Main description:

This handbook covers the air quality/air pollution from the viewpoints of causing impacts on human/ecosystem health and climate change. Traditionally, air pollution has been a concern mainly in terms of its impacts on human health, and it is still an immediate public and governmental concern in most Asian countries. However, in recent years so-called extreme weather events, such as stronger tropical cyclones, flooding, drought, and other phenomena, have been manifested causing tremendous losses of human lives and properties. Importantly, climate models tell us that such extreme weather events are actually induced by anthropogenic global warming. It has been pointed out that mitigation or alleviation of such climate change leading to the extreme weather events in the next 30 years can be possible only by reducing air pollutants with positive radiative forcing such as ozone or methane, which are called short-lived climate pollutants (SLCPs). Here, concerns about mitigation of air pollutants from the points of human health and climate change have merged.

This book covers different kinds of air pollutants and radiative forcers and how they can be measured. It also mentions the situation of air pollutants in different continents and their regional impacts to human health, environment and economy as well as their link to extreme weather events. The book presents how the air pollution and climate change can be mitigated and how clean air technologies and international initiatives for co-controlling air pollution and climate change have been developed.

Contents:

Part I Air Pollutants and Radiative Forcers (Jun'ichi Kurokawa)

I-1 Emissions

[Air pollutants (NOx, SO2, NH3, CO, VOCs, PAH, BC, OC)]

[Radiative Forcers (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC)]

[Natural emissions (biomass burning, volcanos, natural vegetation, wet lands)]

1. Historical Global Emissions of Air Pollutants and Radiative Forcers

2. Recent trends of Emissions of Air Pollutants and Radiative Forcers by Continent and Country

I-2 Instrumentation for Measurement of Air Pollutants and Radiative Forcers

3. Measurement of Gaseous Pollutants (O3, SO2, NO, NO2, CO, VOC, PAH)

4. Measurement of Gaseous Radiative Forcers (CO2, CH4, N2O, HFC)

5. Measurement of Aerosols (Ions, OC, BC, inorganic elements)

6. Measurement of Chemical Species of Organic Aerosols (POA, SOA)

Part II Air Pollution and its Impacts (Hiroshi Tanimoto)

II-1 Present Status of Air Quality and Air Pollution in a Global Perspective

[Air Pollution by PM2.5, O3, NOx/NO3- and SO2/SO42- focusing on Europe, North America and Asia]

7. Regional and Local Air Pollution in Europe

8. Regional and Local Air Pollution in North America

9. Regional and Local Air Pollution in Asia

10. Regional and Local Air Pollution in Southern Hemisphere (Oceania, Latin America, Africa)

11. Air Pollution in Arctic and Cryosphere

II-2 Impacts of Air Pollution on Human Health

[Respiratory, Cardiovascular Deseases and Carcinogenesis: Premature Deaths and Economic Loss] 12. Ozone/oxidants

13. Particulate Matter/PM2.5

14. PAH

15. SO2, NO2

II-3 Impacts on Forest Trees and Agricultural Crops

16. Adverse Effects of Ozone for Forest Trees

17. Adverse Effects of Ozone for Agricultural Crops

II-4 Acidification and Eutrophication of Lakes, Rivers and Ecosystem

18. Historical Evidence of Aquatic Acidification in Europe and North America

19. Eutrophication of Aquatic system and Forest and Their Adverse Effects

Part III Air Quality and Climate Change (Toshihiko Takemura)

III-1 Recent Extreme Weather Events

[Human Loss and Economical Damages]

20. Intensified Tropical Cyclones, and Typhoons in Asia

21. Intensified Hurricanes in North America and Caribbean Countries

22. Flooding and Draught in Asia

23. Flooding and Draught in Europe

24. Flooding and Draught in North America

25. Anomaly Weather in Other Continents

26. Climate change in Arctica

III-2 Historical Trends of Mixing Ratios and Radiative Forcing of Radiative Forcers

[CO2, CH4, O3, N2O, BC, and PM]

27. Historical Trends of Atmospheric Mixing Ratios of CO2, CH4, and N2O

28. Historical Trends of Atmospheric Mixing Ratios of O3, BC, and PM

III-3 What are Short-Lived Climate Pollutants (SLCP) ?

[CH4, O3, HFC and BC/OC]

[Basic Consideration on the Importance of Co-control of SLCPs and CO2]

29. Atmospheric Lifetime of Air Pollutants and Radiative Forcers

30. Relative Importance of CH4, O3, HFC/HCFC, and BC/OC on Radiative Forcing since Industrial Revolution

31. Effect of SLCP Co-control with CO2 for Future Global Warming

Part IV Mitigation of Air Pollution and Mid-term Climate Change (Kebin He)

IV-1 Energy Conversion and Energy Efficiency

[Past experiences of energy conversion to bring successful mitigation of air pollution]

32. Coal, Oil to Natural Gas

33. Fossil Fuel to Renewable Energy

34. Increase in Energy Efficiencies

IV-2 Clean Air Technologies

[Updated Technologies of Reducing Emissions of Air Pollutants and Radiative Forcers]

35. SO2

36. NOx

37. VOCs

38. NH3

39. CH4

40. BC/OC

41. HCFs and HCFCs

IV-3 International Initiative for Co-controlling Air Pollution and Climate Change

[Policy-related issues]

42. Climate and Clean Air Coalition (CCAC)

43. Other Initiatives (UN Environment and Others ?)