Air quality: Climate impacts
We investigate the links between climate change, ozone concentrations, and human health for the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region, with a focus on Delaware, using numerical models. This project is a collaboration between Prof. Archer, the Air Quality Division of DNREC (Delaware National Resources and Environmental control), and the Division of Energy and Climate of DNREC, supporting a PostDoc (Joe Brodie) in Fall 2016.
Along the U.S. East Coast, global warming is projected to cause temperature to increase by 2.5 to 5.5 °C and heat waves are expected to be more frequent, more intense, and last longer. Such increases in extreme temperatures are likely to have a negative impact on public health in Delaware, as high temperatures are associated with increased mortality. In addition to the direct effect from warming, another indirect health impact that is likely to be exacerbated by warming in Delaware comes from ozone (O3). In Delaware, ozone is the only pollutant that exceeds the national and state standards today. Ozone has large negative impacts on health, especially affecting the cardiopulmonary and respiratory systems.
Our results suggest that global warming will shift climatic conditions, resulting in worse air quality by increasing the number of days with high concentrations of ozone, as summarized in the UDaily press release (7/22/2019), in the absence of significant policy interventions on emission controls/reductions.
Related publications:
- Archer, C. L., J. F. Brodie, and S. Rauscher, 2019: Global warming will aggravate ozone pollution in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 58(6), 1267-1278, doi: 10.1175/JAMC-D-18-0263.1.
- Brodie, J. F., C. L. Archer, and S. A. Rauscher, 2017: Ozone pollution in Delaware: How does climate change influence ozone-related health? Delaware Journal of Public Health, 3(6), 6-11.
Last update: 1/17/2020