Response of South Asia PM2.5 pollution to ammonia emission changes and associated impacts on human health
Countries in South Asia are suffering severe PM2.5 pollution with rapid economic development, impacting human health and the environment. Whilst much attention has been given to understanding the contribution of primary emissions, the contribution of agriculture to PM2.5 concentrations, especially f...
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Elsevier
2025-01-01
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| Series: | Environment International |
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| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024007943 |
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| author | Yuanlin Wang Eiko Nemitz Samuel J. Tomlinson Edward J. Carnell Liquan Yao Janice Scheffler Tomas Liska Clare Pearson Ulrike Dragosits Chandra Venkataraman Srinidhi Balasubramanian Rachel Beck Mark A. Sutton Massimo Vieno |
| author_facet | Yuanlin Wang Eiko Nemitz Samuel J. Tomlinson Edward J. Carnell Liquan Yao Janice Scheffler Tomas Liska Clare Pearson Ulrike Dragosits Chandra Venkataraman Srinidhi Balasubramanian Rachel Beck Mark A. Sutton Massimo Vieno |
| author_sort | Yuanlin Wang |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Countries in South Asia are suffering severe PM2.5 pollution with rapid economic development, impacting human health and the environment. Whilst much attention has been given to understanding the contribution of primary emissions, the contribution of agriculture to PM2.5 concentrations, especially from agricultural ammonia (NH3) emissions, remains less explored. Using an advanced regional atmospheric chemistry and transport modelling system (WRF-EMEP) with a new estimate of anthropogenic NH3 emissions inputs, we estimate the influence of agricultural NH3 emissions on surface PM2.5 in South Asia and evaluate the health impacts and the economic losses attributable to PM2.5 in 2018. Results show that WRF-EMEP can reproduce magnitudes and variations of PM2.5 well, with a high annual mean PM2.5 concentration that exceeds 120 µg/m2 and mainly appeared in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. We estimate 2,228,000 (95 % Confidence Interval: 2,052,000–2,400,000) premature deaths and US$ 596,000 (95 % CI: 549,000–642,000) million in economic losses are attributable to total ambient PM2.5 under the current emissions. We calculate that NH3 emissions are associated with 11 % of the annual average PM2.5 concentrations across South Asia. Changes in PM2.5 concentrations follow a non-linear response to NH3 emissions reductions, highlighting increased efficiency with 70 %–100 % reductions in NH3 emissions reductions. We estimate that 247,000 (227,000–265,000) premature deaths and US$ 66,000 (61,000–71,000) million economic losses through this pathway can be attributed to NH3 emissions. These findings confirm that in the current NH3-rich chemical environment of South Asia, the efficiency of PM2.5 reduction is only moderately sensitive to the reduction in intensity of NH3 emissions until emissions are cut very severely. Thus, SO2, NOx and NH3 emissions controls need to be considered jointly for greater mitigation of ambient secondary PM2.5 in South Asia. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-cb198a382543464f8aa32a5c52156198 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 0160-4120 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-01-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
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| series | Environment International |
| spelling | doaj-art-cb198a382543464f8aa32a5c521561982025-01-24T04:44:03ZengElsevierEnvironment International0160-41202025-01-01195109207Response of South Asia PM2.5 pollution to ammonia emission changes and associated impacts on human healthYuanlin Wang0Eiko Nemitz1Samuel J. Tomlinson2Edward J. Carnell3Liquan Yao4Janice Scheffler5Tomas Liska6Clare Pearson7Ulrike Dragosits8Chandra Venkataraman9Srinidhi Balasubramanian10Rachel Beck11Mark A. Sutton12Massimo Vieno13UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UK; Corresponding author at: UKCEH Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Bush Estate, Penicuik, Midlothian EH26 0QB, UK.UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UKUK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Lancaster, Bailrigg, Lancaster Environment Centre, LA1 4AP, UKUK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UKUK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UK; Department of Environmental Science, School of Resource and Environment, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang 453003, China; Department of Atmospheric Sciences, School of Environmental Studies, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, ChinaUK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UKUK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UKUK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UKUK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UKDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India; Center for Climate Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, IndiaCenter for Climate Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, India; Environmental Science and Engineering Department, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Powai, Mumbai, IndiaUK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UKUK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UKUK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology Edinburgh, Bush Estate, Penicuik EH26 0QB, UKCountries in South Asia are suffering severe PM2.5 pollution with rapid economic development, impacting human health and the environment. Whilst much attention has been given to understanding the contribution of primary emissions, the contribution of agriculture to PM2.5 concentrations, especially from agricultural ammonia (NH3) emissions, remains less explored. Using an advanced regional atmospheric chemistry and transport modelling system (WRF-EMEP) with a new estimate of anthropogenic NH3 emissions inputs, we estimate the influence of agricultural NH3 emissions on surface PM2.5 in South Asia and evaluate the health impacts and the economic losses attributable to PM2.5 in 2018. Results show that WRF-EMEP can reproduce magnitudes and variations of PM2.5 well, with a high annual mean PM2.5 concentration that exceeds 120 µg/m2 and mainly appeared in the Indo-Gangetic Plain. We estimate 2,228,000 (95 % Confidence Interval: 2,052,000–2,400,000) premature deaths and US$ 596,000 (95 % CI: 549,000–642,000) million in economic losses are attributable to total ambient PM2.5 under the current emissions. We calculate that NH3 emissions are associated with 11 % of the annual average PM2.5 concentrations across South Asia. Changes in PM2.5 concentrations follow a non-linear response to NH3 emissions reductions, highlighting increased efficiency with 70 %–100 % reductions in NH3 emissions reductions. We estimate that 247,000 (227,000–265,000) premature deaths and US$ 66,000 (61,000–71,000) million economic losses through this pathway can be attributed to NH3 emissions. These findings confirm that in the current NH3-rich chemical environment of South Asia, the efficiency of PM2.5 reduction is only moderately sensitive to the reduction in intensity of NH3 emissions until emissions are cut very severely. Thus, SO2, NOx and NH3 emissions controls need to be considered jointly for greater mitigation of ambient secondary PM2.5 in South Asia.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024007943PM2.5NH3 emissions changesAir pollutionHealth impactsEconomic losses |
| spellingShingle | Yuanlin Wang Eiko Nemitz Samuel J. Tomlinson Edward J. Carnell Liquan Yao Janice Scheffler Tomas Liska Clare Pearson Ulrike Dragosits Chandra Venkataraman Srinidhi Balasubramanian Rachel Beck Mark A. Sutton Massimo Vieno Response of South Asia PM2.5 pollution to ammonia emission changes and associated impacts on human health Environment International PM2.5 NH3 emissions changes Air pollution Health impacts Economic losses |
| title | Response of South Asia PM2.5 pollution to ammonia emission changes and associated impacts on human health |
| title_full | Response of South Asia PM2.5 pollution to ammonia emission changes and associated impacts on human health |
| title_fullStr | Response of South Asia PM2.5 pollution to ammonia emission changes and associated impacts on human health |
| title_full_unstemmed | Response of South Asia PM2.5 pollution to ammonia emission changes and associated impacts on human health |
| title_short | Response of South Asia PM2.5 pollution to ammonia emission changes and associated impacts on human health |
| title_sort | response of south asia pm2 5 pollution to ammonia emission changes and associated impacts on human health |
| topic | PM2.5 NH3 emissions changes Air pollution Health impacts Economic losses |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0160412024007943 |
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