AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Editors' Highlight

Carbon dioxide can be linked to air pollution mortality

Rising carbon dioxide (CO₂) levels from burning fossil fuels have been linked to sea level changes, snowmelt, disease, heat stress, severe weather, and ocean acidification. Yet because it does not affect respiration directly, CO₂ is not considered a classic air pollutant. Noting that increasing levels of CO₂ cause temperature and water vapor content to rise, Jacobson (2008) used photochemistry to determine that these factors independently feed back to increase ground-level ozone concentrations, which can have harmful lung function and irritate the respiratory system. Using a high-resolution model that correlates pollution levels to human health, the author found that each 1°C rise in temperature may increase U.S. annual air pollution deaths by about 1000. About 40% of these deaths may be due to higher ground-level ozone concentrations; the rest are likely from particles, which would increase due to CO₂-enhanced stability, humidity, and biogenic feedbacks. The author noted that many of these deaths would occur in urban populations prone to smog, such as in areas of California. Extrapolating U.S. deaths to global population yields about 22,000 excess deaths expected worldwide each year.

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