Modeling the effect of VOCs from biomass burning emissions on ozone pollution in upper Southeast Asia

Teerachai Amnuaylojaroen; Ronald C Macatangay; Suratsawadee Khodmanee

doi:10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02661

Modeling the effect of VOCs from biomass burning emissions on ozone pollution in upper Southeast Asia

Heliyon. 2019 Oct 17;5(10):e02661. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2019.e02661. eCollection 2019 Oct.

Authors

Teerachai Amnuaylojaroen^{1

2}, Ronald C Macatangay³, Suratsawadee Khodmanee¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Science, School of Energy and Environment, University of Phayao, Phayao, 56000, Thailand.
² Atmospheric Pollution and Climate Change Research Unit, School of Energy and Environment, University of Phayao, Phayao, 56000, Thailand.
³ Atmospheric Research Unit, National Astronomical Research Institute of Thailand, Chiang Mai, 53000, Thailand.

Abstract

We used a Weather Research and Forecasting Model with Chemistry (WRF-CHEM) model that includes anthropogenic emissions from EDGAR-HTAP, biomass burning from FINN, and biogenic emissions from MEGAN to investigate the main volatile organic compound (VOC) ozone precursors during high levels of biomass burning emissions in March 2014 over upper Southeast Asia. A comparison between the model and ground-based measurement data shows that the WRF-CHEM model simulates the precipitation and 2 m temperature reasonably well, with index of agreement (IOA) values ranging from 0.76 to 0.78. Further, the model predicts O₃, NO₂, and CO fairly well, with IOA values ranging from 0.50 to 0.57. However, the magnitude of the simulated NO₂ concentration was generally underestimated compared to OMI satellite observations. The model result shows that CO and VOCs such as BIGENE play an important role in atmospheric oxidation to surface O₃. In addition, biomass burning emissions are responsible for increasing surface O₃ by ∼1 ppmv and increasing the reaction rate of CO and BIGENE by approximately 0.5 × 10⁶ and 1 × 10⁶ molecules/cm³/s, respectively, in upper Southeast Asia.

Keywords: Atmospheric science; Climatology; Earth-surface processes; Environmental chemistry; Environmental pollution; Environmental science; Southeast Asia; Surface ozone; Volatile organic compounds; WRF-CHEM model.