Abstract
AbstractAtmospheric ozone (O3) is a pollutant produced through chemical chain reactions where volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carbon monoxide and methane are oxidized in the presence of oxides of nitrogen (NOx). For decades, the controlling chain termination step has been used to separate regions into either ‘NOx limited’ (peroxyl-radical self-reactions dominate) or ‘VOC limited’ (hydroxyl radical (OH) + nitrogen dioxide (NO2) reaction dominates). The controlling regime would then guide policies for reducing emissions and so O3 concentrations. Using a chemical transport model, we show that a third ‘aerosol inhibited’ regime exists, where reactive uptake of hydroperoxyl radicals (HO2) onto aerosol particles dominates. In 1970, 2% of the Northern Hemisphere population lived in an aerosol-inhibited regime, but by 2014 this had increased to 21%; 60% more than lived in a VOC-limited regime. Aerosol-inhibited chemistry suppressed surface O3 concentrations in North America and Europe in the 1970s and is currently suppressing surface O3 over Asia. This third photochemical O3 regime leads to potential trade-off tensions between reducing particle pollution in Asia (a key current health policy and priority) and increasing surface O3, should O3 precursors emissions not be reduced in tandem.
Publisher
Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Subject
General Earth and Planetary Sciences
Reference46 articles.
1. Fowler, D. et al. Ground-Level Ozone in the 21st Century: Future Trends, Impacts and Policy Implications (The Royal Society, 2008).
2. IPCC Climate Change 2014: Synthesis Report (eds Core Writing Team, Pachauri, R. K. & Meyer, L. A.) (IPCC, 2014).
3. Council, N. R. Rethinking the Ozone Problem in Urban and Regional Air Pollution (National Academies Press, 1991).
4. Sillman, S. The relation between ozone, NOx and hydrocarbons in urban and polluted rural environments. Atmos. Environ. 33, 1821–1845 (1999).
5. Thornton, J. A. et al. Ozone production rates as a function of NOx abundances and HOx production rates in the Nashville urban plume. J. Geophys. Res. Atmos. 107, 4146 (2002).
Cited by
35 articles.
订阅此论文施引文献
订阅此论文施引文献,注册后可以免费订阅5篇论文的施引文献,订阅后可以查看论文全部施引文献