipitation. These WDs are regulated by the location and strength of the subtropical jet traceable to sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies across the North Atlantic and tropical Indian Ocean during the preceding autumn. Using these preseason SST anomalies, we demonstrate the potential to predict winter WD precipitation and PM2.5 pollution severity one season ahead, with good agreement with observations (r2 = 0.52 to 0.69), which could facilitate proactive public policies and stakeholder mitigation actions.
Air pollution in Serbia is characterized by pronounced seasonal variability, with the heating period representing the most critical phase in terms of fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Understanding both short-term dynamics and the spatial distribution of PM2.5 in urban environments remains a key challenge. This study fo...
Sonja Dmitrašinović, Miljan Šunjević, Maja Brborić et al.· PROCEEDINGS 13th Internation...· 0 citations
Compound heat and ozone (O3) pollution events are widespread and pose significant health risks in urban areas. In the Southern Great Plains (SGP), where heat waves are becoming more frequent and intense, these compound events represent a growing environmental and public health concern, underscoring the need for improve...
Xiao-Ming Hu, Cheng-Hao Wang, Si-Qi Ma et al.· Journal of Geophysical Resea...· 0 citations
Despite significant emission controls, severe PM2.5 pollution persists in China under unfavorable meteorological conditions. Surface-based inversions (SBIs) suppress vertical mixing, but their diurnal characteristics remain poorly understood due to the limited temporal resolution of conventional radiosondes. This study...
PM2.5 is a major air pollutant with diverse natural and anthropogenic sources, which significantly impacts human health and the environment. Remote sensing serves as a complementary resource for air-monitoring networks, providing valuable information on the spatiotemporal patterns of air pollutants at a global scale Th...
Angélica Neria-Hernández, X. Antonio-Némiga, Francisco Zepeda-Mondragón et al.· Environmental Research and T...· 0 citations
Fine particulate matter (PM2.5)and ozone (O3) compound pollution poses an important air-quality challenge in rapidly industrializing regions, and their relationships are affected by complex emission, chemical, and meteorological processes. This study investigates the long-term variations in PM2.5 and O3 and their relat...
