A Newly Established Air Pollution Data Center in China

Air pollution in China covers a large area with complex sources and formation mechanisms, making it a unique place to conduct air pollution and atmospheric chemistry research. The National Natural Science Foundation of China’s Major Research Plan entitled “Fundamental Researches on the Formation and Response Mechanism of the Air Pollution Complex in China” (or the Plan) has funded 76 research projects to explore the causes of air pollution in China, and the key processes of air pollution in atmospheric physics and atmospheric chemistry. In order to summarize the abundant data from the Plan and exhibit the long-term impacts domestically and internationally, an integration project is responsible for collecting the various types of data generated by the 76 projects of the Plan. This project has classified and integrated these data, forming eight categories containing 258 datasets and 15 technical reports in total. The integration project has led to the successful establishment of the China Air Pollution Data Center (CAPDC) platform, providing storage, retrieval, and download services for the eight categories. This platform has distinct features including data visualization, related project information querying, and bilingual services in both English and Chinese, which allows for rapid searching and downloading of data and provides a solid foundation of data and support for future related research. Air pollution control in China, especially in the past decade, is undeniably a global exemplar, and this data center is the first in China to focus on research into the country’s air pollution complex.