First long-term surface ozone variations at an agricultural site in the North China Plain: Evolution under changing meteorology and emissions

Xiaoyi Zhang; Wanyun Xu; Gen Zhang; Weili Lin; Huarong Zhao; Sanxue Ren; Guangsheng Zhou; Jianmin Chen; Xiaobin Xu

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160520

First long-term surface ozone variations at an agricultural site in the North China Plain: Evolution under changing meteorology and emissions

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Feb 20:860:160520. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160520. Epub 2022 Nov 25.

Authors

Xiaoyi Zhang¹, Wanyun Xu², Gen Zhang³, Weili Lin⁴, Huarong Zhao⁵, Sanxue Ren⁵, Guangsheng Zhou⁶, Jianmin Chen⁷, Xiaobin Xu⁸

Affiliations

¹ Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China; State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China. Electronic address: xuwy@cma.gov.cn.
³ State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
⁴ College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Minzu University of China, Beijing 100081, China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Institute of Agricultural Meteorology, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Institute of Agricultural Meteorology, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China; Hebei Gucheng Agricultural Meteorology National Observation and Research Station, Baoding 072656, China.
⁷ Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
⁸ State Key Laboratory of Severe Weather, Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Composition, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing 100081, China. Electronic address: xiaobin_xu@189.cn.

PMID: 36442628
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.160520

Abstract

Significant upward trends in surface ozone (O₃) have been widely reported in China during recent years, especially during warm seasons in the North China Plain (NCP), exerting adverse environmental effects on human health and agriculture. Quantifying long-term O₃ variations and their attributions helps to understand the causes of regional O₃ pollution and to formulate according control strategy. In this study, we present long-term trends of O₃ in the warm seasons (April-September) during 2006-2019 at an agricultural site in the NCP and investigate the relative contributions of meteorological and anthropogenic factors. Overall, the maximum daily 8-h average (MDA8) O₃ exhibited a weak decreasing trend with large interannual variability. < 6 % of the observed trend could be explained by changes in meteorological conditions, while the remaining 94 % was attributed to anthropogenic impacts. However, the interannual variability of warm season MDA8 O₃ was driven by both meteorology (36 ± 28 %) and anthropogenic factors (64 ± 27 %). Daily maximum temperature was the most essential factor affecting O₃ variations, followed by ultraviolet radiation b (UVB) and boundary layer height (BLH), with rising temperature trends inducing O₃ inclines throughout April to August, while UVB mainly influenced O₃ during summer months. Under changes in emissions and air quality, warm season O₃ production regime gradually shifted from dominantly VOCs-limited during 2006-2015 to NO_x-limited afterwards. Relatively steady HCHO and remarkably rising NO_x levels resulted in the fast decreasing MDA8 O₃ (-2.87 ppb yr^-1) during 2006-2012. Rapidly decreasing NO_x, flat or slightly increasing HCHO promoted O₃ increases during 2012-2015 (9.76 ppb yr^-1). While afterwards, slow increases in HCHO and downwards fluctuating NO_x led to decreases in MDA8 O₃ (-4.97 ppb yr^-1). Additionally, continuous warming trends might promote natural emissions of O₃ precursors and magnify their impacts on agricultural O₃ by inducing high variability, which would require even more anthropogenic reduction to compensate for.

Keywords: Influencing factors; Long-term trend; Ozone; Ozone sensitivity; Rural site in the NCP.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution* / analysis
China
Environmental Monitoring / methods
Humans
Meteorology
Ozone* / analysis
Ultraviolet Rays

Substances

Ozone
Air Pollutants