  Air pollution is associated with human diseases and has been found to be
related to premature mortality. In response, environmental policies have been
adopted in many countries, to decrease anthropogenic air pollution for the
improvement of long-term air quality, since most air pollutant sources are
anthropogenic. However, air pollution fluctuations have been found to strongly
depend on the weather dynamics. This raises a fundamental question: What are
the significant atmospheric processes that affect the local daily variability
of air pollution? For this purpose, we develop here a multi-layered network
analysis to detect the interlinks between the geopotential height of the upper
air (~5 km) and surface air pollution in both China and the USA. We find that
Rossby waves significantly affect air pollution fluctuations through the
development of cyclone and anticyclone systems, and further affect the local
stability of the air and the winds. The significant impacts of Rossby waves on
air pollution are found to underlie most of the daily fluctuations in air
pollution. Thus, the impact of Rossby waves on human life is greater than
previously assumed. The rapid warming of the Arctic could slow down Rossby
waves, thus increasing human health risks. Our method can help to determine the
risk assessment of such extreme events and can improve potential
predictability.
