ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Evaluation of Space-Time Pattern on Haze Polluttion and Associated Health Losses in the Yangtze River Delta of China
Haixia Zhao, Shufen Wang
 
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1Key Laboratory of Watershed Geographic Sciences, Nanjing Institute of Geography and Limnology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing 210008, China
 
 
Submission date: 2016-12-02
 
 
Final revision date: 2017-01-13
 
 
Acceptance date: 2017-01-16
 
 
Online publication date: 2017-07-05
 
 
Publication date: 2017-07-25
 
 
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2017;26(4):1885-1893
 
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ABSTRACT
Haze has become an important topic for discussion in relation to global atmospheric pollution prevention and control due to its environmental and health effects. In order to explore the change in the space-time pattern of haze in the Yangtze River Delta of China and the associated human health losses, this paper uses MODIS Level 2 aerosol products of 2000-14 as well as applying the Kriging interpolation method to analyze the characteristics of changes of aerosol optical depth (AOD). The human capital method is then applied to evaluate the health losses caused by haze pollution in 2004-13. The research proves that in the latest 15 years, the AOD in the Yangtze River Delta has fluctuately risen from 0.5645 in 2000 to 0.5841 in 2014, with the spatial distribution pattern higher in the north and lower in the south. The northern cities of Shanghai, the southern part of Jiangsu Province, and the Hangzhou Bay region have always registered highest values. This analysis also shows that elevated concentration has gradually spread toward the southern areas. Meanwhile, the health losses in the whole region and each city have tended to be aggravated; the health losses in southern cities are far lower than those in northern cities. For example, the southern cities of Zhoushan and Taizhou see the lowest health losses ($0.039 billion and $0.035 billion, respectively). Conversely, the highest health losses are located in the northern cities of Shanghai, at $13.60 billion. However, the growth rate of health losses in southern cities is obviously higher than that in northern cities as a result of pollution transfer at the average rates of 249.18% and 99.94%.
eISSN:2083-5906
ISSN:1230-1485
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