Global atmospheric emissions of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) from 69 major sources were estimated for a period from 1960 to 2030. Regression models and a technology split method were used to estimate country and time specific emission factors, resulting in a new estimate of PAH emission factor variation among different countries and over time. PAH emissions in 2007 were spatially resolved to 0.1°× 0.1° grids based on a newly developed global high-resolution fuel combustion inventory (PKU-FUEL-2007). The global total annual atmospheric emission of 16 PAHs in 2007 was 504 Gg (331-818 Gg, as interquartile range), with residential/commercial biomass burning (60.5%), open-field biomass burning (agricultural waste burning, deforestation, and wildfire, 13.6%), and petroleum consumption by on-road motor vehicles (12.8%) as the major sources. South (87 Gg), East (111 Gg), and Southeast Asia (52 Gg) were the regions with the highest PAH emission densities, contributing half of the global total PAH emissions. Among the global total PAH emissions, 6.19% of the emissions were in the form of high molecular weight carcinogenic compounds and the percentage of the carcinogenic PAHs was higher in developing countries (6.22%) than in developed countries (5.73%), due to the differences in energy structures and the disparities of technology. The potential health impact of the PAH emissions was greatest in the parts of the world with high anthropogenic PAH emissions, because of the overlap of the high emissions and high population densities. Global total PAH emissions peaked at 592 Gg in 1995 and declined gradually to 499 Gg in 2008. Total PAH emissions from developed countries peaked at 122 Gg in the early 1970s and decreased to 38 Gg in 2008. Simulation of PAH emissions from 2009 to 2030 revealed that PAH emissions in developed and developing countries would decrease by 46-71% and 48-64%, respectively, based on the six IPCC SRES scenarios.

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In this paper, we analyzed interannual variations of normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and their relationships with climatic variables (temperature and precipitation) and human activity in China between 1982 and 1999. Monthly and seasonal NDVI increased significantly at both the country and biome scales over the study period. NDVI shows the largest increase (14.4% during the 18 years and a trend of 0.0018 yr−1) over 85.9% of the total study area in spring and the smallest increase (5.2% with a trend of 0.0012 yr−1) over 72.2% of the area in summer. The NDVI trends show a marked heterogeneity corresponding to regional and seasonal variations in climates. There is about a 3‐month lag for the period between the maximum trend in temperature (February) and that in NDVI (April or May) at the country and biome scales. Human activity (urbanization and agricultural practices) also played an important role in influencing the NDVI trends over some regions. Rapid urbanization resulted in a sharp decrease in NDVI in the Yangtze River and Pearl River deltas, while irrigation and fertilization may have contributed to the increased NDVI in the North China plain.

Emission of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) listed as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) priority pollutants from major sources in China were compiled. Geographical distribution and temporal change of the PAH emission, as well as emission profiles, are discussed. It was estimated that the total PAH emission in China was 25,300 tons in 2003. The emission profile featured a relatively higher portion of high molecular weight (HMW) species with carcinogenic potential due to large contributions of domestic coal and coking industry. Among various sources, biomass burning, domestic coal combustion, and coking industry contributed 60%, 20%, and 16% of the total emission, respectively. Total emission, emission density, emission intensity, and emission per capita showed geographical variations. In general, the southeastern provinces were characterized by higher emission density, while those in western and northern China featured higher emission intensity and population-normalized emission. Although energy consumption in China went up continuously during the past two decades, annual emission of PAHs fluctuated depending on the amount of domestic coal consumption, coke production, and the efficiency of energy utilization.

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Both particulate matter (PM) and black carbon (BC) impact climate change and human health. Uncertainties in emission inventories of PM and BC are partially due to large variation of measured emission factors (EFs) and lack of EFs from developing countries. Although there is a debate whether thermal-optically measured elemental carbon (EC) may be referred to as BC, EC are often treated as the same mass of BC. In this study, EFs of PM (EFPM) and EC (EFEC) for 9 crop residues and 5 coals were measured in actual rural cooking and coal stoves using the carbon mass balance method. The dependence of the EFs on fuel properties and combustion conditions were investigated. It was found that the mean EFPM were 8.19 ± 4.27 and 3.17 ± 4.67 g/kg and the mean EFEC were 1.38 ± 0.70 and 0.23 ± 0.36 g/kg for crop residues and coals, respectively. PM with size less than 10 μm (PM10) from crop residues were dominated by particles of aerodynamic size ranging from 0.7 to 2.1 μm, while the most abundant size ranges of PM10 from coals were either from 0.7 to 2.1 μm or less than 0.7 μm. Of various fuel properties and combustion conditions tested, fuel moisture and modified combustion efficiency (MCE) were the most critical factors affecting EFPM and EFEC for crop residues. For coal combustion, EFPM were primarily affected by MCE and volatile matter, while EFEC were significantly influenced by ash content, volatile matter, heat value, and MCE. It was also found that EC emissions were significantly correlated with emissions of PM with size less than 0.4 μm.