Does Ozone Pollution Share the Same Formation Mechanisms in the Bay Areas of China?

Yangzong Zeren, Beining Zhou, Yanhua Zheng, Fei Jiang, Xiaopu Lyu, Likun Xue, Hongli Wang, Xufei Liu, Hai Guo*

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

    17 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    As important regions of transition between land and sea, the three bay areas of Bohai Bay (BHB), Hangzhou Bay (HZB), and Pearl River Estuary (PRE) in China often suffer from severe photochemical pollution despite scarce anthropogenic emissions. To understand the causes of high ozone (O3) concentrations, the high O3 episode days associated with special synoptic systems in the three bays were identified via observations and simulated by the weather research and forecasting coupled with community multiscale air quality (WRF-CMAQ) model. It was revealed that the interaction between synoptic winds and mesoscale breezes resulted in slow wind speeds over the HZB and PRE, where air pollutants transported from upwind cities gained a long residence time and subsequently participated in intensive photochemical reactions. The net O3 production rates within the bay areas were even comparable to those in surrounding cities. This finding was also applicable to BHB but with lower net O3 production rates, while high levels of background O3 and the regional transport from farther upwind BHB partially elevated the O3 concentrations. Hence, these three bay areas served as O3 “pools” which caused the accumulation of air pollutants via atmospheric dynamics and subsequent intense photochemical reactions under certain meteorological conditions. The results may be applicable to other similar ecotones around the world.
    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)14326–14337
    Number of pages12
    JournalEnvironmental Science and Technology
    Volume56
    Issue number20
    Early online date30 Sept 2022
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Oct 2022

    User-Defined Keywords

    • ozone pollution
    • bay areas
    • atmospheric dynamics
    • photochemical reactions
    • WRF-CMAQ

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