Weather conditions conducive to Beijing severe haze more frequent under climate change (2024)

Table of Contents
Abstract Access options Additional access options: Similar content being viewed by others 2023 summer warmth unparalleled over the past 2,000 years Heat health risk assessment in Philippine cities using remotely sensed dataand social-ecological indicators Climate damage projections beyond annual temperature References Acknowledgements Author information Authors and Affiliations Contributions Corresponding author Ethics declarations Competing interests Supplementary information Supplementary Information Rights and permissions About this article Cite this article This article is cited by Substantially reducing global PM2.5-related deaths under SDG3.9 requires better air pollution control and healthcare Anthropogenic warming degrades spring air quality in Northeast Asia by enhancing atmospheric stability and transboundary transport Influence of the mid-high-latitude Eurasian ISO on PM2.5 concentration anomaly in North China during boreal winter Predicting PM2.5 Concentration in the Yangtze River Delta Region Using Climate System Monitoring Indices and Machine Learning Co-benefits of carbon neutrality in enhancing and stabilizing solar and wind energy References

Abstract

The frequency of Beijing winter severe haze episodes has increased substantially over the past decades1,2,3,4, and is commonly attributed to increased pollutant emissions from China’s rapid economic development5,6. During such episodes, levels of fine particulate matter are harmful to human health and the environment, and cause massive disruption to economic activities3,4,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,14,15,16, as occurred in January 201317,18,19,20,21. Conducive weather conditions are an important ingredient of severe haze episodes3,21, and include reduced surface winter northerlies3,21, weakened northwesterlies in the midtroposphere, and enhanced thermal stability of the lower atmosphere1,3,16,21. How such weather conditions may respond to climate change is not clear. Here we project a 50% increase in the frequency and an 80% increase in the persistence of conducive weather conditions similar to those in January 2013, in response to climate change. The frequency and persistence between the historical (1950–1999) and future (2050–2099) climate were compared in 15 models under Representative Concentration Pathway 8.5 (RCP8.5)22. The increased frequency is consistent with large-scale circulation changes, including an Arctic Oscillation upward trend23,24, weakening East Asian winter monsoon25,26, and faster warming in the lower troposphere27,28. Thus, circulation changes induced by global greenhouse gas emissions can contribute to the increased Beijing severe hazefrequency.

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Weather conditions conducive to Beijing severe haze more frequent under climatechange (1)
Weather conditions conducive to Beijing severe haze more frequent under climatechange (2)
Weather conditions conducive to Beijing severe haze more frequent under climatechange (3)
Weather conditions conducive to Beijing severe haze more frequent under climatechange (4)
Weather conditions conducive to Beijing severe haze more frequent under climatechange (5)

Similar content being viewed by others

Weather conditions conducive to Beijing severe haze more frequent under climatechange (7)

Heat health risk assessment in Philippine cities using remotely sensed dataand social-ecological indicators

Article Open access 27 March 2020

Weather conditions conducive to Beijing severe haze more frequent under climatechange (8)

Climate damage projections beyond annual temperature

Article Open access 17 April 2024

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Acknowledgements

W.C. is supported by a Greencard Professor of the Ocean University of China, the Australian Climate Change Science Program, and a CSIRO Office of Chief Executive Science Leader award. H.L. is supported by the National Basic Research Program of China (973 program, Grant No. 2014CB441202) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under grant91544219.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Physical Oceanography Laboratory/CIMSST, Ocean University of China and Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, YushanRoad, Qingdao266003, China

    Wenju Cai&Lixin Wu

  2. CSIRO Oceans and Atmosphere, Aspendale, Victoria3195, Australia

    Wenju Cai

  3. Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100029, China

    Ke Li

  4. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing100049, China

    Ke Li

  5. School of Environmental Science and Engineering/Joint International Research Laboratory of Climate and Environment Change, Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology, Nanjing210044, China

    Hong Liao

  6. Collaborative Innovation Center on Forecast and Evaluation of Meteorological Disasters/Key Laboratory of Meteorological Disaster of Ministry of Education, Nanjing University for Information Science and Technology, Nanjing210044, China

    Huijun Wang

Authors

  1. Wenju Cai

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  2. Ke Li

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  3. Hong Liao

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  4. Huijun Wang

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  5. Lixin Wu

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Contributions

W.C. and H.L. conceived the study. W.C. and H.L. directed the analysis, and W.C. wrote the first draft of the paper with K.L. K.L. performed the analysis. All authors contributed to interpreting results, discussion of the associated dynamics, and improvement of thispaper.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hong Liao.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Weather conditions conducive to Beijing severe haze more frequent under climatechange (9)

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Cai, W., Li, K., Liao, H. et al. Weather conditions conducive to Beijing severe haze more frequent under climatechange. Nature Clim Change 7, 257–262 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nclimate3249

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Weather conditions conducive to Beijing severe haze more frequent under climate change (2024)

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