Abstract
China has recently made available hourly air pollution data from over 1500 sites,
including airborne particulate matter (PM), SO
2
, NO
2
, and O
. We apply Kriging interpolation to
four months of data to derive pollution maps for eastern China. Consistent with prior findings,
the greatest pollution occurs in the east, but significant levels are widespread across northern and
central China and are not limited to major cities or geologic basins. Sources of pollution are
widespread, but are particularly intense in a northeast corridor that extends from near Shanghai
to north of Beijing. During our analysis period, 92% of the population of China experienced
>120 hours of unhealthy air (US EPA standard), and 38% experienced average concentrations
that were unhealthy. China’s population-weighted average exposure to PM
3
2.5
was 52 µg/m
.
The observed air pollution is calculated to contribute to 1.6 million deaths/year in China [0.7–2.2
million deaths/year at 95% confidence], roughly 17% of all deaths in China.
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