Public Concern about Haze and Ozone in the Era of Their Coordinated Control in China

In China, due to the implementation of the Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Air Pollution (APPCAP), the concentrations of PM_2.5 (fine particulate matter) and severe haze in most cities have decreased significantly. However, at present, haze pollution in China has not been completely mitigated, and the problem of O₃ (ozone) has become prominent. Therefore, the prevention and control of haze and O₃ pollution have become important and noticeable issues in the field of atmospheric management. We used the Baidu search indices of "haze" and "ozone" to reflect public concerns about air quality and uncover different correlations between level of concern and level of pollution, and then we identified regions in China that require public attention. The results showed that (1) over the last decade, the search index of haze had a rapid trend of variation in line with changes in haze pollution, but that of O₃ had a relatively slowly increasing trend; (2) the lag days between the peaks of public concern and the peaks of air pollution became increasingly shorter according to daily data analysis; and (3) 96 polluted cities did not receive sufficient public attention. Although periods of heavily haze-polluted weather, which affects visibility, have generated much public concern, periods of slight pollution have not received enough public attention. Public health protection and environmental participation regarding these periods of slight pollution in China deserve appropriate levels of attention.