Journal article
Aggravated surface O 3 pollution primarily driven by meteorological variations in China during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period
Atmospheric chemistry and physics, Vol.24(13), pp.7793-7813
07/10/2024
DOI: 10.5194/acp-24-7793-2024
Abstract
Due to the lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic in China from late January to early April in 2020, a significant reduction in primary air pollutants, as compared to the same time period in 2019, has been identified by satellite and ground observations. However, this reduction is in contrast with the increase of surface ozone (O3) concentration in many parts of China during the same period from 2019 to 2020. The reasons for this contrast are studied here from two perspectives: emission changes and inter-annual meteorological variations. Based on top-down constraints of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from TROPOMI measurements and GEOS-Chem model simulations, our analysis reveals that NOx and volatile organic compound (VOC) emission reductions as well as meteorological variations lead to 8 %, −3 % and 1 % changes in O3 over North China, respectively. In South China, however, we find that meteorological variations cause ∼ 30 % increases in O3, which is much larger than −1 % and 2 % changes due to VOC and NOx emission reductions, respectively, and the overall O3 increase in the simulations is consistent with the surface observations. The higher temperature associated with the increase in solar radiation and the decreased relative humidity are the main reasons that led to the surface O3 increase in South China. Collectively, inter-annual meteorological variations had a larger impact than emission reductions on the aggravated surface O3 pollution in China during the lockdown period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Details
- Title: Subtitle
- Aggravated surface O 3 pollution primarily driven by meteorological variations in China during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic lockdown period
- Creators
- Zhendong LuJun WangYi WangDaven K. HenzeXi ChenTong ShaKang Sun
- Resource Type
- Journal article
- Publication Details
- Atmospheric chemistry and physics, Vol.24(13), pp.7793-7813
- DOI
- 10.5194/acp-24-7793-2024
- ISSN
- 1680-7324
- eISSN
- 1680-7324
- Language
- English
- Date published
- 07/10/2024
- Academic Unit
- Physics and Astronomy; Electrical and Computer Engineering; Chemical and Biochemical Engineering; Iowa Technology Institute; Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Record Identifier
- 9984656634102771
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