Publication Date

March 2010

Abstract

During July – September 2008 pollution controls in China associated with the Beijing Olympics led to emissions reductions of up to 43%, as observed by NASA satellite instruments. Pollution from China has an impact on air quality throughout East Asia. In this poster, we examine the impact of China's pollution on Japan through the use of Aura satellite data (2005 – 2009), ozonesonde data (2000 – 2009), and data from air quality surface monitors (2000 – 2009). We also examine the year-to-year variability in meteorological flow regimes through trajectory model simulations of transport to Japan from the areas around Beijing and Shanghai, China and around Seoul, South Korea in order to apportion remote sources of pollution. Data link the 6 August 2008 pollution event in Hokkaido to the Beijing region. We also find impacts of air from China on mean August ozone concentrations in Hokkaido and Kyushu, and significant trends in July – September tropospheric ozone profiles since 2000, particularly between 5 – 10 km, using the Sapporo ozonesonde data set from the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA, 2000 – 2009) and the our ozonesondes launched from Hokkaido University (2008 – 2009).

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