Spatial analysis of haze–fog pollution in China

Abstract

Haze–fog pollution has been one of the major atmospheric pollution problems in China. This study is aimed at understanding spatial distribution and spatial correlation of haze–fog pollution in China from 2001 to 2010 using exploratory spatial data analysis technique. The results show that spatial distribution of haze–fog pollution is not changed obviously in the 10 years, and the most serious polluted region is distributed in Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. The values of global Moran’s I vary from 0.4066 to 0.4842, which indicates that haze–fog pollution is not distributed randomly, but has spatial agglomeration effects. The High–High agglomeration type is mainly distributed in central China, which contains 15, 14, 14, and 13 regions for the years of 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2010, respectively, while the Low–Low agglomeration type is concentrated in western and eastern China, which contains 11, 10, 10, and 8 regions for the years of 2001, 2004, 2007, and 2010, respectively. The results should provide policy guidance for public authorities to control haze–fog pollution. Further researches are still needed because of the complexity of haze–fog pollution and variety of influence factors.