Environ. Res. Lett. 7, 044034 (2012)

Ozone and particulate matter can accumulate in still atmospheric conditions and lead to harmful air quality. Climate change is altering global atmospheric circulation and precipitation patterns, which regulate the frequency of air stagnation.

Daniel Horton, of Stanford University USA, and co-workers used a multimodel ensemble of global climate models to investigate the response of the National Climatic Data Center air-stagnation index to global warming, up to the end of this century. Their results show the highly industrialized and highly populated regions of the eastern United States, Mediterranean Europe and eastern China have atmospheric conditions that are particularly vulnerable to global warming and increased stagnation of air.

Air quality is an area of concern as health can be greatly affected. This study shows that air quality could be affected by changing atmospheric conditions as a result of global warming. Further work is necessary to quantify the impacts of global warming on air quality, and the consequences for health.