The trend, seasonal cycle, and sources of tropospheric NO2 over China during 1997–2006 based on satellite measurement

Trend reversal from source region to remote tropospheric NO2 columns

Global tropospheric nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) changes have different or even opposite impacts on the photochemical formation of ozone in different regions under different weather and emission condition. However, the changes over regions affected by different levels of human activities are not well known. By using the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) measurements, we analyzed spatial and temporal variability of tropospheric NO₂ vertical column densities (VCDs) from the megacity to the background regions during 2005-2019. Consistent with previous research, our results show a rapid decline of tropospheric NO₂ column density over regions strongly affected by human activities, especially for source regions. The decline rates of annual mean NO₂ VCDs are up to - 2.44% year^-1, - 2.37% year^-1, and - 1.43% year^-1 over megacities of the USA, Europe, and China, respectively. However, the decreasing rate has slowed, and even reversed to an increasing trend, of tropospheric NO₂ from megacities to developing and remote regions, especially over ocean and background areas less affected by anthropogenic activity. From 2005 to 2019, the NO₂ VCDs over the ocean and background areas increased for all seasons, with the statistically significant (p < 0.05) trends of 1.15%/0.74% year^-1 (MAM), 1.20%/1.06% year^-1 (JJA), 1.16%/0.82% year^-1 (SON), and 0.68%/0.65% year^-1 (DJF), respectively, for ocean/background region. Such decreasing/increasing trends of tropospheric NO₂ over sources/remote regions may prevent the ozone air pollution to be effectively resolved to achieve air quality goals worldwide.

Characteristics of air quality in different climatic zones of China during the COVID-19 lockdown

The diverse climate types and the complex anthropogenic source emissions in China lead to the great regional differences of air pollution mechanisms. The COVID-19 lockdown has given us a precious opportunity to understand the effect of weather conditions and anthropogenic sources on the distribution of air pollutants in different climate zones. In this study, to understand the impact of meteorological and socio-economic factors on air pollution during COVID-19 lockdown, we divided 358 Chinese cities into eight climate regions. Temporal, spatial and diurnal variations of six major air pollutants from January 1 to April 18, 2020 were analyzed. The differences in the characteristics of air pollutants in different climate zones were obvious. PM2.5 reduced by 59.0%-64.2% in cold regions (North-East China (NEC) and North-Western (NW)), while O3 surged by 99.0%-99.9% in warm regions (Central South (CS) and Southern Coast (SC)). Diurnal variations of atmospheric pollutants were also more prominent in cold regions. Moreover, PM2.5, PM10, CO and SO2 showed more prominent reductions (20.5%-64.2%) in heating regions (NEC, NW, NCP and MG) than no-heating regions (0.8%-48%). Climate has less influence on NO2, which dropped by 41.2%-57.1% countrywide during the lockdown. The influences of weather conditions on the atmospheric pollutants in different climate zones were different. The wind speed was not the primary reason for the differences in air pollutants in different climate zones. Temperature, precipitation, and air pollution emissions led to prominent regional differences in air pollutants throughout the eight climates. The effect of temperature on PM, SO2, CO, and NO2 varied obviously with the latitude, at which condition temperature was negatively correlated to PM, SO2, CO, and NO2 in the north but positively in the south. The temperature was positively correlated to ozone in different climate zones, and the correlation was the highest in NEC and the lowest in SC. The rainfall has a strong removal effect on atmospheric pollutants in the climate regions with more precipitation, but it increases the pollutant concentrations in the climate regions with less precipitation. In regions with more emission sources, air pollutants experienced more significant variations and returned to pre-lockdown levels earlier.

Impacts of COVID-19 lockdown, Spring Festival and meteorology on the NO2 variations in early 2020 over China based on in-situ observations, satellite retrievals and model simulations

The lockdown measures due to COVID-19 affected the industry, transportation and other human activities within China in early 2020, and subsequently the emissions of air pollutants. The decrease of atmospheric NO2 due to the COVID-19 lockdown and other factors were quantitively analyzed based on the surface concentrations by in-situ observations, the tropospheric vertical column densities (VCDs) by different satellite retrievals including OMI and TROPOMI, and the model simulations by GEOS-Chem. The results indicated that due to the COVID-19 lockdown, the surface NO2 concentrations decreased by 42% ± 8% and 26% ± 9% over China in February and March 2020, respectively. The tropospheric NO2 VCDs based on both OMI and high quality (quality assurance value (QA) ≥ 0.75) TROPOMI showed similar results as the surface NO2 concentrations. The daily variations of atmospheric NO2 during the first quarter (Q1) of 2020 were not only affected by the COVID-19 lockdown, but also by the Spring Festival (SF) holiday (January 24-30, 2020) as well as the meteorology changes due to seasonal transition. The SF holiday effect resulted in a NO2 reduction from 8 days before SF to 21 days after it (i.e. January 17 - February 15), with a maximum of 37%. From the 6 days after SF (January 31) to the end of March, the COVID-19 lockdown played an important role in the NO2 reduction, with a maximum of 51%. The meteorology changes due to seasonal transition resulted in a nearly linear decreasing trend of 25% and 40% reduction over the 90 days for the NO2 concentrations and VCDs, respectively. Comparisons between different datasets indicated that medium quality (QA ≥ 0.5) TROPOMI retrievals might suffer large biases in some periods, and thus attention must be paid when they are used for analyses, data assimilations and emission inversions.

The sap flow-based assessment of atmospheric trace gas uptake by three forest types in subtropical China on different timescales

Assessing the uptake of trace gases by forests contributes to understanding the mechanisms of gas exchange between vegetation and the atmosphere and to evaluating the potential risk of these pollutant gases to forests. In this study, the multi-timescale characteristics of the stomatal uptake of NO, NO₂, SO₂ and O₃ by Schima superba, Eucalyptus citriodora and Acacia auriculiformis were investigated by continuous sap flow measurements for a 3-year period. The peak canopy stomatal conductance (G_C) for these three species appeared between 9:00 and 12:00, which was jointly regulated by the vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and photosynthetically active radiation (PAR). Additionally, annual and seasonal variations in the stomatal uptake of trace gases for these three tree species suggested that there was a combination effect between canopy stomatal conductance and ambient concentration on the uptake of trace gases. Furthermore, the result demonstrated that the trace gas absorption capacities among these three forest types followed the order of S. superba > E. citriodora > A. auriculiformis. The findings of this study have theoretical significance and application value in assessing air purification and the risk of harm to forests in Southern China.

Long-term observations of tropospheric NO2, SO2 and HCHO by MAX-DOAS in Yangtze River Delta area, China

Yangtze River Delta (YRD) area is one of the important economic zones in China. However, this area faces increasing environmental problems. In this study, we use ground-based multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) network in Eastern China to retrieve variations of NO₂, SO₂, and formaldehyde (HCHO) in the YRD area. Three cities of YRD (Hefei, Nanjing, and Shanghai) were selected for long-term observations. This paper presents technical performance and characteristics of instruments, their distribution in YRD, and results of vertical column densities (VCDs) and profiles of NO₂, SO₂, and HCHO. Average diurnal variations of tropospheric NO₂ and SO₂ in different seasons over the three stations yielded minimum values at noon or in the early afternoon, whereas tropospheric HCHO reached the maximum during midday hours. Slight reduction of the pollutants in weekends occurred in all the three sites. In general trace gas concentrations gradually reduced from Shanghai to Hefei. Tropospheric VCDs of NO₂, SO₂, and HCHO were compared with those from Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) satellite observations, resulting in R² of 0.606, 0.5432, and 0.5566, respectively. According to analysis of regional transports of pollutants, pollution process happened in YRD under the north wind with the pollution dissipating in the southeast wind. The feature is significant in exploring transport of tropospheric trace gas pollution in YRD, and provides basis for satellite and model validation.

Satellite NO2 retrievals suggest China has exceeded its NOx reduction goals from the twelfth Five-Year Plan

China’s twelfth Five-Year Plan included pollution control measures with a goal of reducing national emissions of nitrogen oxides (NO_x) by 10% by 2015 compared with 2010. Multiple linear regression analysis was used on 11-year time series of all nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) pixels from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) over 18 NO₂ hotspots in China. The regression analysis accounted for variations in meteorology, pixel resolution, seasonal effects, weekday variability and year-to-year variability. The NO₂ trends suggested that there was an increase in NO₂ columns in most areas from 2005 to around 2011 which was followed by a strong decrease continuing through 2015. The satellite results were in good agreement with the annual official NO_x emission inventories which were available up until 2014. This shows the value of evaluating trends in emission inventories using satellite retrievals. It further shows that recent control strategies were effective in reducing emissions and that recent economic transformations in China may be having an effect on NO₂ columns. Satellite information for 2015 suggests that emissions have continued to decrease since the latest inventories available and have surpassed the goals of the twelfth Five-Year Plan.

Temporal characterization and regional contribution to O3 and NOx at an urban and a suburban site in Nanjing, China

To improve our understanding of the interplay among local and regional photochemical pollutants in the typical city of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, the concurrent observation of O3 and NOx concentrations at an urban and a suburban site in Nanjing during 2008 is presented. In general, the annual mean O3 concentration is 2.35ppbv lower in the downtown than at suburban due to higher NOx pollution levels correlated with heavy traffic. At both sites, O3 shows a distinct seasonality with the spring maximum and the winter minimum, while the minimum concentration of NOx appears in summertime. Besides the chemical processes of O3 sensitivity in the daytime and the NOx titration at night, meteorological conditions also play an essential role in these monthly and diurnal variations. The ozone weekend effect that can be attributed to the weekly routine of human activities is observed in the urban atmosphere of Nanjing as well, with O3 concentrations 2.09ppbv higher and NOx concentrations 6.20ppbv lower on weekends than on weekdays. The chemical coupling of NO, NO2 and O3 is investigated to show that the OX-component (O3 and NO2) partitioning point occurs at about 35ppbv for NOx, with O3 being the dominant form at lower levels and NO2 dominating at higher levels. And it is also discovered that the level of OX is made up of two contributions, including the regional contribution affected by regional background O3 level and the local contribution correlated with the level of primary pollution. The diurnal peak of regional contribution appears 2-5h after the peak of local contribution, implying that OX in Nanjing might prominently affected by the pollutants from a short distance. The highest regional contribution and the second highest local contribution lead to the spring peak of O3 observed in Nanjing, whereas the highest local contribution and the moderate regional contribution make the O3 concentrations in summer higher than those in autumn and winter. Our results reveal the important environment impacts from meteorological conditions and human activities in the YRD region, and can help to understand O3 pollution in these polluted areas by just using the conventional observations.

Observed levels and trends of gaseous SO2 and HNO3 at Mt. Waliguan, China: results from 1997 to 2009

Long-term measurements of SO2 and HNO3, particularly those from the background sites, are rarely reported. We present for the first time the long-term measurements of SO2 and HNO3 at Waliguan (WLG), the only global baseline station in the back-land of the Eurasian Continent. The concentrations of SO2 and HNO3 were observed at WLG from 1997 to 2009. The observed annual mean concentrations of SO2 and HNO3 at WLG were 1.28 +/- 0.41 and 0.22 +/- 0.19 microg/m3, respectively. The HNO3 concentrations were much higher in warmer seasons than in colder seasons, while the SO2 concentrations showed a nearly reversed seasonal pattern. In most months, the concentration of HNO3 was significantly correlated with that of SO2, suggesting that some common factors influence the variations of both gases and the precursors of HNO3 may partially be from the SO2-emitting sources. The SO2 concentration had a very significant (P < 0.0001) decreasing trend (-0.2 microg/(m3 x yr)) in 1997-2002, but a significant (P < 0.05) increasing trend (+0.06 microg/(m3 x yr)) in 2003-2009. The HNO3 concentration showed no statistically significant trend during 1997-2009. While the decrease of SO2 in 1997-2002 agrees with the trend of global SO2 emissions, the increase in 2003-2009 is not consistent with the decreasing trends in many other regions over the world. Trajectory analysis suggests that the airmasses from the northern Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau and the Takla Makan Desert regions contributed significantly to the increasing trends of SO2 and HNO3 at WLG in 2003-2009, with a rate of +0.13 microg/(m3 x yr) and +0.007 microg/(m3 x yr), respectively.

Deposition and leaching of sulfur, nitrogen and calcium in four forested catchments in China: implications for acidification

Here we present the first detailed study on fluxes of sulfur (S), nitrogen (N), and major cations in Chinese subtropical forest catchments. Data are from four study sites, differing in inputs of atmospheric pollutants and sensitivity to acidification. Results show important differences from most sites in North America and Europe. Dry deposition of S, N, and calcium (Ca) is considerably larger than wet deposition in most cases causing deposition fluxes ranging from moderate to very high, both for acidifying compounds (S deposition 1.5-10.5 kiloequivalents per hectare and year (keq ha(-1) yr(-1)); N deposition 0.4 to 2.5 keq ha(-1) yr(-1)) and for alkaline compounds (Ca deposition 0.8 to 5.7 keq ha(-1) yr(-1)). More than half of the input of acidity is neutralized by alkalinity associated with Ca deposition. Furthermore, the retention of incoming S and N is small in the soil root zone, but considerable in the deeper soils or riparian zone. Drainage water from the root zone of the soils at the two sites with the highest deposition show pronounced acidification. For the two sites with moderate deposition inputs, the root zones are retaining some of the incoming S and buffer some of the incoming acidity. The subsoils and the riparian zonesare strong sinks for N, S, and Ca. This is associated with substantial acid neutralization at all sites. These features are of major importance for the understanding of the long-term effects of acidification in China.