The World Meteorological Organization issues the Air Quality and Climate Bulletin No. 3 September 2023

Arab Weather - The World Meteorological Organization issued Bulletin No. 3 for air quality and climate in September 2023, which stated the following

• Climate change is increasing the frequency and intensity of heat waves, and air quality and climate change must be addressed together
• The European heat wave of 2022 will lead to more ozone pollution
• Wildfire smoke harms human health, the ecosystem, and crops
• Parks and trees can mitigate 'urban heat islands'

Climate change increases the intensity and frequency of heat waves and thus extreme heat, in addition to forest fires and dust waves in the desert, which significantly affects air quality, human health and the environment.

The World Meteorological Organization’s 2023 Air Quality and Climate Bulletin – the third for this year – highlighted heatwaves to draw attention to the fact that not only are high temperatures a risk but also the often-overlooked but equally harmful effects of pollution.

It also shows how heat waves are causing forest fires in the northwest of the United States and heat waves, accompanied by dust waves, coming from the desert across Europe, leading to dangerous air quality in 2022. It also includes case studies from Brazil showing how parks and tree-covered areas within cities can improve air quality. air, absorbing carbon dioxide and reducing temperatures, which benefits urban residents.

Details of the Air Quality and Climate Bulletin

Continuous climate change caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere occurs over decades to centuries, and leads to global environmental changes. On the other hand, air pollution occurs near the Earth's surface over days to weeks and at spatial scales ranging from local (such as urban centers) to regional (eg eastern United States, northern India, Amazonia).

Despite these differences, air quality and climate change are closely related. The Air Quality and Climate Bulletin issued by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) provides an annual report on the state of air quality and its relationship to climate change, reflecting on the geographical distribution of pollutants and changes in levels of conventional pollutants.

Traditional pollutants include active gases with a short life such as ozone, which is a gas that can be seen with difficulty in normal air, and a burial gas that heats the atmosphere. As for PM, it is a wide range of small particles suspended in the atmosphere that harm human health. Due to its complex properties, it can Cooling or heating the atmosphere as well.

Note the change in the number of days in the year with daily maximum temperatures above 35°C relative to baseline values ​​for the period 1850-1900, and 27 numerical models predict a world that will warm by 1.5°C.

Air quality and climate change

Air quality and climate are related because the chemical species that affect both are related, and because changes in one will necessarily cause changes in the other. Human activities that release long-lived greenhouse gases into the atmosphere also lead to an increase in the concentration of ozone and short-lived atmospheric particles in the atmosphere.

For example, the combustion of fossil fuels, which is a major source of carbon dioxide (CO2), also releases nitrogen oxide (NO) into the atmosphere, which leads to the formation of ozone and nitrate particles, as well as some agricultural activities that are major sources of methane, as they release ammonia, which then becomes ammonium particles.

Air quality, in turn, affects ecosystem health through atmospheric deposition (the process by which air pollutants settle from the atmosphere to the Earth's surface). This is also related to air quality and climate. Deposition of nitrogen, sulfur and ozone can negatively impact ecosystem services such as clean water, biodiversity and carbon storage and can affect agricultural crops.

Current Bulletin on Air Quality and Climate

The current edition of the World Meteorological Organization's Air Quality and Climate Bulletin provides an update on the global distribution of atmospheric particles in 2022, and reveals the ways in which heat waves affect the atmosphere. Heat waves are expected to become more severe with climate change, and the impact of many... of heat waves in 2022

Two other studies further detail the interconnections between atmospheric particles, climate and air quality. Increasing fire intensity in areas experiencing heatwaves could produce more atmospheric particle pollution, as happened in western North America in August and September 2022, while a Saharan air mass flow from North Africa into Europe brought heatwave conditions and Saharan dust in August. Year 2022.

In addition, the current edition of the Bulletin explores how the ongoing heatwave affecting Europe in June-August 2022 has affected ground-level ozone concentrations.

The current publication summarizes new discoveries that demonstrate the role that fires play in increasing nitrogen deposition, which can negatively impact ecosystems. It highlights the many and complex interactions between agriculture and air quality. In conclusion, the publication concludes how temperatures in cities can be exacerbated by the “urban heat island” effect and how urban areas can benefit from the presence of parks by cooling the ambient air and absorbing carbon dioxide (CO2).

Global atmospheric particle concentrations in 2022 recorded by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service

Inhalation of particles smaller than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5). Long periods pose a severe health risk (WHO, 2021). Human and natural sources contribute to PM2.5 pollution in varying proportions at the global level, and include emissions resulting from the combustion of fossil fuels, forest fires, and wind-blown desert dust. Figure 2(b), produced from PM2.5 data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) reanalysis showing mean surface PM2.5 concentrations for 2003-2022 and anomalies (absolute differences) for 2022 compared to mean values ​​for 2003-2022. (Figure 2(a)).

Inhaling particulate matter with a size of less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) over long periods is a serious health risk (WHO, 2021). Human and natural sources contribute variably to global PM2.5 pollution, and include emissions from fossil fuel combustion, forest fires, and wind-blown desert dust. Figure 2(b), based on PM2.5 data from the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service, shows mean surface concentrations of PM2.5 for the period 2003–2022 and deviations (absolute differences) in 2022 compared with mean values for the period from 2003 to 2022 (Fig. 2 (a)).