Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Atmospheric Pollution Research

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apr

Research Paper

Coupling coordination relationships between air pollutant concentrations

and emissions in China
Qian Wu a, b, Song Hong a, b, *, Lu Yang a, b, Hang Mu a, b, Chaoqing Huang a, b, Xiaoxiao Niu a, b,
Yanmei Zhong a, b, Jiahui Yi a, b, Chao He c, **
a
School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
b
Key Laboratory of Geographic Information System, Ministry of Education, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China
c
College of Resources and Environment, Yangtze University, Wuhan, 430100, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Clarifying the correlations between air pollutant concentrations and emissions is vital for effective air pollution
Air pollutant prevention and control. In this study, we established a coupling coordination degree model to explore the
Coupling coordination coupling coordination relationships between concentrations and emissions of PM2.5, SO2, and CO from 2013 to
Influencing factor
2017. Moran’s I value was used to analyze the spatial distributions of coupling and coordination degrees, and
China
seven socioeconomic, meteorological, and ecological indicators were selected to identify the potential influ­
encing factors. The results indicate that the PM2.5 coupling degree decreased from 2013 to 2017, whereas those
of SO2 and CO increased. The five-year average coupling degrees were 0.73, 0.71, and 0.63, respectively. The
coordination degrees of PM2.5, SO2, and CO all increased during the study period, with five-year averages of 0.43,
0.32, and 0.45, respectively. Both the coupling and coordination degree distributions of all three air pollutants
exhibited significant spatial agglomeration characteristics. Generally, the coupling coordination levels of air
pollutants in China were high in the east and low in the west. In addition, the levels in the northwest were higher
than those in the southwest. Of the influencing factors, nighttime light, road-person ratio, and wind speed were
positively correlated with the coupling coordination levels. The normalized difference vegetation index and
precipitation was negatively correlated with the coupling coordination levels. These findings can be used to
improve the current understanding of correlations between air pollutant concentrations and emissions and
provide a reference for decision-makers to formulate more effective air pollution prevention and control
strategies.

1. Introduction
Air pollution is a pressing global issue that can not only cause great
harm to human survival and health (Usmani et al., 2020), but can also
impede socioeconomic development (Fu et al., 2021; Gautam and Bolia,
2020). Afoakwah et al. (2020) found that the risk of death within 72
months would increase under chronic exposure to air pollution, partic­
ularly in patients with coronary heart or cerebrovascular disease. Chen
and Jin (2019) also showed that air pollution hinders urbanization,
resulting in negative effects on housing prices. Similar conclusions can
also be found in many other studies (Gu et al., 2019; Kim et al., 2020;
Manisalidis et al., 2020), indicating that air pollution problems require
special attention worldwide.
According to the World Health Organization (2006), most devel­
oping countries are facing severe air pollution episodes. China, as the
largest developing country in the world, has experienced deteriorating
environmental conditions during recent decades owing to rapid eco­
nomic growth that has relied on extensive factor inputs and immense
energy use (Aunan et al., 2018; Chen et al., 2004). Currently, air
pollution is a major barrier to sustainable development in China (Yang

Abbreviations: CHAP, China High Air Pollutants; NDVI, normalized difference vegetation index; NTL, nighttime light; PRE, precipitation; RPR, road person ratio;
SEC, proportion of secondary industry; TEM, temperature; WIN, wind speed.
Peer review under responsibility of Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research and Control.
* Corresponding author. School of Resource and Environmental Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430079, China.
** Corresponding author.
E-mail addresses: songhongpku@126.com (S. Hong), hechao@yangtzeu.edu.cn (C. He).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2023.101678
Received 19 September 2022; Received in revised form 23 January 2023; Accepted 4 February 2023
Available online 10 February 2023
1309-1042/© 2023 Turkish National Committee for Air Pollution Research and Control. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Q. Wu et al.
Fig. 1. Map of China.
et al., 2022), which has been estimated to induce 1.2 million premature
deaths per year (Lim et al., 2013) and result in huge economic losses
(Dong et al., 2021). To effectively address the issue of ambient air
pollution, China’s government has implemented a series of strict policies
(Li et al., 2016b; Mao et al., 2014) that have improved the air quality in
China in recent years (Feng et al., 2019). Air pollutant emissions and
concentrations, such as those of PM2.5, SO2, and NO2, have decreased
considerably nationwide (Ronald et al., 2017; Zhang et al., 2019b).
However, in some cities (e.g., Shenzhen), even though the SO2 emissions
were reduced by 50.2% from 2016 to 2017, its concentration remained
unchanged (8 μg/m3; Shenzhen Municipal Ecology and Environment
Bureau, 2017). Analogously, PM2.5 emissions decreased in Huizhou and
Shanwei from 2016 to 2017; however, the PM2.5 concentrations
increased by 2 and 3 μg/m3, respectively (Department of Ecology and
Environment of Guangdong Province, 2017). These phenomena suggest
that complex interactions occur between air pollutant concentrations
and emissions.
To clarify the correlations between air pollutant concentrations and
emissions in China, we applied coupling coordination degree models in
this study. The coupling degree is a measure of the extent of mutual
influences between different systems, while the coordination degree
reflects the intensity of cooperative development (Xu et al., 2019; Zhao
et al., 2021). Coupling coordination models have been widely used to
explore the complex interactions between various systems (Li and Yi,
2020; Qi et al., 2022; Zhang and Li, 2020). Hu et al. (2022) applied the
model to determine the relationship between flood disaster risks and
socioeconomic development in the Yellow River Basin. It was also
applied by Fei et al. (2021) to measure the spatiotemporal coupling
coordination characteristics among the regional economies, ecological
environments, and tourism of islands. By establishing a coupling coor­
dination degree model, Zhou et al. (2020) found that the coupling co­
ordination degree between China’s carbon emission efficiency and
industrial structural upgrades is relatively low and that most provinces
2
Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678
are in a dysregulation stage with light or mildly dysfunctional declines.
Researchers have conducted extensive research on China’s ambient
air pollution issue (He et al., 2021b; Song et al., 2017; Sun et al., 2015;
Xu et al., 2022). Based on monitoring data from 2014 to 2015, Chen
et al. (2015) analyzed the spatial and temporal characteristics of air
pollutants and air quality in Beijing. Cheng et al. (2019) determined the
concentrations and variations of air pollutants and greenhouse gases in
southwestern China. Moreover, Li et al. (2016a) and Zhang et al.
(2019a) explored the interrelations between air pollutant emissions and
air quality. These previous studies contributed to the present under­
standing of air pollutant characteristics in China. Since the relationship
between air pollutant concentrations and emissions in China is complex,
a clear understanding of this relationship is conducive to air pollution
prevention and control. However, previous studies have not investigated
this topic in depth. In addition, coupling coordination degree models
commonly used to quantitatively reflect the mutual effects among
several systems and evaluate their coordination levels (Cai et al., 2021)
have not been applied in previous studies to analyze the relationships
between air pollutant concentrations and emissions.
In this study, we established coupling coordination degree models to
estimate the interrelationships between the concentrations and emis­
sions of three major air pollutants (i.e., PM2.5, SO2, and CO) from 2013
to 2017 in China. Moran’s I, an indicator commonly used to indicate
spatial autocorrelation (Fu et al., 2011), was used to determine the
spatial distributions of the coupling and coordination degrees. Further,
we also selected seven indicators related to socioeconomic development
levels, meteorological conditions, and the ecological environment to
identify the potential factors that affect the coupling coordination levels.
The findings of this study can not only enrich the current knowledge of
ambient air pollution in China but also provide effective references to
local authorities for designing and implementing better air pollution
prevention and control strategies.
Q. Wu et al. Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678

Table 1
Details of the seven selected influencing factors used in this study.
Type Factor Abbreviation Min Max Average Unit

Socioeconomic Proportion of secondary industry SEC 13.57 79.36 46.877 %

Road person ratio RPR 2.25 60.07 17.132 m2
Nighttime light NTL 0.065 18.824 1.251 (avg_rade9h)nW/cm2/sr
Meteorological Wind speed WIN 0.246 5.040 1.814 m/s
Precipitation PRE 76.911 3081.953 1182.472 mm/year
Temperature TEM 3.435 33.186 20.780 ◦
C
Ecological Normalized difference vegetation index NDVI 0.049 0.283 0.154 No unit

Fig. 2. Research framework used in this study.

Table 2 Table 3
Coupling coordination levels and their classifications. Annual average coupling and coordination degrees.
Coupling Coordination Coupling Abbreviation Coupling Year Coupling degree Coordination degree
Interval Interval Coordination Coordination
PM2.5 SO2 CO PM2.5 SO2 CO
Level Value
2013 0.730 0.600 0.700 0.426 0.304 0.445
0.7 < C ≤ 0.5 < D ≤ 1 High HC–HD 0.9
2014 0.717 0.629 0.702 0.434 0.311 0.446
1 Coupling–High
2015 0.720 0.613 0.716 0.431 0.325 0.455
Coordination
2016 0.783 0.637 0.724 0.401 0.325 0.461
0.3 < D ≤ 0.5 High Coupling HC–MD 0.8
2017 0.708 0.653 0.716 0.442 0.327 0.464
–Medium
Coordination
0 ≤ D ≤ 0.3 High Coupling HC–LD 0.7
–Low 2. Materials and methods
Coordination
0.5 < C ≤ 0.5 < D ≤ 1 Medium MC–HD 0.6 2.1. Study area and data collection
0.7 Coupling –High
Coordination
0.3 < D ≤ 0.5 Medium MC–MD 0.5
China covers an area of ~9.6 × 106 km2 (Fig. 1) and has the largest
Coupling population in the world (1.4 billion; https://www.worldometers.info
–Medium /cn/). China is also the largest developing country that faces complex
Coordination air pollution issues (Aunan et al., 2018). In this study, we analyzed the
0 ≤ D ≤ 0.3 Medium MC–LD 0.4
correlations between air pollutant concentrations and emissions in 362
Coupling – Low
Coordination cities and regions from 31 provinces in China (excluding Hong Kong,
0≤C≤ 0.5 < D ≤ 1 Low Coupling LC–HD 0.3 Macao, and Taiwan). Considering the data availability and consistencies
0.5 –High of the sources, we collected data related to seven indicators in 279 cities
Coordination to identify the potential factors that may influence the coupling coor­
0.3 < D ≤ 0.5 Low Coupling – LC–MD 0.2
Medium
dination level.
Coordination PM2.5, SO2, and CO concentrations (0.1◦ × 0.1◦ resolution) from
0 ≤ D ≤ 0.3 Low Coupling – LC–LD 0.1 2013 to 2017 were derived from the China High Air Pollutants (CHAP)
Low product (https://weijing-rs.github.io/product.html). This dataset in­
Coordination
cludes high-resolution and high-quality ground-level air pollutant data
in China and is generated by artificial intelligence based on big data,
including ground-based measurements and satellite remote sensing

3
Q. Wu et al.
Fig. 3. Distributions of the five-year average coupling degrees (left) and their spatial agglomeration characteristics (right) of PM2.5, SO2, and CO in China from 2013
to 2017.
products. CHAP has been widely applied in various studies (Chen et al.,
2022; Wei et al., 2022). Emissions data (0.25◦ × 0.25◦ resolution) from
2013 to 2017 for the air pollutants were obtained from the
Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (http://meicmodel.org),
which was developed by Tsinghua University, and includes 10 pollut­
ants in addition to CO2 emissions. The seven influencing factors were
selected from 2013 to 2017. For the socioeconomic development level,
the proportion of secondary industry (SEC) and road-person ratio (RPR)
4
Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678
values were obtained from the China City Statistical Yearbook and China
Urban Construction Statistics Yearbook, respectively. Nighttime light
(NTL) data were derived from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer
Suite product (0.05◦ × 0.05◦ resolution; https://eogdata.mines.edu/).
Meteorological data were obtained from the National Meteorological
Information Center (http://data.cma.cn/), including wind speed (WIN),
precipitation (PRE), and temperature (TEM). Normalized difference
vegetation index (NDVI; 0.05◦ × 0.05◦ resolution) data were obtained
Q. Wu et al. Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678

Table 4
Changes in the numbers of cities with different coupling and coordination degree levels from 2013 to 2017.
Air pollutant Coupling degree Coordination degree

Extremely weak Weak Medium Strong Extremely strong Low Medium High Extremely high

0–0.35 0.35–0.5 0.5–0.7 0.7–0.85 0.85–1 0–0.3 0.3–0.5 0.5–0.8 0.8–1

PM2.5 +1 +8 +18 − 9 − 18 − 7 − 10 +18 − 1

SO2 − 8 − 26 − 11 +11 +34 − 30 +30 0 0
CO − 2 +4 − 11 − 14 +23 − 9 − 16 +27 − 2

from the Earth Science Data Systems program (https://www.earthdata.
nasa.gov/). Detailed parameter information is presented in Table 1.
2.2. Methods
development levels of both systems are low, a high coupling degree can
also be obtained (Zhang and Li, 2020). Therefore, we introduced a co­
ordination degree model in this study to determine the actual synergy
status between air pollutant concentrations and emissions. The
following equations were used:

To explore the coupling coordination correlations between the air T = α⋅B1 + β⋅B2 (3)
pollutant concentrations and emissions in China from 2013 to 2017, √̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
coupling and coordination degree models were adopted. First, we pre- D = C⋅T (4)
processed the PM2.5, SO2, and CO emission and concentration data
where T is the comprehensive development index of the concentration
from 362 cities and regions in the ArcGIS10.6 software package, then
and emission subsystems and α and β are undetermined coefficients (α +
calculated the coupling and coordination degrees between the air
β = 1) representing the contributions of the systems (Zhao et al., 2021).
pollutant concentrations and emissions using the coupling coordination
In this study, since air pollutant concentrations and emissions are of
degree models. Second, Moran’s I was determined and used to identify
equal importance and interact equally, we set α = β = 0.5. Parameter D
the overall and local spatial distributions of the coupling and coordi­
is the coordination degree, which depicts the state of coordinated
nation degrees. Third, we used the IBM SPSS Statistics (version 22.0)
development between two elements (Fang et al., 2016). The range of D is
software package to perform a two-step clustering analysis for 279 cities.
0–1. A higher D value suggests a higher coordination level. In this study,
Finally, we summarized the potential influencing factors based on the
the coordination degree was divided into four types based on the in­
corresponding index characteristics of the different city types. The
terval marking method: low-level coordination (0 ≤ D ≤ 0.3),
research framework used herein is shown in Fig. 2.
medium-level coordination (0.3 < D ≤ 0.5), high-level coordination
(0.5 < D ≤ 0.8), and extremely high-level coordination (0.8 < D ≤ 1).
2.2.1. Coupling degree model
The term “coupling” originates from physics, and its degree can
2.2.3. Comprehensive classification of coupling coordination levels
quantitatively reflect the extent of mutual influences and associations
In this study, we combined the coupling and coordination degrees to
among different systems (Cai et al., 2021; Zhang and Li, 2020; Zhao
assess the comprehensive coupling coordination interactions between
et al., 2021). A higher coupling degree indicates a stronger interactive
air pollutant concentrations and emissions. Based on previous studies
relationship and suggests that the development direction between the
(Qi et al., 2022; Zhao et al., 2021), we constructed a classification sys­
elements is more orderly (Fang et al., 2016). In this study, a single-index
tem containing nine coupling coordination development grades. In
system coupling degree model was constructed to measure the interac­
addition, to identify the potential influencing factors, we assigned values
tion levels between air pollutant concentrations and emissions. The
to each grade according to the degree that it reflects the coupling co­
following equations were used:
ordination level. Detailed information is presented in Table 2.
( )/
Bi = xg − xmin (xmax − xmin ) (1)
2.2.4. Spatial autocorrelation analysis
√̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅̅
B1 × B2 Global Moran’s I and Anselin Local Moran’s I were calculated to
C= ( ) (2) explore the overall and local spatial pattern of the coupling (coordina­
B +B 21 2
2
tion) degree between the air pollutant concentrations and emissions in
China. These values were calculated using Eqs. (5) and (6), respectively:
where Bi is the evaluation index of system i, reflecting the air pollutant
( )( )
concentration (emission) development level; xg represents the air ∑n ∑ n ∑n ∑n
n wij xi − 1n xi xj − 1n xi
pollutant concentration (emission) in city g; and xmax and xmin are the
(5)
i=1 j=1 i=1 i=1
maximum and minimum concentrations (emissions) among all study IG =
∑ n ∑n ∑n
(
∑
n
)2
cities, respectively. C is the coupling degree, with a range of 0–1. C = 1
1
wij xi − n xi
indicates that the concentration and emission systems have achieved a
i=1 j=1 i=1 i=1

benign resonance coupling state, and when C = 0 the two systems are (
∑
n
)
∑n
(
∑
n
)
independent (Dong and Li, 2020). Based on previous studies (Xu et al., xi − 1
n
xi wij xj − 1n xi
2019; Zhang and Gu, 2020), the coupling degree was divided into five IL = i=1
( i=1 ) i=1 (6)
∑ n ∑
n
levels in this study: 0 ≤ C ≤ 0.35, 0.35 < C ≤ 0.5, 0.5 < C ≤ 0.7, 0.7 < C 1
n
xi − 1n xi
≤ 0.85, and 0.85 < C ≤ 1.0, which represent extremely weak, weak,
i=1 i=1

medium, strong, and extremely strong coupling levels, respectively. where n refers to the number of spatial units (in this study, n = 362); xi
and xj indicate the coupling (coordination) degrees of cities i and j,
2.2.2. Coordination degree model
respectively; and wij is the spatial weight matrix. If cities i and j have a
The coupling degree can depict the consistency of the development
common edge in space, then wij = 1 or wij = 0 (Zhou et al., 2019).
and strength of the interactions between air pollutant concentrations
Parameter IG is the Global Moran’s I value, which varies from − 1 to 1
and emissions; however, it is unable to determine whether the evolu­
and is used to analyze the degree of the overall spatial autocorrelation in
tionary process is synergistic and cannot reflect their actual develop­
the study area. If IG > 0, the research objects have a positive spatial
ment levels (Li and Yi, 2020; Zhou et al., 2020). Thus, when the

5
Q. Wu et al.
Fig. 4. Distributions of five-year average coordination degrees (left) and their spatial agglomeration characteristics (right) of PM2.5, SO2, and CO in China from 2013
to 2017.
autocorrelation, for which a larger value indicates a stronger correla­
tion. If IG < 0, the research objects have a negative correlation of
coupling (coordination) degrees in space, for which a smaller value
suggests a larger spatial dispersion (Wang et al., 2022a). Parameter IL is
defined as Anselin Local Moran’s I, which can be used to identify the
local spatial autocorrelation (Anselin, 1995). When IG passes the sig­
nificance test (p < 0.05), five types of spatial clusters can be obtained (Fu
et al., 2011; Zhou et al., 2019) (i.e., not significant, high–high, high–low,
6
Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678
low–high, and low–low clusters).
2.2.5. Two-step cluster analysis
As a machine learning algorithm, two-step cluster analysis can
effectively classify objects according to the similarities of their attributes
(including ordinal and nominal variables) (Benassi et al., 2020; Run­
dle–Thiele et al., 2015). This analysis determines the optimal number of
clusters based on the within-group mean square error (Tang et al.,
Q. Wu et al.
Fig. 5. Spatiotemporal distributions of comprehensive coupling coordination levels for air pollutants in China from 2013 to 2017. (a) Histograms of the number of
cities with different coupling coordination levels. (b) Distributions and mean values of coupling coordination levels for all study cities from 2013 to 2017.
2020). In this study, 279 cities in China were classified based on their
coupling coordination levels between the air pollutant concentrations
and emissions (PM2.5, SO2, and CO). We then analyzed the attributes of
seven indicators for each type of city. Before the analysis, all indicators
were normalized using the min–max normalization.
3. Results
3.1. Spatiotemporal variations in the coupling and coordination degrees
As shown in Table 3, the five-year average coupling degree between
the PM2.5 concentrations and emissions was the largest (0.73), followed
by CO (0.71) and SO2 (0.63). During the study period, the PM2.5
coupling degree decreased from 0.730 in 2013 to 0.708 in 2017. The
coupling degree of CO increased from 2013 to 2016, then decreased to
0.716 in 2017. For SO2, the coupling degree increased overall, with a
total increase of 0.053 from 2013 to 2017. Based on the Global Moran’s I
values (Fig. 3), all PM2.5, SO2, and CO coupling degree distributions
exhibited significant spatial agglomeration characteristics (p < 0.05).
Cities with extremely strong coupling (0.85 < C ≤ 1) for all pollutants
were mostly located in the North and the eastern part of Southwest
China. PM2.5 had the largest number of extremely strong coupling cities
in 2013 (120), but decreased to 102 cities after five years. Conversely,
the number of cities with extremely strong coupling for SO2 and CO
increased by 34 and 23, respectively, from 2013 to 2017 (Table 4). In
turn, cities with extremely weak coupling levels (0 ≤ C ≤ 0.35) for
PM2.5, SO2, and CO were concentrated in Southwest and Northwest
China, including Tibet, Qinghai, and Gansu provinces.
The coordination degrees between the concentrations and emissions
of PM2.5, SO2, and CO all increased during the study period (Table 3),
7
Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678
with five-year growth rates of 3.8%, 7.6%, and 4.3%, respectively. In
2017, the coordination degree of CO was the largest (0.464), followed by
PM2.5 (0.442) and SO2 (0.327). Compared with the coupling degree, the
coordination degree distributions for the three air pollutants also
exhibited notable agglomeration phenomena; however, the clusters
were more concentrated (Fig. 4). Cities with high (0.5 < D ≤ 0.8) and
extremely high (0.8 < D ≤ 1) coordination levels were concentrated in
North China, as well as some parts of Central and East China, particu­
larly in Shanxi, Hebei, and Shandong Provinces. For PM2.5 and CO, the
number of cities with high coordination increased by 18 and 27,
respectively, from 2013 to 2017, while SO2 did not change (Table 4). For
all pollutants, cities with low (0 ≤ D ≤ 0.3) coordination levels were
mainly distributed in Southwest and the coastal regions of East China.
3.2. Comprehensive coupling coordination levels of air pollutants in China
By combining the coupling and coordination degrees, we found that
the spatial patterns of the coupling coordination levels for each air
pollutant did not change much during the study period (Fig. 5). The
overall coupling coordination level between the PM2.5 concentrations
and emissions was the highest among the three air pollutants, and
decreased from 0.68 in 2013 to 0.65 in 2017. For PM2.5, the majority of
the cities were HC–HD and HC–MD, accounting for 31.5% and 26.5% of
the total in 2017, respectively. The coupling coordination level of SO2
was the lowest but increased by 0.07 from 2013 to 2017. In the early
stage, the dominant city type for SO2 was LC–LD, but it turned to HC–MD
in the later stage. In 2017, there were 113 HC–MD cities, whereas the
number of LC–LD cities decreased to 68. The CO coupling coordination
level did not exhibit any significant changes during the study period, and
its value was approximately 0.66. For CO, the number of HC–HD cities
Q. Wu et al. Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678

Fig. 6. Spatial patterns of coupling coordination levels for PM2.5, SO2, and CO in 2017 (three maps in the center) and the corresponding regional distributions of the
four main coupling coordination types (smaller maps) in China. Three small maps on the upper left show the distributions of HC–HD cities for the three air pollutants;
those on the upper right show the distributions of HC–MD cities; and those on the lower left show the distributions of LC–LD cities. Maps on the lower right show the
distributions of MC–MD cities.

was the largest (143) in 2017, representing an increase of 23.3%
compared with 2013.
Four main coupling coordination types were observed in this study
(i.e., HC–HD, HC–MD, LC–LD, and MC–MD) for the air pollutants, and
their coupling coordination levels decreased in order as HC–HD >
HC–MD > MC–MD > LC–LD (Table 2). Regions 1, 2, 3, and 4 represent
HC–HD, HC–MD, LC–LD, and MC–MD cities, respectively (Fig. 6). Tak­
ing the year 2017 as an example, Region 1 (HC–HD) was concentrated in
Northeast, North, East, and Central China, with the most prominent
areas including Shanxi, Shandong, and Hebei Provinces. Region 2
(HC–MD) was scattered around Region 1, and was mainly distributed in
North, Central, and the eastern part of Southwest China. Southwest
China was the main distribution area of Region 3, including Tibet’s
Autonomous Region as a prominent representative. Region 4 cities were
mostly located in Northwest China, particularly in Gansu Province and
Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.
3.3. Potential factors affecting coupling coordination levels
To explore the factors that may affect interactive coupling coordi­
nation development between the air pollutant concentrations and
emissions, we used a two-step cluster analysis and analyzed the attri­
butes of the indicators in each city type. Based on the coupling coordi­
nation levels of the air pollutants, 279 cities in China were divided into
three types in 2013, 2014, and 2015, and two types in 2016 and 2017
(Fig. 7). In 2013, Class 1 (C1) cities were mainly located in Southern,
East, and some parts of Northeast China; Class 2 (C2) cities were
concentrated in Northwest and Southern China; and Class 3 (C3) cities
were mainly distributed in North and Central China. The coupling co­
ordination levels between air pollutant concentrations and emissions for
these three city types were ranked as follows: C2 < C1< C3. With
increasing coupling coordination levels, the NDVI and PRE values
decreased by 4.9% and 36.3% in 2013, respectively, whereas the WIN,

8
Q. Wu et al.
Fig. 7. City-clustering results based on the air pollutant coupling coordination levels (a–e) and corresponding factor attributes for each city type (f–j) from 2013 to
2017. In (f–j), the first three rows represent the air pollutant coupling coordination values for each city type, which can reflect the level of coupling coordination. The
other seven rows are the factor attributes.
NTL, and RPR values increased by 28.9%, 73.2%, and 26.2%, respec­
tively. In contrast, the TEM value initially increased, then decreased,
with a final overall decrease of 0.3%. The SEC value initially decreased,
then increased, and finally decreased by 0.7%. In 2014 and 2015, the C1
cities were mainly distributed in Northwest and Southern China, C2
cities were scattered in Central and Southwest China, and C3 cities were
concentrated in North and Central China. The coupling coordination
levels of the C1, C2, and C3 cities increased in order. With increasing
levels, the NDVI and PRE values in 2014 and 2015 decreased by 3.9%
and 35.2%, and by 3.8% and 33.2%, respectively. The WIN, NTL, and
RPR values in 2014 and 2015 increased by 9.1%, 34%, and 7.6%, and by
14.4%, 34%, and 13%, respectively. In 2014, SEC increased by 0.5%,
whereas TEM initially increased, then decreased, with a final increase of
3.1%. In 2015, TEM decreased by 4.3%, whereas SEC initially increased,
then decreased, with a final decrease of 0.2%. In 2016 and 2017, the
distributions of the city types were similar: the C1 cities were distributed
around C2 cities, and the coupling coordination level of C2 was higher
than that of C1. With increasing coupling coordination levels, NDVI,
TEM, PRE, and SEC in 2016 and 2017 decreased by 1.5%, 0.6%, 20.4%,
and 0.7%, and by 3%, 2%, 26%, and 6%, respectively. WIN, NTL, and
RPR in 2016 and 2017 increased by 4.7%, 26.7%, and 7.4%, and by
11.9%, 20%, and 6.9%, respectively.
4. Discussion
4.1. Coupling coordination relationships between air pollutant
concentrations and emissions
According to the results, the coupling levels between air pollutant
concentrations and emissions in more than 50% of the cities in China
were strong or greater (0.7 < C ≤ 1.0) during the study period (Fig. 3).
This finding is in agreement with those of previous studies (He et al.,
2021a; Wang et al., 2022b), illustrating that air pollutant concentrations
and emissions have an intense correlation, and that emission is still the
key factor that determines air pollutant concentrations in China (Gao
et al., 2011; He et al., 2022). The coordination levels of PM2.5, SO2, and
CO were maintained at a medium level (0.3 < D ≤ 0.5) from 2013 to
9
Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678
2017, but their coordination degrees increased (Table 3). This suggests
that the coordination relationship between air pollutant concentrations
and emissions has strengthened and that the development levels of both
concentrations and emissions are rising nationwide.
Coupling coordination levels between air pollutant concentrations
and emissions can be spatially generalized as being high in the east and
low in the west. In addition, the levels in Northwest China were
generally higher than those in Southwest China (Fig. 5). A higher
coupling coordination level indicates a stronger mutual impact rela­
tionship and a higher development level of the two systems, whereas the
evolutionary process is more synergistic. Cities with high coupling co­
ordination levels were mainly concentrated in Central, North, and East
China. These regions are densely populated and developed industrially.
The amounts of air pollutants discharged from production and living are
also relatively large nationwide (Li et al., 2017). As these regions are
affected by complex terrain and adverse meteorological conditions, they
are not conducive to air pollutant diffusion and migration (Meng et al.,
2019; Zhang et al., 2018, 2019b), which leads to the continuous accu­
mulation of air pollutants. Under the comprehensive influences of the
above factors, the interactive intensity between air pollutant concen­
trations and emissions increased in these regions, and their homogene­
ities were also enhanced. Thus, clusters of cities with high coupling
coordination levels formed in these regions. Conversely, cities with low
coupling coordination levels were mostly distributed in western China,
which has a vast territory with a sparse population, as well as low-level
industrialization and urbanization (Cheong and Wu, 2014; Wang et al.,
2022b). Given these conditions, air pollutant emissions and concentra­
tions were both low in this region, which further resulted in a faint
coupling coordination relationship between concentrations and emis­
sions. In addition, Northwest China is dominated by thermal power
generation, whereas Southwest China is dominated by hydroelectric
power generation (Qi et al., 2017; Xiao et al., 2020). Thermal power
generation typically produces more air pollutants than hydroelectric
power. Thus, the coupling coordination levels of air pollutants in
Northwest China were generally higher than those in Southwest China.
Q. Wu et al.
4.2. Potential factors influencing coupling coordination levels
With increasing coupling coordination levels between air pollutant
concentrations and emissions, the nighttime light, road person ratio,
wind speed, normalized difference vegetation index, and precipitation
indicators exhibited notable changes. The values of the first three
increased, whereas those of the last two decreased. A high nighttime
light value indicates strong socioeconomic activity and good develop­
ment in this region (Bruederle and Hodler, 2018; Wu et al., 2018),
whereas road person ratio can reflect regional traffic conditions. Both of
these indicators had certain positive effects on local air pollutant con­
centrations and emissions (Du et al., 2023; He et al., 2022; Ren and
Matsumoto, 2020), which enhanced the correlations between the con­
centrations and emissions. Good vegetation conditions can effectively
control air pollutant transmission (Wang et al., 2022b), while precipi­
tation is good for air pollutant removal (Wu et al., 2022). Both have
negative impacts on air pollutant concentrations, leading to a negative
correlation with the coupling coordination level. In previous studies,
researchers noted that higher wind speeds were more conducive to the
dilution and diffusion of air pollutants (Hu et al., 2021; Qi et al., 2021).
However, in this study, the wind speed was positively correlated with
the coupling coordination level, demonstrating that the wind speed
increased with increasing coupling coordination level. The responses of
proportion of secondary industry and temperature to changes in
coupling coordination level were not significant.
4.3. Implications for policy and governance
Four main coupling coordination types between air pollutant con­
centrations and emissions in China were observed (Fig. 6). High Cou­
pling–High Coordination regions had strong interactive relationships
between air pollutant concentrations and emissions, and the develop­
ment levels of both were very high. This illustrates that air pollution
prevention and control measures in these areas are the most urgent
nationwide, and that controlling and reducing the emissions of air pol­
lutants is critical for improving local air quality (Gao et al., 2011). In
these regions, economic development mainly relies on energy-intensive
industries (e.g., steel and cement), which is accompanied by high air
pollution owing to high fossil fuel consumption (Wang et al., 2022b).
Therefore, the upgrading and transformation of industrial structures are
needed in these areas, as is the accelerated development and utilization
of clean energy sources. Considering the large populations in these areas
(Li et al., 2017), it is also necessary to improve residents’ awareness of
environmental protection and enhance vehicle electrification pro­
motions (Du et al., 2023).
In High Coupling–Medium Coordination regions, the interactive as­
sociations between concentrations and emissions were strong; however,
their coordinated development level was lower. Such regions should
prepare in advance for ambient air pollution problems, including uti­
lizing cleaner production techniques, increasing urban green spaces, and
implementing strict emissions control measures (Chan and Yao, 2008;
Yan et al., 2021) to avoid further air quality deterioration. Furthermore,
these areas were mostly distributed around High Coupling–High Coor­
dination regions. Considering the spatial spillover effects of air pollution
(Gao et al., 2011), collaborating with adjacent cities is necessary to
control ambient air pollution.
In Medium Coupling–Medium Coordination regions, the effect of air
pollutant emissions on concentrations was lower than in High Cou­
pling–Medium Coordination regions but had similar coordinated
development levels. Thus, it is critical to determine whether potential
factors other than emissions affect the local air pollutant concentrations.
This will facilitate the formulation of targeted and efficient air pollution
prevention and control strategies by decision-makers. Air pollutant
emissions and concentrations were both low in Low Coupling–Low Co­
ordination regions (Cheong and Wu, 2014), and their internal re­
lationships were weak. In such regions, maintaining the current
10
Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678
atmospheric environment is a priority, and economic development
should not be pursued blindly at the cost of the environment.
In specific cities, owing to the complex coupling coordination re­
lationships of air pollutants, it is essential to adjust air pollution pre­
vention and control policies to address local conditions. For example,
Zunyi City (a sub-central city in Guizhou Province) had High Cou­
pling–High Coordination levels for PM2.5 and CO in 2017, whereas that
of SO2 was High Coupling–Medium Coordination. Accordingly, Zunyi
City should improve PM2.5 and CO prevention in local air pollution
control measures over those focused on SO2. Strong correlations exist
among different air pollutants (Hu et al., 2021), and enacting integrated
policies is conducive to addressing ambient air pollution. In addition,
local air pollution conditions can be affected by adjacent areas to some
degree (Li et al., 2022; Ma et al., 2016); therefore, strengthening
inter-regional collaborations can contribute to the efficiency of atmo­
spheric governance.
4.4. Limitations and uncertainty
Owing to data availability limitations and to ensure the consistency
of the data sources, we only studied three kinds of air pollutants (i.e.,
PM2.5, SO2, and CO) during 2013–2017 in this study. Future work
should address more air pollutants in the analysis, as well as a longer
time scale. Many other key factors also have certain impacts on ambient
air pollution (Hu et al., 2021; Qi et al., 2021; Ren and Matsumoto,
2020). However, we considered only seven indicators to identify the
factors that may influence the coupling coordination levels of air pol­
lutants. Therefore, more factors related to diverse aspects should be
considered comprehensively in future research. In this study, we con­
ducted research in China, which is the largest developing country in the
world. In future studies, this type of analysis can be expanded to a global
scale, which can contribute to global atmospheric environmental
governance, particularly in other developing counties.
5. Conclusions
In this study, we introduced coupling and coordination degree
models into air pollution investigations to explore the internal re­
lationships between air pollutant concentrations and emissions. This
application also makes it possible to quantitatively measure this corre­
lation from a spatiotemporal perspective. We found that there was a
strong mutual impact relationship between air pollutant concentrations
and emissions in China (0.7 < C ≤ 1.0) from 2013 to 2017, and that the
coordination degrees of PM2.5, SO2, and CO all increased during this
period. Comprehensive coupling coordination levels of air pollutants
were high in the east and low in the west, and the levels in Northwest
China were generally higher than those in Southwest China. The results
also indicate that NTL, RPR, WIN, NDVI, and PRE had certain effects on
the coupling coordination levels.
The findings of this study illustrate that controlling and reducing air
pollutant emissions remains a crucial component of air quality
improvement, particularly for cities in Northeast, North, East, and
Central China. The air pollutant coupling coordination levels varied by
region; therefore, it is crucial to adjust air pollution prevention and
control strategies according to local conditions and gain some effective
experience from other cities. In addition, enhancing collaborations with
adjacent areas is also conducive to atmospheric governance. In conclu­
sion, our findings substantially improved the current understanding of
correlations between air pollutant concentrations and emissions in
China, which has profound and long-term impacts on governing ambient
air pollution. This study also provides a valuable reference for other
countries worldwide, particularly developing countries.
Credit author statement
All authors contributed extensively to the study presented in this
Q. Wu et al.
manuscript. Qian Wu, Chao He, Lu Yang and Song Hong: Conceptu­
alization, Methodology, Data curation, writing original draft and edit­
ing, Supervision. Hang Mu and Chaoqing Huang: Software,
Visualization, Data curation. Xiaoxiao Niu, Yanmei Zhong and Jiahui
Yi: Investigation, Validation.
Ethical approval
Not applicable.
Funding
No funding was received to assist with the preparation of this
manuscript.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial
interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence
the work reported in this paper.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data to this article can be found online at https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.apr.2023.101678.
References
Afoakwah, C., Nghiem, S., Scuffham, P., Huynh, Q., Marwick, T., Byrnes, J., 2020.
Impacts of air pollution on health: evidence from longitudinal cohort data of patients
with cardiovascular diseases. Eur. J. Health Econ. 21, 1025–1038. https://doi.org/
10.1007/s10198-020-01198-5.
Anselin, L., 1995. Local indicators of spatial association–LISA. Geogr. Anal. 27, 93–115.
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1538-4632.1995.tb00338.x.
Aunan, K., Hansen, M.H., Wang, S.X., 2018. Introduction: air pollution in China. China
Q. 234, 279–298. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0305741017001369.
Benassi, M., Garofalo, S., Ambrosini, F., Sant’Angelo, R.P., Raggini, R., De Paoli, G.,
Ravani, C., Giovagnoli, S., Orsoni, M., Piraccini, G., 2020. Using two–step cluster
analysis and latent Class cluster analysis to classify the cognitive heterogeneity of
cross–diagnostic psychiatric inpatients. Front. Psychol. 11, 1085. https://doi.org/
10.3389/fpsyg.2020.01085.
Bruederle, A., Hodler, R., 2018. Nighttime lights as a proxy for human development at
the local level. PLoS One 13, e0202231. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.
pone.0202231.
Cai, J., Li, X.P., Liu, L.J., Chen, Y.Z., Wang, X.W., Lu, S.H., 2021. Coupling and
coordinated development of new urbanization and agro–ecological environment in
China. Sci. Total Environ. 776, 145837 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
scitotenv.2021.145837.
Chan, C.K., Yao, X., 2008. Air pollution in mega cities in China. Atmos. Environ. 42,
1–42. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2007.09.003.
Chen, S.Y., Jin, H., 2019. Pricing for the clean air: evidence from Chinese housing
market. J. Clean. Prod. 206, 297–306. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jclepro.2018.08.220.
Chen, B.H., Hong, C.J., Kan, H.D., 2004. Exposures and health outcomes from outdoor air
pollutants in China. Toxicology 198, 291–300. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
tox.2004.02.005.
Chen, W., Tang, H.Z., Zhao, H.M., 2015. Diurnal, weekly and monthly spatial variations
of air pollutants and air quality of Beijing. Atmos. Environ. 119, 21–34. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.08.040.
Chen, L., Xie, J.Q., Ma, T., Chen, M.M., Gao, D., Li, Y.H., Ma, Y., Wen, B., Jiang, J.,
Wang, X.J., Zhang, J.B., Chen, S., Wu, L.J., Li, W.M., Liu, X.T., Dong, B., Wei, J.,
Guo, X.H., Huang, S.Z., Song, Y., Dong, Y.H., Ma, J., 2022. Greenness alleviates the
effects of ambient particulate matter on the risks of high blood pressure in children
and adolescents. Sci. Total Environ. 812, 152431 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
scitotenv.2021.152431.
Cheng, L.J., Ji, D.S., He, J., Li, L., Du, L., Cui, Y., Zhang, H.L., Zhou, L.X., Li, Z.Q.,
Zhou, Y.X., Miao, S.Y., Gong, Z.Y., Wang, Y.S., 2019. Characteristics of air pollutants
and greenhouse gases at a regional background station in southwestern China.
Aerosol Air Qual. Res. 19, 1007–1023. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2018.11.0397.
Cheong, T.S., Wu, Y.R., 2014. The impacts of structural transformation and industrial
upgrading on regional inequality in China. China Econ. Rev. 31, 339–350. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.chieco.2014.09.007.
Department of Ecology and Environment of Guangdong Province, 2017. Urban Ambient
Air Quality in Guangdong Province (2017 (In Chinese). http://gdee.gd.gov.cn
/kqzl/content/post_2301149.html.
11
Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678
Dong, F.G., Li, W.Y., 2020. Research on coupling mechanism of China’s wind power
industry chain. Int. J. Green Energy 17, 770–782. https://doi.org/10.1080/
15435075.2020.1798768.
Dong, D.X., Xu, B.Y., Shen, N., He, Q., 2021. The adverse impact of air pollution on
China’s economic growth. Sustainability 13, 9056. https://doi.org/10.3390/
su13169056.
Du, W.J., Chen, L.L., Wang, H.R., Shan, Z.Y., Zhou, Z.Y., Li, W.W., Wang, Y., 2023.
Deciphering urban traffic impacts on air quality by deep learning and emission
inventory. J. Environ. Sci. 124, 745–757. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jes.2021.12.035.
Shenzhen Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau, 2017. Shenzhen environmental
status bulletin (2017). (In Chinese). http://meeb.sz.gov.cn/xxgk/tjsj/ndhjzkgb/con
tent/post_2015572.html.
Fang, C.L., Liu, H.M., Li, G.D., 2016. International progress and evaluation on interactive
coupling effects between urbanization and the eco–environment. J. Geogr. Sci. 26,
1081–1116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-016-1317-9.
Fei, J.H., Lin, Y., Jiang, Q.T., Jiang, K.H., Li, P.L., Ye, G.Q., 2021. Spatiotemporal
coupling coordination measurement on island’s economy–environment–tourism
system. Ocean Coast Manag. 212, 105793 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
ocecoaman.2021.105793.
Feng, Y.Y., Ning, M., Lei, Y., Sun, Y.M., Liu, W., Wang, J.N., 2019. Defending blue sky in
China: effectiveness of the “air pollution prevention and control action plan” on air
quality improvements from 2013 to 2017. J. Environ. Manag. 252, 109603 https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.109603.
Fu, W.J., Zhao, K.L., Zhang, C.S., Tunney, H., 2011. Using Moran’s I and geostatistics to
identify spatial patterns of soil nutrients in two different long–term
phosphorus–application plots. J. Plant Nutr. Soil Sci. 174, 785–798. https://doi.org/
10.1002/jpln.201000422.
Fu, S.H., Viard, V.B., Zhang, P., 2021. Air pollution and manufacturing firm productivity:
nationwide estimates for China. Econ. J. 131, 3241–3273. https://doi.org/10.1093/
ej/ueab033.
Gao, Y., Liu, X., Zhao, C., Zhang, M., 2011. Emission controls versus meteorological
conditions in determining aerosol concentrations in Beijing during the 2008 Olympic
Games. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 11, 12437–12451. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-
12437-2011.
Gautam, D., Bolia, N.B., 2020. Air pollution: impact and interventions. Air. Qual. Atmos.
Hlth. 13, 209–223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-019-00784-8.
Gu, H.J., Cao, Y.X., Elahi, E., Jha, S.K., 2019. Human health damages related to air
pollution in China. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 26, 13115–13125. https://doi.org/
10.1007/s11356-019-04708-y.
He, C., Hong, S., Zhang, L., Mu, H., Xin, A.X., Zhou, Y.Q., Liu, J.K., Liu, N.J., Su, Y.M.,
Tian, Y., Ke, B.Q., Wang, Y.W., Yang, L., 2021a. Global, continental, and national
variation in PM2.5, O3, and NO2 concentrations during the early 2020 COVID–19
lockdown. Atmos. Pollut. Res. 12, 136–145. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
apr.2021.02.002.
He, C., Yang, L., Cai, B.F., Ruan, Q.Y., Hong, S., Wang, Z., 2021b. Impacts of the
COVID–19 event on the NOX emissions of key polluting enterprises in China. Appl.
Energy 281, 116042. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2020.116042.
He, Y., Lin, K.R., Liao, N., Chen, Z.H., Rao, J.W., 2022. Exploring the spatial effects and
influencing factors of PM2.5 concentration in the yangtze river delta urban
agglomerations of China. Atmos. Environ. 268, 118805 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
atmosenv.2021.118805.
Hu, M.M., Wang, Y.F., Wang, S., Jiao, M.Y., Huang, G.H., Xia, B.C., 2021.
Spatial–temporal heterogeneity of air pollution and its relationship with
meteorological factors in the Pearl River Delta, China. Atmos. Environ. 254, 118415
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2021.118415.
Hu, L., Zhang, Q., Wang, G., Singh, V.P., Wu, W.H., Fan, K.K., Shen, Z.X., 2022. Flood
disaster risk and socioeconomy in the Yellow River basin, China. J. Hydrol–Reg.
Stud. 44, 101272 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejrh.2022.101272.
Kim, Y., Manley, J., Radoias, V., 2020. Air pollution and long term mental health. Atmos
11, 1355. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos11121355.
Li, W.W., Yi, P.T., 2020. Assessment of city sustainability–Coupling coordinated
development among economy, society and environment. J. Clean. Prod. 256, 120453
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2020.120453.
Li, M.S., Ren, X.X., Zhou, L., Zhang, F.Y., 2016a. Spatial mismatch between pollutant
emission and environmental quality in China – a case study of NOX. Atmos. Pollut.
Res. 7, 294–302. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2015.10.005.
Li, S.S., Williams, G., Guo, Y.M., 2016b. Health benefits from improved outdoor air
quality and intervention in China. Environ. Pollut. 214, 17–25. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.envpol.2016.03.066.
Li, Q., Wang, E.R., Zhang, T.T., Hu, H., 2017. Spatial and temporal patterns of air
pollution in Chinese cities. Water, Air, Soil Pollut. 228, 92. https://doi.org/10.1007/
s11270-017-3268-x.
Li, X.Y., Xue, W.H., Wang, K., Che, Y.F., Wei, J., 2022. Environmental regulation and
synergistic effects of PM2.5 control in China. J. Clean. Prod. 337, 130438 https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.130438.
Lim, S.S., Vos, T., Flaxman, A.D., Danaei, G., Shibuya, K., Adair-Rohani, H., AlMazroa, M.
A., Amann, M., Anderson, H.R., Andrews, K.G., 2013. A comparative risk assessment
of burden of disease and injury attributable to 67 risk factors and risk factor clusters
in 21 regions, 1990–2010: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease
Study 2010. Lancet 380, 2224–2260. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(12)
61766-8.
Ma, Y.R., Ji, Q., Fan, Y., 2016. Spatial linkage analysis of the impact of regional economic
activities on PM2.5 pollution in China. J. Clean. Prod. 139, 1157–1167. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.08.152.
Q. Wu et al.
Manisalidis, I., Stavropoulou, E., Stavropoulos, A., Bezirtzoglou, E., 2020. Environmental
and health impacts of air pollution: a review. Front. Public Health 8, 14. https://doi.
org/10.3389/fpubh.2020.00014.
Mao, X.Q., Zhou, J., Corsetti, G., 2014. How well have China’s recent five–year plans
been implemented for energy conservation and air pollution control? Environ. Sci.
Technol. 48, 10036–10044. https://doi.org/10.1021/es501729d.
Meng, K., Xu, X.D., Xu, X.B., Wang, H.L., Liu, X.H., Jiao, Y.Y., 2019. The causes of
“vulnerable regions” to air pollution in winter in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region: a
topographic–meteorological impact model based on adaptive emission constraint
technique. Atmos 10, 719. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10110719.
Qi, J., Zheng, B., Li, M., Yu, F., Chen, C.C., Liu, F., Zhou, X.F., Yuan, J., Zhang, Q., He, K.
B., 2017. A high–resolution air pollutants emission inventory in 2013 for the
Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region, China. Atmos. Environ. Times 170, 156–168. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2017.09.039.
Qi, X.Y., Mei, G., Cuomo, S., Liu, C., Xu, N.X., 2021. Data analysis and mining of the
correlations between meteorological conditions and air quality: a case study in
Beijing. Internet. Things. 14, 100127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.iot.2019.100127.
Qi, Y.Y., Farnoosh, A., Lin, L., Liu, H., 2022. Coupling coordination analysis of China’s
provincial water–energy–food nexus. Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 29, 23303–23313.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17036-x.
Ren, L.N., Matsumoto, K., 2020. Effects of socioeconomic and natural factors on air
pollution in China: a spatial panel data analysis. Sci. Total Environ. 740, 140155
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.140155.
Ronald, J.V., Mijling, B., Ding, J., Koukouli, M.E., Liu, F., Li, Q., Mao, H.Q., Theys, N.,
2017. Cleaning up the air: effectiveness of air quality policy for SO2 and NOX
emissions in China. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 17, 1775–1789. https://doi.org/10.5194/
acp-17-1775-2017.
Rundle-Thiele, S., Kubacki, K., Tkaczynski, A., Parkinson, J., 2015. Using two–step
cluster analysis to identify homogeneous physical activity groups. Market. Intell.
Plann. 33, 522–537. https://doi.org/10.1108/MIP-03-2014-0050.
Song, C.B., Wu, L., Xie, Y.C., He, J.J., Chen, X., Wang, T., Lin, Y.C., Jin, T.S., Wang, A.X.,
Liu, Y., Dai, Q.L., Liu, B.S., Wang, Y.N., Mao, H.J., 2017. Air pollution in China:
status and spatiotemporal variations. Environ. Pollut. 227, 334–347. https://doi.
org/10.1016/j.envpol.2017.04.075.
Sun, Y.L., Wang, Z.F., Du, W., Zhang, Q., Wang, Q.Q., Fu, P.Q., Pan, X.L., Li, J., Jayne, J.,
Worsnop, D.R., 2015. Long–term real–time measurements of aerosol particle
composition in Beijing, China: seasonal variations, meteorological effects, and
source analysis. Atmos. Chem. Phys. 15, 10149–10165. https://doi.org/10.5194/
acp-15-10149-2015.
Tang, D., Dai, R., Tang, L., Li, X., 2020. Low–rate DoS attack detection based on two–step
cluster analysis and UTR analysis. Hum–Cent. Comput. Info. 10, 6. https://doi.org/
10.1186/s13673-020-0210-9.
Usmani, R.S.A., Saeed, A., Abdullahi, A.M., Pillai, T.R., Jhanjhi, N.Z., Hashem, I.A.T.,
2020. Air pollution and its health impacts in Malaysia: a review. Air. Qual. Atmos.
Hlth. 13, 1093–1118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-020-00867-x.
Wang, H., Chen, Z.Y., Zhang, P., 2022a. Spatial autocorrelation and temporal
convergence of PM2.5 concentrations in Chinese cities. Int. J. Environ. Res. Publ.
Health 19, 13942. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph192113942.
Wang, Y.Z., Duan, X.J., Liang, T., Wang, L., Wang, L.Q., 2022b. Analysis of
spatio–temporal distribution characteristics and socioeconomic drivers of urban air
quality in China. Chemosphere 291, 132799. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
chemosphere.2021.132799.
Wei, J., Li, Z.Q., Li, K., Dickerson, R.R., Pinker, R.T., Wang, J., Liu, X., Sun, L., Xue, W.H.,
Cribb, M., 2022. Full–coverage mapping and spatiotemporal variations of
ground–level ozone (O3) pollution from 2013 to 2020 across China. Rem. Sens.
Environ. 270, 112775 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rse.2021.112775.
World Health Organization, 2006. Working Together for Health.
12
Atmospheric Pollution Research 14 (2023) 101678
Wu, R.W., Yang, D.G., Dong, J.F., Zhang, L., Xia, F.Q., 2018. Regional inequality in China
based on NPP–VIIRS night–time light imagery. Rem. Sens. 10, 240. https://doi.org/
10.3390/rs10020240.
Wu, H.S., Hong, S., Hu, M.G., Li, Y.H., Yun, W.Z., 2022. Assessment of the factors
influencing sulfur dioxide emissions in Shandong, China. Atmos 13, 142. https://doi.
org/10.3390/atmos13010142.
Xiao, C.C., Chang, M., Guo, P.K., Gu, M.F., Li, Y., 2020. Analysis of air quality
characteristics of Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei and its surrounding air pollution transport
channel cities in China. J. Environ. Sci. 87, 213–227. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.
jes.2019.05.024.
Xu, S.S., He, W.J., Shen, J.Q., Degefu, D.M., Yuan, L., Kong, Y., 2019. Coupling and
coordination degrees of the core water–energy–food nexus in China. Int. J. Environ.
Res. Publ. Health 16, 1648. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16091648.
Xu, J., Yang, W., Bai, Z.P., Zhang, R.Y., Zheng, J., Wang, M., Zhu, T., 2022. Modeling
spatial variation of gaseous air pollutants and particulate matters in a Metropolitan
area using mobile monitoring data. Environ. Res. 210, 112858 https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.envres.2022.112858.
Yan, J.W., Tao, F., Zhang, S.Q., Lin, S., Zhou, T., 2021. Spatiotemporal distribution
characteristics and driving forces of PM2.5 in three urban agglomerations of the
yangtze river economic belt. Int. J. Environ. Res. Publ. Health 18, 2222. https://doi.
org/10.3390/ijerph18052222.
Yang, T., Zhou, K.L., Ding, T., 2022. Air pollution impacts on public health: evidence
from 110 cities in yangtze river economic belt of China. Sci. Total Environ. 851,
158125 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158125.
Zhang, Z.R., Gu, G.F., 2020. The coupling relationship between sci–tech finance and
regional economic development in China. Sci. Geogr. Sin. 40, 751–759. https://doi.
org/10.13249/j.cnki.sgs.2020.05.009 (In Chinese).
Zhang, T., Li, L., 2020. Research on temporal and spatial variations in the degree of
coupling coordination of tourism–urbanization–ecological environment: a case study
of Heilongjiang, China. Environ. Dev. Sustain. 23, 8474–8491. https://doi.org/
10.1007/s10668-020-00976-8.
Zhang, Z.Y., Xu, X.D., Qiao, L., Gong, D.Y., Kim, S.J., Wang, Y.J., Mao, R., 2018.
Numerical simulations of the effects of regional topography on haze pollution in
Beijing. Sci. Rep. 8, 5504. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-23880-8.
Zhang, J.T., Zhao, Y.D., Tian, Y.G., He, Q.Q., Zhuang, Y.H., Peng, Y.X., Hong, S., 2019a.
Spatial non–coupling of air pollutant emissions and particulate matter–related air
quality: a case study in Wuhan City. Prog. Geogr. 38, 612–624. https://doi.org/
10.18306/dlkxjz.2019.04.013 (In Chinese).
Zhang, Q., Zheng, Y.X., Tong, D., Shao, M., Wang, S.X., Zhang, Y.H., Xu, X.D., Wang, J.
N., He, H., Liu, W.Q., Ding, Y.H., Lei, Y., Li, J.H., Wang, Z.F., Zhang, X.Y., Wang, Y.
S., Cheng, J., Liu, Y., Shi, Q.R., Yan, L., Geng, G.N., Hong, C.P., Li, M., Liu, F.,
Zheng, B., Cao, J.J., Ding, A.J., Gao, J., Fu, Q.Y., Huo, J.T., Liu, B.X., Liu, Z.R.,
Yang, F.M., He, K.B., Hao, J.M., 2019b. Drivers of improved PM2.5 air quality in
China from 2013 to 2017. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 116, 24463–24469. https://doi.
org/10.1073/pnas.1907956116.
Zhao, Y.H., Hou, P., Jiang, J.B., Zhai, J., Chen, Y., Wang, Y.C., Bai, J.J., Zhang, B., Xu, H.
T., 2021. Coordination study on ecological and economic coupling of the Yellow
River basin. Int. J. Environ. Res. Publ. Health 18, 10664. https://doi.org/10.3390/
ijerph182010664.
Zhou, L., Zhou, C.H., Yang, F., Che, L., Wang, B., Sun, D.Q., 2019. Spatio–temporal
evolution and the influencing factors of PM2.5 in China between 2000 and 2015.
J. Geogr. Sci. 29, 253–270. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-019-1595-0.
Zhou, D., Zhang, X.R., Wang, X.Q., 2020. Research on coupling degree and coupling path
between China’s carbon emission efficiency and industrial structure upgrading.
Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res. 27, 25149–25162. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-
08993-w.