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Fiore AM, Naik V, Spracklen DV, Steiner A, Unger N, Prather M, Bergmann D, Cameron-Smith PJ, Cionni I, Collins WJ, Dalsøren S, Eyring V, Folberth GA, Ginoux P, Horowitz LW, Josse B, Lamarque JF, MacKenzie IA, Nagashima T, O'Connor FM et al
Chemical Society Reviews
Published date October 7, 2012

Global air quality and climate

  • States emissions of air pollutants and their precursors determine regional air quality and can alter climate
  • States climate change can perturb the long-range transport, chemical processing, and local meteorology that influence air pollution
  • Reviews the implications of projected changes in methane (CH(4)), ozone precursors (O(3)), and aerosols for climate (expressed in terms of the radiative forcing metric or changes in global surface temperature) and hemispheric-to-continental scale air quality
  • States reducing the O(3) precursor CH(4) would slow near-term warming by decreasing both CH(4) and tropospheric O(3)
  • States uncertainty remains as to the net climate forcing from anthropogenic nitrogen oxide (NO(x)) emissions, which increase tropospheric O(3) (warming) but also increase aerosols and decrease CH(4) (both cooling)
  • States anthropogenic emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and non-CH(4) volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) warm by increasing both O(3) and CH(4)
  • States that reducing sulfate and nitrate aerosols would improve air quality and lessen interference with the hydrologic cycle, but lead to warming
  • States that modeling and observational analyses suggest a warming climate degrades air quality (increasing surface O(3) and particulate matter) in many populated regions, including during pollution episodes

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