Nitrate pollution deterioration in winter driven by surface ozone increase

作者：Zekun Zhang, Bingqing Lu, Chao Liu, Xue Meng, Jiakui Jiang, Hartmut Herrmann, Jianmin Chen, Xiang Li · 发表于：npj Climate and Atmospheric Science · 年份：2024 · DOI：10.1038/s41612-024-00667-5 · 被引用次数：30 · 研究领域：Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols、Air Quality Monitoring and Forecasting、Air Quality and Health Impacts

Abstract Recently, nitrate (NO 3 – ) levels in winter pollution in eastern China have been increasing yearly and have become the main component of PM 2.5 . The factors contributing to this rise in surface NO 3 – concentrations remain unclear, complicating the development of targeted pollution control measures. This study utilizes observational data from Shanghai during the winter 2019, alongside box model simulations, to recreate the NO 3 − pollution event and identify the key factors in the growth process. The analysis demonstrated that a rise in winter ozone levels significantly promotes NO 3 – production by facilitating NO x conversion via gas-phase and heterogeneous reactions. These findings could explain the correlation between the synchronous increase of surface ozone and NO 3 − in recent years. Furthermore, simulation of control strategies for NO x and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) identified an approach centered on ozone reduction as notably effective in mitigating winter NO 3 – pollution in the Yangtze River Delta.