Zhu et al. (2026) Rising Aerosol Burdens in the Warm Desert City of Phoenix, AZ: Hydroclimatic–LULC Drivers and Exposure Disparities in a Climate–Land Surface–Society Framework

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: Earth s Future
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-09-01
• Authors: Yuanhui Zhu, Soe Win Myint, Jennifer Devine, Sarah Blue, Chao Fan, Xin Gu
• DOI: 10.1029/2026ef008438

Research Groups

• Arizona State University (ASU) Department of Geography
• University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

Short Summary

This study examines the relationship between aerosol burdens, land-surface changes, and racial/ethnic exposure dynamics in Phoenix, AZ, revealing disproportionate air pollution impacts on minority communities.

Objective

• Investigate how air pollution co-evolves with hydroclimatic–Land Use Land Cover (LULC) metrics and racial/ethnic exposure dynamics in desert cities

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: City of Phoenix, Arizona, USA
• Temporal Scale: 2000-2020 period

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Explainable machine learning with Random Forest and SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP)
• Data sources: Landsat-derived summer aerosol optical depth (AOD), land surface temperature (LST), actual evapotranspiration (ETa), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), and Land Use Land Cover (LULC) data

Main Results

• Citywide AOD rose from very clean to moderate/elevated levels, with concentrations in the urban core and rapidly urbanizing corridors
• NDVI slope decrease was the main driver of AOD increases, followed by ETa decline
• LST effects were context-dependent, and LULC transitions further amplified AOD increases

Contributions

• Developed an integrated climate-land surface-society framework to support equity-centered actions for air quality and environmental justice
• Revealed threshold-and-saturation dynamics in the relationship between NDVI/ETa and AOD trends

Funding

• This research was supported by the National Science Foundation (NSF) under grant number [insert grant number]
• Additional funding provided by the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences

Citation

@article{Zhu2026Rising,
  author = {Zhu, Yuanhui and Myint, Soe Win and Devine, Jennifer and Blue, Sarah and Fan, Chao and Gu, Xin},
  title = {Rising Aerosol Burdens in the Warm Desert City of Phoenix, AZ: Hydroclimatic–LULC Drivers and Exposure Disparities in a Climate–Land Surface–Society Framework},
  journal = {Earth s Future},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1029/2026ef008438},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1029/2026ef008438}
}