Ozone deterioration over North China plain caused by light absorption of black carbon and organic carbon

Li，Jinlan1,2; Li，Ying1,2,3

2023-11-15

10.1016/j.atmosenv.2023.120048

Atmospheric Environment   Impact Factor & Quartile

1352-2310

1873-2844

Previous studies have revealed that the light absorption effect of black carbon (BC) aerosol could influence ozone concentrations via absorbing sunlight and modulating photolysis rates, the so-called aerosol-photolysis interaction (API). However, few studies have quantified the API effect of organic carbon (OC) aerosol, which has recently been found to contribute to about 10%–40% of the total light absorption at 300 nm wavelength. This study tried to quantify and compare the OC and BC aerosols' influence on ozone concentrations through a case study over North China Plain (NCP) in Oct. 2018. By modulating OC's absorption index based on field measurements, we quantified the OC and BC API effect on surface ozone by the WRF-Chem model. The API effect and its uncertainties of OC aerosols were evaluated using the high and low absorption values that have been reported in previous studies. Results showed that, in terms of the pollution periods in NCP, removing all the OC aerosol from the atmosphere could increase the daytime maximum daily average 8-h (MDA8) O In this episode, the average (extreme) MDA8 O increased by 0.7–2.4 ppb (1.1–3.7 ppb), accounting for 1.5%–5.3% (2.4%–8.8%) of ozone concentration, comparable to that by BC of 2.0 ppb (3.3 ppb), accounting for 4.4% (7.8%), which means the OC's API effect was 35%–120% of BC's API effect on surface ozone in this case. The results also indicated a fact that, though OC has a lower light absorption rate than BC, the API efficiency of OC on surface ozone when reducing aerosols could be compensated by a higher portion of OC aerosols and higher light absorption efficiency due to much more OC was distributed on higher altitude (especially 1–3 km) than BC aerosols, which result in larger ozone changes in both the low troposphere and surface.

Aerosol-photolysis interaction Brown carbon Carbonaceous aerosol Complex air pollution Photochemistry

SCI

English

First ; Corresponding

Research and Development[2020B1111360001];Guangdong Science and Technology Department[2020B1212030001];National Natural Science Foundation of China[41575106];National Natural Science Foundation of China[41961160728];National Natural Science Foundation of China[42105124];Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Program[KCXFZ20211020174803005];Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Program[KQTD20180411143441009];

Environmental Sciences & Ecology ; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

Environmental Sciences ; Meteorology & Atmospheric Sciences

WOS:001076706600001

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

GEOSCIENCES

2-s2.0-85170413301

Scopus

1.Department of Ocean Science and Engineering,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,China
2.Center for the Oceanic and Atmospheric Science at SUSTech (COAST),Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,China
3.Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Joint Laboratory for Data-Driven Fluid Mechanics and Engineering Applications,Southern University of Science and Technology,Shenzhen,China

Li，Jinlan,Li，Ying. Ozone deterioration over North China plain caused by light absorption of black carbon and organic carbon[J]. Atmospheric Environment,2023,313.

Li，Jinlan,&Li，Ying.(2023).Ozone deterioration over North China plain caused by light absorption of black carbon and organic carbon.Atmospheric Environment,313.

Li，Jinlan,et al."Ozone deterioration over North China plain caused by light absorption of black carbon and organic carbon".Atmospheric Environment 313(2023).