Population exposure to multiple air pollutants and its compound episodes in Europe

Air pollution remains as a substantial health problem, particularly regarding the combined health risks arising from simultaneous exposure to multiple air pollutants. However, understanding these combined exposure events over long periods has been hindered by sparse and temporally inconsistent monit...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inNature communications Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 2094 - 11
Main Authors Chen, Zhao-Yue, Petetin, Hervé, Méndez Turrubiates, Raúl Fernando, Achebak, Hicham, Pérez García-Pando, Carlos, Ballester, Joan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London Nature Publishing Group UK 13.03.2024
Nature Publishing Group
Nature Portfolio
Subjects
692/499
704/172/4081
Air pollution
Air quality
Air quality control
Exposure
Health risks
Humanities and Social Sciences
multidisciplinary
Nitrogen dioxide
Outdoor air quality
Particulate matter
Pollutants
Quality control
Science
Science (multidisciplinary)
Europe
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Air pollution remains as a substantial health problem, particularly regarding the combined health risks arising from simultaneous exposure to multiple air pollutants. However, understanding these combined exposure events over long periods has been hindered by sparse and temporally inconsistent monitoring data. Here we analyze daily ambient PM 2.5 , PM 10 , NO 2 and O 3 concentrations at a 0.1-degree resolution during 2003–2019 across 1426 contiguous regions in 35 European countries, representing 543 million people. We find that PM10 levels decline by 2.72% annually, followed by NO 2 (2.45%) and PM 2.5 (1.72%). In contrast, O 3 increase by 0.58% in southern Europe, leading to a surge in unclean air days. Despite air quality advances, 86.3% of Europeans experience at least one compound event day per year, especially for PM 2.5 -NO 2 and PM 2.5 -O 3 . We highlight the improvements in air quality control but emphasize the need for targeted measures addressing specific pollutants and their compound events, particularly amidst rising temperatures. European population exposure to most air pollutants has been reduced significantly, however for PM2.5 and O3, single pollutant and compound events remain a threat, particularly in Southern and Eastern Europe
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:2041-1723
2041-1723
DOI:10.1038/s41467-024-46103-3