Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 44, Issue 24, Pages 12527-12535Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1002/2017GL075905
Keywords
ozone; PM2; 5; AMO; multidecadal variability
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Funding
- National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences [R21ES022585]
- U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) [RD-83587201]
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We find that summertime air quality in the eastern U.S. displays strong dependence on North Atlantic sea surface temperatures, resulting from large-scale ocean-atmosphere interactions. Using observations, reanalysis data sets, and climate model simulations, we further identify a multidecadal variability in surface air quality driven by the Atlantic Multidecadal Oscillation (AMO). In one-half cycle (similar to 35years) of the AMO from cold to warm phase, summertime maximum daily 8h ozone concentrations increase by 1-4ppbv and PM2.5 concentrations increase by 0.3-1.0gm(-3) over much of the east. These air quality changes are related to warmer, drier, and more stagnant weather in the AMO warm phase, together with anomalous circulation patterns at the surface and aloft. If the AMO shifts to the cold phase in future years, it could partly offset the climate penalty on U.S. air quality brought by global warming, an effect which should be considered in long-term air quality planning.
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