Heavy PM2.5 (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter equal to or less than 2.5 μm) pollution and urban heat island (UHI) pose increasing threats to human health and living environment in populated cities. However, how PM2.5 pollution affects the UHI intensity (UHII) has not been fully understood. The impacts of PM2.5 on the wintertime UHII in the Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei megalopolis of China are explored during 2013–2017. The results show that the UHII at the time of daily maximum/minimum temperature (UHIImax/UHIImin) exhibits a decreasing/increasing tendency as PM2.5 concentration increases, causing a continuous decrease in the diurnal temperature range. These effects are mediated via aerosol‐radiation interaction (aerosol‐cloud interaction) under clear‐sky (cloudy) condition. The changes in PM2.5 concentration further cause different relative trends of UHIImax/UHIImin/diurnal temperature range across different cities in the Beijing‐Tianjin‐Hebei region, which are likely related to the differences in both the PM2.5 composition and city size. This study provides insights on how air pollution affects urban climate and would help to design effective mitigation strategies.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract

Surface downward radiation (SDR), including shortwave downward radiation (SWDR) and longwave downward radiation (LWDR), is of great importance to energy and climate studies. Considering the lack of reliable SDR data with a high spatiotemporal resolution in the East Asia-Pacific (EAP) region, we derived SWDR and LWDR at 10-min and 0.05° resolutions for this region from 2016-2020 based on the next-generation geostationary satellite Himawari-8 (H-8). The SDR product is unique in terms of its all-sky features, high accuracy and high resolution levels. The cloud effect is fully considered in the SDR product, and the influence of high aerosol loadings and topography on the SWDR are considered. Compared to benchmark products of the radiation, such as Clouds and the Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) and the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) next-generation reanalysis (ERA5), and the Global Land Surface Satellite (GLASS), not only is the resolution of the new SDR product notably much higher but the product accuracy is also higher than that of those products. In particular, hourly and daily root mean square errors of the new SWDR are 104.9 and 31.5 Wm−2, respectively, which are much smaller than those of CERES (at 121.6 and 38.6 Wm−2, respectively), ERA5 (at 176.6 and 39.5 Wm−2, respectively) and GLASS (daily of 36.5 Wm−2). Meanwhile, RMSEs of hourly and daily values of the new LWDR are 19.6 and 14.4 Wm−2, respectively, which are comparable to that of CERES and ERA5, and even better over high altitude regions.

No abstract

No abstract

No abstract