Search Results
Spatially explicit analysis identifies significant potential for bioenergy with carbon capture and storage in China
2021, Xing, Xiaofan, Wang, Rong, Bauer, Nico, Ciais, Philippe, Cao, Junji, Chen, Jianmin, Tang, Xu, Wang, Lin, Yang, Xin, Boucher, Olivier, Goll, Daniel, Peñuelas, Josep, Janssens, Ivan A., Balkanski, Yves, Clark, James, Ma, Jianmin, Pan, Bo, Zhang, Shicheng, Ye, Xingnan, Wang, Yutao, Li, Qing, Luo, Gang, Shen, Guofeng, Li, Wei, Yang, Yechen, Xu, Siqing
As China ramped-up coal power capacities rapidly while CO2 emissions need to decline, these capacities would turn into stranded assets. To deal with this risk, a promising option is to retrofit these capacities to co-fire with biomass and eventually upgrade to CCS operation (BECCS), but the feasibility is debated with respect to negative impacts on broader sustainability issues. Here we present a data-rich spatially explicit approach to estimate the marginal cost curve for decarbonizing the power sector in China with BECCS. We identify a potential of 222 GW of power capacities in 2836 counties generated by co-firing 0.9 Gt of biomass from the same county, with half being agricultural residues. Our spatially explicit method helps to reduce uncertainty in the economic costs and emissions of BECCS, identify the best opportunities for bioenergy and show the limitations by logistical challenges to achieve carbon neutrality in the power sector with large-scale BECCS in China.
Quantifying Water Scarcity in Northern China Within the Context of Climatic and Societal Changes and South-to-North Water Diversion
2020, Yin, Yuanyuan, Wang, Lei, Wang, Zhongjing, Tang, Qiuhong, Piao, Shilong, Chen, Deliang, Xia, Jun, Conradt, Tobias, Liu, Junguo, Wada, Yoshihide, Cai, Ximing, Xie, Zhenghui, Duan, Qingyun, Li, Xiuping, Zhou, Jing, Zhang, Jianyun
With the increasing pressure from population growth and economic development, northern China (NC) faces a grand challenge of water scarcity, which can be further exacerbated by climatic and societal changes. The South-to-North Water Diversion (SNWD) project is designed to mitigate the water scarcity in NC. However, few studies have quantified the impact of the SNWD on water scarcity within the context of climatic and societal changes and its potential effects on economic and agricultural food in the region. We used water supply stress index (WaSSI) to quantify water scarcity within the context of environmental change in NC and developed a method to estimate the economic and agricultural impacts of the SNWD. Focuses were put on alleviating the water supply shortage and economic and agricultural benefits for the water-receiving NC. We find that societal changes, especially economic growth, are the major contributors to water scarcity in NC during 2009–2099. To completely mitigate the water scarcity of NC, at least an additional water supply of 13 billion m3/year (comparable to the annual diversion water by SNWD Central Route) will be necessary. Although SNWD alone cannot provide the full solution to NC's water shortage in next few decades, it can significantly alleviate the water supply stress in NC (particularly Beijing), considerably increasing the agricultural production (more than 115 Tcal/year) and bringing economic benefits (more than 51 billion RMB/year) through supplying industrial and domestic water use. Additionally, the transfer project could have impacts on the ecological environment in the exporting regions. ©2020. The Authors.
Short term association between ozone and mortality: global two stage time series study in 406 locations in 20 countries
2020, Vicedo-Cabrera, Ana M., Sera, Francesco, Liu, Cong, Armstrong, Ben, Milojevic, Ai, Guo, Yuming, Tong, Shilu, Lavigne, Eric, Kyselý, Jan, Urban, Aleš, Orru, Hans, Indermitte, Ene, Pascal, Mathilde, Huber, Veronika, Schneider, Alexandra, Katsouyanni, Klea, Samoli, Evangelia, Stafoggia, Massimo, Scortichini, Matteo, Hashizume, Masahiro, Honda, Yasushi, Ng, Chris Fook Sheng, Hurtado-Diaz, Magali, Cruz, Julio, Silva, Susana, Madureira, Joana, Scovronick, Noah, Garland, Rebecca M., Kim, Ho, Tobias, Aurelio, Íñiguez, Carmen, Forsberg, Bertil, Åström, Christofer, Ragettli, Martina S., Röösli, Martin, Guo, Yue-Liang Leon, Chen, Bing-Yu, Zanobetti, Antonella, Schwartz, Joel, Bell, Michelle L., Kan, Haidong, Gasparrini, Antonio
Objective To assess short term mortality risks and excess mortality associated with exposure to ozone in several cities worldwide. Design Two stage time series analysis. Setting 406 cities in 20 countries, with overlapping periods between 1985 and 2015, collected from the database of Multi-City Multi-Country Collaborative Research Network. Population Deaths for all causes or for external causes only registered in each city within the study period. Main outcome measures Daily total mortality (all or non-external causes only). Results A total of 45 165 171 deaths were analysed in the 406 cities. On average, a 10 μg/m 3 increase in ozone during the current and previous day was associated with an overall relative risk of mortality of 1.0018 (95% confidence interval 1.0012 to 1.0024). Some heterogeneity was found across countries, with estimates ranging from greater than 1.0020 in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Estonia, and Canada to less than 1.0008 in Mexico and Spain. Short term excess mortality in association with exposure to ozone higher than maximum background levels (70 μg/m 3) was 0.26% (95% confidence interval 0.24% to 0.28%), corresponding to 8203 annual excess deaths (95% confidence interval 3525 to 12 840) across the 406 cities studied. The excess remained at 0.20% (0.18% to 0.22%) when restricting to days above the WHO guideline (100 μg/m 3), corresponding to 6262 annual excess deaths (1413 to 11 065). Above more lenient thresholds for air quality standards in Europe, America, and China, excess mortality was 0.14%, 0.09%, and 0.05%, respectively. Conclusions Results suggest that ozone related mortality could be potentially reduced under stricter air quality standards. These findings have relevance for the implementation of efficient clean air interventions and mitigation strategies designed within national and international climate policies. © Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to.
Near-real-time monitoring of global CO2 emissions reveals the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic
2020, Liu, Zhu, Ciais, Philippe, Deng, Zhu, Lei, Ruixue, Davis, Steven J., Feng, Sha, Zheng, Bo, Cui, Duo, Dou, Xinyu, Zhu, Biqing, Guo, Rui, Ke, Piyu, Sun, Taochun, Lu, Chenxi, He, Pan, Wang, Yuan, Yue, Xu, Wang, Yilong, Lei, Yadong, Zhou, Hao, Cai, Zhaonan, Wu, Yuhui, Guo, Runtao, Han, Tingxuan, Xue, Jinjun, Boucher, Olivier, Boucher, Eulalie, Chevallier, Frédéric, Tanaka, Katsumasa, Wei, Yiming, Zhong, Haiwang, Kang, Chongqing, Zhang, Ning, Chen, Bin, Xi, Fengming, Liu, Miaomiao, Bréon, François-Marie, Lu, Yonglong, Zhang, Qiang, Guan, Dabo, Gong, Peng, Kammen, Daniel M., He, Kebin, Schellnhuber, Hans Joachim
The COVID-19 pandemic is impacting human activities, and in turn energy use and carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Here we present daily estimates of country-level CO2 emissions for different sectors based on near-real-time activity data. The key result is an abrupt 8.8% decrease in global CO2 emissions (−1551 Mt CO2) in the first half of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. The magnitude of this decrease is larger than during previous economic downturns or World War II. The timing of emissions decreases corresponds to lockdown measures in each country. By July 1st, the pandemic’s effects on global emissions diminished as lockdown restrictions relaxed and some economic activities restarted, especially in China and several European countries, but substantial differences persist between countries, with continuing emission declines in the U.S. where coronavirus cases are still increasing substantially.
September 2019 Antarctic Sudden Stratospheric Warming: Quasi-6-Day Wave Burst and Ionospheric Effects
2020, Yamazaki, Y., Matthias, V., Miyoshi, Y., Stolle, C., Siddiqui, T., Kervalishvili, G., Laštovička, J., Kozubek, M., Ward, W., Themens, D.R., Kristoffersen, S., Alken, P.
An exceptionally strong stationary planetary wave with Zonal Wavenumber 1 led to a sudden stratospheric warming (SSW) in the Southern Hemisphere in September 2019. Ionospheric data from European Space Agency's Swarm satellite constellation mission show prominent 6-day variations in the dayside low-latitude region at this time, which can be attributed to forcing from the middle atmosphere by the Rossby normal mode “quasi-6-day wave” (Q6DW). Geopotential height measurements by the Microwave Limb Sounder aboard National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Aura satellite reveal a burst of global Q6DW activity in the mesosphere and lower thermosphere during the SSW, which is one of the strongest in the record. The Q6DW is apparently generated in the polar stratosphere at 30–40 km, where the atmosphere is unstable due to strong vertical wind shear connected with planetary wave breaking. These results suggest that an Antarctic SSW can lead to ionospheric variability through wave forcing from the middle atmosphere. ©2020. The Authors.
Global, regional, and national burden of mortality associated with non-optimal ambient temperatures from 2000 to 2019: a three-stage modelling study
2021, Zhao, Qi, Guo, Yuming, Ye, Tingting, Gasparrini, Antonio, Tong, Shilu, Overcenco, Ala, Urban, Aleš, Schneider, Alexandra, Entezari, Alireza, Vicedo-Cabrera, Ana Maria, Zanobetti, Antonella, Analitis, Antonis, Zeka, Ariana, Tobias, Aurelio, Nunes, Baltazar, Alahmad, Barrak, Armstrong, Ben, Forsberg, Bertil, Pan, Shih-Chun, Íñiguez, Carmen, Ameling, Caroline, De la Cruz Valencia, César, Åström, Christofer, Houthuijs, Danny, Dung, Do Van, Royé, Dominic, Indermitte, Ene, Lavigne, Eric, Mayvaneh, Fatemeh, Acquaotta, Fiorella, de'Donato, Francesca, Di Ruscio, Francesco, Sera, Francesco, Carrasco-Escobar, Gabriel, Kan, Haidong, Orru, Hans, Kim, Ho, Holobaca, Iulian-Horia, Kyselý, Jan, Madureira, Joana, Schwartz, Joel, Jaakkola, Jouni J. K., Katsouyanni, Klea, Hurtado Diaz, Magali, Ragettli, Martina S., Hashizume, Masahiro, Pascal, Mathilde, de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio Coélho, Micheline, Valdés Ortega, Nicolás, Ryti, Niilo, Scovronick, Noah, Michelozzi, Paola, Matus Correa, Patricia, Goodman, Patrick, Nascimento Saldiva, Paulo Hilario, Abrutzky, Rosana, Osorio, Samuel, Rao, Shilpa, Fratianni, Simona, Dang, Tran Ngoc, Colistro, Valentina, Huber, Veronika, Lee, Whanhee, Seposo, Xerxes, Honda, Yasushi, Guo, Yue Leon, Bell, Michelle L., Li, Shanshan
Background: Exposure to cold or hot temperatures is associated with premature deaths. We aimed to evaluate the global, regional, and national mortality burden associated with non-optimal ambient temperatures. Methods: In this modelling study, we collected time-series data on mortality and ambient temperatures from 750 locations in 43 countries and five meta-predictors at a grid size of 0·5° × 0·5° across the globe. A three-stage analysis strategy was used. First, the temperature–mortality association was fitted for each location by use of a time-series regression. Second, a multivariate meta-regression model was built between location-specific estimates and meta-predictors. Finally, the grid-specific temperature–mortality association between 2000 and 2019 was predicted by use of the fitted meta-regression and the grid-specific meta-predictors. Excess deaths due to non-optimal temperatures, the ratio between annual excess deaths and all deaths of a year (the excess death ratio), and the death rate per 100 000 residents were then calculated for each grid across the world. Grids were divided according to regional groupings of the UN Statistics Division. Findings: Globally, 5 083 173 deaths (95% empirical CI [eCI] 4 087 967–5 965 520) were associated with non-optimal temperatures per year, accounting for 9·43% (95% eCI 7·58–11·07) of all deaths (8·52% [6·19–10·47] were cold-related and 0·91% [0·56–1·36] were heat-related). There were 74 temperature-related excess deaths per 100 000 residents (95% eCI 60–87). The mortality burden varied geographically. Of all excess deaths, 2 617 322 (51·49%) occurred in Asia. Eastern Europe had the highest heat-related excess death rate and Sub-Saharan Africa had the highest cold-related excess death rate. From 2000–03 to 2016–19, the global cold-related excess death ratio changed by −0·51 percentage points (95% eCI −0·61 to −0·42) and the global heat-related excess death ratio increased by 0·21 percentage points (0·13–0·31), leading to a net reduction in the overall ratio. The largest decline in overall excess death ratio occurred in South-eastern Asia, whereas excess death ratio fluctuated in Southern Asia and Europe. Interpretation: Non-optimal temperatures are associated with a substantial mortality burden, which varies spatiotemporally. Our findings will benefit international, national, and local communities in developing preparedness and prevention strategies to reduce weather-related impacts immediately and under climate change scenarios. Funding: Australian Research Council and the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. © 2021 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 license
Oblique Gravity Wave Propagation During Sudden Stratospheric Warmings
2020, Stephan, C.C., Schmidt, H., Zülicke, C., Matthias, V.
Gravity waves (GWs) are important for coupling the mesosphere to the lower atmosphere during sudden stratospheric warmings (SSWs). Here, a minor SSW is internally generated in a simulation with the upper-atmosphere configuration of the ICOsahedral Nonhydrostatic model. At a horizontal resolution of 20 km the simulation uses no GW drag parameterizations but resolves large fractions of the GW spectrum explicitly, including orographic and nonorographic sources. Consistent with previous studies, the simulated zonal-mean stratospheric warming is accompanied by zonal-mean mesospheric cooling. During the course of the SSW the mesospheric GW momentum flux (GWMF) turns from mainly westward to mainly eastward. Waves of large phase speed (40–80 m s -1) dominate the eastward GWMF during the peak phase of the warming. The GWMF is strongest along the polar night jet axis. Parameterizations of GWs usually assume straight upward propagation, but this assumption is often not satisfied. In the case studied here, a substantial amount of the GWMF is significantly displaced horizontally between the source region and the dissipation region, implying that the local impact of GWs on the mesosphere does not need to be above their local transmission through the stratosphere. The simulation produces significant vertically misaligned anomalies between the stratosphere and mesosphere. Observations by the Microwave Limb Sounder confirm the poleward tilt with height of the polar night jet and horizontal displacements between mesospheric cooling and stratospheric warming patterns. Thus, lateral GW propagation may be required to explain the middle-atmosphere temperature evolution in SSW events with significant zonally asymmetric anomalies. ©2019. The Authors.
Early Warning of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation Phase Transition Using Complex Network Analysis
2021, Lu, Zhenghui, Yuan, Naiming, Yang, Qing, Ma, Zhuguo, Kurths, Jürgen
Obtaining an efficient prediction of the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) phase transition is a worldwide challenge. Here, we employed the climate network analysis to uncover early warning signals prior to a PDO phase transition. This way an examination of cooperative behavior in the PDO region revealed an enhanced signal that propagated from the western Pacific to the northwest coast of North America. The detection of this signal corresponds very well to the time when the upper ocean heat content in the off-equatorial northwestern tropical Pacific reaches a threshold, in which case a PDO phase transition may be expected with the arising of the next El Ni urn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl61986:grl61986-math-0001o/La Niurn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl61986:grl61986-math-0002 a event. The objectively detected early warning signal successfully forewarned all the six PDO phase transitions from the 1890–2000, and also underpinned the possible PDO phase transition around 2015, which may be triggered by the strong El Niurn:x-wiley:00948276:media:grl61986:grl61986-math-0003o event in 2015–2016.
Short term associations of ambient nitrogen dioxide with daily total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality: multilocation analysis in 398 cities
2021, Meng, Xia, Liu, Cong, Chen, Renjie, Sera, Francesco, Vicedo-Cabrera, Ana Maria, Milojevic, Ai, Guo, Yuming, Tong, Shilu, Coelho, Micheline de Sousa Zanotti Stagliorio, Saldiva, Paulo Hilario Nascimento, Lavigne, Eric, Correa, Patricia Matus, Ortega, Nicolas Valdes, Osorio, Samuel, Garcia, null, Kyselý, Jan, Urban, Aleš, Orru, Hans, Maasikmets, Marek, Jaakkola, Jouni J. K., Ryti, Niilo, Huber, Veronika, Schneider, Alexandra, Katsouyanni, Klea, Analitis, Antonis, Hashizume, Masahiro, Honda, Yasushi, Ng, Chris Fook Sheng, Nunes, Baltazar, Teixeira, João Paulo, Holobaca, Iulian Horia, Fratianni, Simona, Kim, Ho, Tobias, Aurelio, Íñiguez, Carmen, Forsberg, Bertil, Åström, Christofer, Ragettli, Martina S., Guo, Yue-Liang Leon, Pan, Shih-Chun, Li, Shanshan, Bell, Michelle L., Zanobetti, Antonella, Schwartz, Joel, Wu, Tangchun, Gasparrini, Antonio, Kan, Haidong
Objective To evaluate the short term associations between nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality across multiple countries/regions worldwide, using a uniform analytical protocol. Design Two stage, time series approach, with overdispersed generalised linear models and multilevel meta-analysis. Setting 398 cities in 22 low to high income countries/regions. Main outcome measures Daily deaths from total (62.8 million), cardiovascular (19.7 million), and respiratory (5.5 million) causes between 1973 and 2018. Results On average, a 10 μg/m3 increase in NO2 concentration on lag 1 day (previous day) was associated with 0.46% (95% confidence interval 0.36% to 0.57%), 0.37% (0.22% to 0.51%), and 0.47% (0.21% to 0.72%) increases in total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality, respectively. These associations remained robust after adjusting for co-pollutants (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤10 μm or ≤2.5 μm (PM10 and PM2.5, respectively), ozone, sulfur dioxide, and carbon monoxide). The pooled concentration-response curves for all three causes were almost linear without discernible thresholds. The proportion of deaths attributable to NO2 concentration above the counterfactual zero level was 1.23% (95% confidence interval 0.96% to 1.51%) across the 398 cities. Conclusions This multilocation study provides key evidence on the independent and linear associations between short term exposure to NO2 and increased risk of total, cardiovascular, and respiratory mortality, suggesting that health benefits would be achieved by tightening the guidelines and regulatory limits of NO2.