Health Risk Assessment of Inhalable Particulate Matter in Beijing Based on the Thermal Environment

Inhalable particulate matter (PM(10)) is a primary air pollutant closely related to public health, and an especially serious problem in urban areas. The urban heat island (UHI) effect has made the urban PM(10) pollution situation more complex and severe. In this study, we established a health risk assessment system utilizing an epidemiological method taking the thermal environment effects into consideration. We utilized a remote sensing method to retrieve the PM(10) concentration, UHI, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI). With the correlation between difference vegetation index (DVI) and PM(10) concentration, we utilized the established model between PM(10) and thermal environmental indicators to evaluate the PM(10) health risks based on the epidemiological study. Additionally, with the regulation of UHI, NDVI and NDWI, we aimed at regulating the PM(10) health risks and thermal environment simultaneously. This study attempted to accomplish concurrent thermal environment regulation and elimination of PM(10) health risks through control of UHI intensity. The results indicate that urban Beijing has a higher PM(10) health risk than rural areas; PM(10) health risk based on the thermal environment is 1.145, which is similar to the health risk calculated (1.144) from the PM(10) concentration inversion; according to the regulation results, regulation of UHI and NDVI is effective and helpful for mitigation of PM(10) health risk in functional zones.