Aerosol pollution in China: Present and future impact on environment

With its dense population, rapid economic growth and dramatic rate of urbanization, China is experiencing extreme air pollution problems. This is particularly the case in Central-Eastern China (CEC), where the two major cities of Beijing and Tianjin are located, in the Yangtze-River Delta (YRD) with the city of Shanghai, and in the Pearl-River Delta (PRD) with the mega-city of Guangzhou. Space observations show that the atmospheric aerosol load in these three regions is considerably higher than, for example, in the urbanized regions of Europe and North America. The high aerosol concentrations in these regions have raised many environmental problems, such as impact on human health, visibility, and climate changes. In this paper, several crucial issues regarding aerosol pollution in these highly populated regions (CEC, YRD, and PRD) are discussed, including (1) when the aerosol load starts to rapidly increase in these regions; (2) how the high aerosol concentrations affects the environment; and (3) what the potential consequences are under possible low aerosol load in these regions. Discussion on these crucial issues might lead to some insight for better understanding of the characterizations of aerosol pollution due to the rapid economical development in China.