SPATIOTEMPORAL PATTERNS AND DRIVING FORCES OF AIR QUALITY IN JIANGSU PROVINCE, CHINA, 2014

In recent years, haze has become increasingly frequent in many cities in China, and has led to a gradual decline in air quality, posing an immediate threat to the public health, and raising widespread public concern about the factors influencing air quality. Based on air quality data from January to December 2014, gathered from 13 cities, we used Global and Local Moran's I to measure the spatial autocorrelation of air quality index (AQI) value, and explored the Ordinate Least Squares (OLS), Spatial Lag Model(SLM), and Spatial Error Model (SEM) to qualitatively estimate the comprehensive socioeconomic and natural factors on air quality. The results show: (1) the air quality in Northern Jiangsu and Southern Jiangsu was better than that in the central region with regard to spatial features. In terms of the time of the year, the air quality in Southern Jiangsu was worse in February, March, and December, but better in Northern Jiangsu during these periods; (2) the air quality in Northern Jiangsu was worse in May, July, September, and October, but better in Southern Jiangsu during these periods; (3) the per capita car ownership, proportion of secondary industry, and PM10 had a greater influence on air quality.