Modeling the impacts of land use/land cover change on meteorology and air quality during 2000–2018 in the Yangtze River Delta region, China

The land use/land cover (LULC) change in the fast-developing city clusters of China exhibits impacts on both the meteorology and air quality. However, this effect, especially in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), has not been well quantified. In this study, the LULC data are extracted from Landsat satellite imageries for year 2000 and 2018 for the YRD region. The Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF/Chem) model is applied to investigate the impact of historical LULC change on regional meteorology and air pollution over the YRD region during the past two decades. Two simulation scenarios are performed with two sets of LULC data to represent the pre-urbanization (LULC of year 2000) and the most recent urban pattern (LULC of year 2018). Results indicate that rapid urbanization leads to an increase of monthly mean 2-m temperature by 0.4–2.1 °C but decrease of the 10-m wind speed by 0.5–1.3 m/s in urban areas; the maximum increase of daytime planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) in July and November is 289 and 132 m, respectively. Affected by favorable changes in the meteorological conditions due to LULC change, the PM2.5 concentrations in most urban areas show a decreasing trend, especially during the nighttime in summer. On the contrary, surface ozone (O3) concentration in urban areas has increased by 7.2–9.8 ppb in summer and 1.9–2.1 ppb in winter. Changes in O3 concentration are inversely proportional to changes in NOx and the spatial distribution of PM2.5. Areas with higher O3 concentration are consistent with areas of higher temperature and lower wind speed. Our findings reveal that LULC changes during the past years bring observable changes in air pollutant concentrations, which should not be neglected in the YRD region regarding air quality trends as well as policy evaluations under the warming threat. [Display omitted] •Rapid urbanization and decrease in croplands are the main characterizations of LULC change over the YRD region from 2000 to 2018.•Rapid urbanization leads to an increase of monthly mean 2-m temperature by 0.4–2.1 °C but decrease of the 10-m wind speed by 0.5–1.3 m/s in urban areas.•Surface O3 concentration in urban areas has increased while PM2.5 decreased due to LULC changes in the past two decades.