Lagged sea-surface-temperature precursors of the leading PM2.5 mode in China

Fuente: arXiv
Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Chen, Yuan, Zhao, Dan, Li, Xu
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
Subjects:
Online Access:
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1866914599214776320
author Chen, Yuan
Zhao, Dan
Li, Xu
author_facet Chen, Yuan
Zhao, Dan
Li, Xu
contents Fine particulate matter(PM2.5) pollution in China is strongly modulated bymeteorological variability, yet its seasonal predictability from oceanic signals remains unclear. Here we identify the leading PM2.5 variability mode over China and show that it is preceded by coherent sea-surface-temperature anomaly clusters by more than one season. These oceanic precursors influence summer PM2.5 mainly by altering precipitation and lowlevel ventilation, and winter PM2.5 by modulating boundary-layer height and near-surface stagnation. Using the four largest precursor regions, a simple regression model achieves significant independent prediction skill for both summer and winter PM2.5 variability. Our results reveal a physical pathway linking sea-surface-temperature memory to regional aerosol pollution and provide a basis for seasonal air-quality risk assessment.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_25436
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Lagged sea-surface-temperature precursors of the leading PM2.5 mode in China
Chen, Yuan
Zhao, Dan
Li, Xu
Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
Fine particulate matter(PM2.5) pollution in China is strongly modulated bymeteorological variability, yet its seasonal predictability from oceanic signals remains unclear. Here we identify the leading PM2.5 variability mode over China and show that it is preceded by coherent sea-surface-temperature anomaly clusters by more than one season. These oceanic precursors influence summer PM2.5 mainly by altering precipitation and lowlevel ventilation, and winter PM2.5 by modulating boundary-layer height and near-surface stagnation. Using the four largest precursor regions, a simple regression model achieves significant independent prediction skill for both summer and winter PM2.5 variability. Our results reveal a physical pathway linking sea-surface-temperature memory to regional aerosol pollution and provide a basis for seasonal air-quality risk assessment.
title Lagged sea-surface-temperature precursors of the leading PM2.5 mode in China
topic Atmospheric and Oceanic Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.25436