Ozone seasonal evolution and photochemical production regime in the polluted troposphere in eastern China derived from high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometry (FTS) observations

Authors

Youwen Sun, Chinese Academy Of Sciences
Cheng Liu, University of Science and Technology of China, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Mathias Palm, University of Bremen
C Vigouroux, Royal Belgian Institute for Space AeronomyFollow
Justus Notholt, University of Bremen
Qihou Hu, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Nicholas B. Jones, University of WollongongFollow
Wei Wang, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics
Wenjing Su, University of Science and Technology of China
Wenqiang Zhang, University of Science and Technology of China
Changong Shan, Chinese Academy Of Sciences
Yuan Tian, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics
Xingwei Xu, Chinese Academy Of Sciences
Martine de Maziere, Belgian Institute for Space AeronomyFollow
Minqiang Zhou, Royal Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy
Jianguo Liu, Chinese Academy Of Sciences

RIS ID

130993

Publication Details

Sun, Y., Liu, C., Palm, M., Vigouroux, C., Notholt, J., Hu, Q., Jones, N., Wang, W., Su, W., Zhang, W., Shan, C., Tian, Y., Xu, X., de Maziere, M., Zhou, M. & Liu, J. (2018). Ozone seasonal evolution and photochemical production regime in the polluted troposphere in eastern China derived from high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometry (FTS) observations. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 18 (19), 14569-14583.

Abstract

The seasonal evolution of O3 and its photochemical production regime in a polluted region of eastern China between 2014 and 2017 has been investigated using observations. We used tropospheric ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), and formaldehyde (HCHO, a marker of VOCs (volatile organic compounds)) partial columns derived from high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometry (FTS); tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO2, a marker of NOx (nitrogen oxides)) partial column deduced from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI); surface meteorological data; and a back trajectory cluster analysis technique. A broad O3 maximum during both spring and summer (MAM/JJA) is observed; the day-to-day variations in MAM/JJA are generally larger than those in autumn and winter (SON/DJF). Tropospheric O3 columns in June are 1.55x1018moleculescm-2 (56DU (Dobson units)), and in December they are 1.05x1018moleculescm-2 (39 DU). Tropospheric O3 columns in June were ∼ 50% higher than those in December. Compared with the SON/DJF season, the observed tropospheric O3 levels in MAM/JJA are more influenced by the transport of air masses from densely populated and industrialized areas, and the high O3 level and variability in MAM/JJA is determined by the photochemical O3 production. The tropospheric-column HCHO/NO2 ratio is used as a proxy to investigate the photochemical O3 production rate (PO3). The results show that the PO3 is mainly nitrogen oxide (NOx) limited in MAM/JJA, while it is mainly VOC or mixed VOC-NOx limited in SON/DJF. Statistics show that NOx-limited, mixed VOC-NOx-limited, and VOC-limited PO3 accounts for 60.1%, 28.7%, and 11% of days, respectively. Considering most of PO3 is NOx limited or mixed VOC-NOx limited, reductions in NOx would reduce O3 pollution in eastern China.