Advancing high-resolution modeling to unravel the interplay between extreme weather events and air pollution under global warming

Abstract

Under global warming, extreme weather events and air pollution are becoming increasingly critical challenges. Both pose serious risks to human health, economies, and societal stability, and their complex interactions can further amplify these impacts. Numerical models are essential tools for studying these phenomena; however, traditional low-resolution Earth system models often fail to accurately capture the dynamics of extreme weather and air pollution. This limitation hinders our mechanistic understanding, reduces the reliability of future projections, and constrains the development of effective adaptation strategies. Dynamical downscaling—an approach that uses high-resolution regional models nested within global models—offers a partial solution. However, this method inherits biases from the parent global models and often fails to adequately represent multi-scale and cross-sphere interactions involving the atmosphere, land, and oceans. These shortcomings underscore the growing need for developing and applying high-resolution Earth system models that can more comprehensively and accurately depict land–sea–atmosphere interactions, including heat and material exchanges and their spatial heterogeneity. This article explores the current challenges, recent advances, and future opportunities in understanding the interplay between extreme weather events and air pollution, with a focus on the critical role of high-resolution modeling.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

High-resolution Modeling / Extreme weather events / Air pollution / Multiscale and multi-sphere interactions

Highlight

	● Understanding the interaction between extreme weather and air pollution is essential.
	● High-resolution Earth system models are key to capturing multi-sphere interactions.
	● There is a growing need to develop and apply high-resolution Earth system models.

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The Author(s) 2025. This article is published with open access at link.springer.com and journal.hep.com.cn