Aggravated ozone pollution in the strong free convection boundary layer

Guiqian Tang; Yuting Liu; Xiao Huang; Yinghong Wang; Bo Hu; Yucui Zhang; Tao Song; Xiaolan Li; Shuang Wu; Qihua Li; Yanyu Kang; Zhenyu Zhu; Meng Wang; Yiming Wang; Tingting Li; Xin Li; Yuesi Wang

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147740

Aggravated ozone pollution in the strong free convection boundary layer

Sci Total Environ. 2021 Sep 20:788:147740. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147740. Epub 2021 May 15.

Authors

Guiqian Tang¹, Yuting Liu², Xiao Huang³, Yinghong Wang⁴, Bo Hu⁵, Yucui Zhang⁶, Tao Song⁵, Xiaolan Li⁷, Shuang Wu⁵, Qihua Li⁸, Yanyu Kang⁸, Zhenyu Zhu⁵, Meng Wang⁵, Yiming Wang², Tingting Li⁵, Xin Li⁵, Yuesi Wang⁹

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; Center for Excellence in Urban Atmospheric Environment, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
³ HuiHua College of Hebei Normal University, Shijiazhuang 050091, China.
⁴ State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China. Electronic address: wangyinghong@mail.iap.ac.cn.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.
⁶ Key Laboratory of Agricultural Water Resources, Center for Agricultural Resources Research, Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shijiazhuang 050021, China.
⁷ Institute of Atmospheric Environment, China Meteorological Administration, Shenyang, Liaoning 110166, China.
⁸ Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, China.
⁹ State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China; Center for Excellence in Urban Atmospheric Environment, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: wys@mail.iap.ac.cn.

PMID: 34134376
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.147740

Abstract

Clarifying the relationship between meteorological factors and ozone can provide scientific support for ozone pollution prediction, but the effects of boundary layer meteorology, especially boundary layer height and turbulence, on ozone pollution are rarely studied. Here, ozone and its related meteorological factors were observed in summer in Shijiazhuang, a city with the most serious ozone pollution on the North China Plain. The forced and free convection boundary layers were classified using ground remote observations. After eliminating the forced convection condition, strong free convection conditions, exhibiting a high boundary layer height, high wind speed, strong turbulence and large-scale free convection velocity, were found to be beneficial for the aggravation of ozone pollution. Combined with the ozone profile detected by a tethered balloon, the ozone chemical budget was calculated using the differences in the column ozone concentrations between the morning and afternoon, and the results confirmed the impact of free convection intensity on ozone pollution. The change in ozone sensitivity from VOCs sensitivity to NOx sensitivity driven by strong free convection was the main reason for the deterioration of ozone pollution. This study clarified the impact of boundary layer meteorology on ozone and its sensitivity and has important practical significance for ozone pollution prevention and early warning.

Keywords: Boundary layer; Forced convection; Free convection; Tethered balloon; Turbulence.