Driving forces and the spatial patterns of industrial sulfur dioxide discharge in China.
Rapid industrialization in China has brought forward serious and harmful atmospheric pollution. In this study, spatial econometric analysis was used to analyze the spatial change and the driving forces behind the industrial sulfur dioxide (SO2) discharge in China from 2001 to 2014. The study found that the amount of industrial SO2discharge (ISOD) increased first and then decreased during this period. ISOD intensity witnessed a fluctuating drop. There were large differences among intercity ISOD amount and intensity, which had various spatial patterns. Global Moran's I of ISOD amount and intensity had a tendency to increase on the whole, showed positive spatial autocorrelation, and revealed a more and more remarkable clustered spatial pattern. Local spatial autocorrelation analysis found that the spatial patterns of ISOD amount and intensity changed considerably over space and time. The spatial patterns of ISOD were significantly influenced by the regional differences in land use and environmental policy. The study also found that the driving forces of ISOD in China changed significantly from 2001 to 2014.
Institution of Land Resource Management, Hohai University, 8 W Focheng Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 21100, China. Electronic address: zhao-xf@126.com.
Xiaofeng
X
Zhao
Institution of Land Resource Management, Hohai University, 8 W Focheng Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 21100, China. Electronic address: dengchunlei0330@foxmail.com.
Chunlei
C
Deng
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Nanjing University, 163 Xianlin Road, Nanjing, Jiangsu 210023, China. Electronic address: hxj369@nju.edu.cn.
Xianjin
X
Huang
Department of Geography and Geographic Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 255 Computing Applications Building, MC-150, 605 E Springfield Ave., Champaign, IL 61820, USA; Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Utrecht University, 3508 TC Utrecht, The Netherlands. Electronic address: mpk654@gmail.com.
Mei-Po
MP
Kwan
Atmospheric pollution; China; Spatial autocorrelation; Spatial regression; Sulfur dioxide discharge