The objective of the present study was to better understand the impacts of the additional sources of nitrous acid （HONO） on visibility, which is an aspect not considered in current air quality models. Simulations of HONO contributions to visibility over the North China Plain （NCP） during August 2007 using the fully coupled Weather Research and Forecasting/Chemistry （WRF/Chem） model were performed, including three additional HONO sources： （1） the reaction of photo-excited nitrogen dioxide （NO~） with water vapor; （2） the NO2 heterogeneous reaction on aerosol surfaces; and （3） HONO emissions. The model generally reproduced the spatial patterns and diurnal variations of visibility over the NCP well. When the additional HONO sources were included in the simulations, the visibility was occasionally decreased by 20%-30% （3-4 km） in local urban areas of the NCP. Monthly-mean concentrations of NO3, NH＋, SO]- and PM2.5 were increased by 20%-52% （3-11μg m-3）, 10%-38%, 6%-10%, and 6%-11% （9-17 μg m-3）, respectively; and in urban areas, monthly-mean accumulation- mode number concentrations （AMNC） and surface concentrations of aerosols were enhanced by 15%-20% and 10%-20%, respectively. Overall, the results suggest that increases in concentrations of PM2.5, its hydrophilic components, and AMNC, are key factors for visibility degradation. A proposed conceptual model for the impacts of additional HONO sources on visibility also suggests that visibility estimation should consider the heterogeneous reaction on aerosol surfaces and the enhanced atmospheric oxidation capacity due to additional HONO sources, especially in areas with high mass concentrations of NOx and aerosols.
A factor separation technique and an improved regional air quality model （RAQM） were applied to calculate synergistic contributions of anthropogenic volatile organic compounds （AVOCs）,biogenic volatile organic compounds （BVOCs） and nitrogen oxides （NOx） to daily maximum surface O3（O3DM） concentrations in East Asia in summer （June to August 2000）.The summer averaged synergistic impacts of AVOCs and NOx are dominant in most areas of North China,with a maximum of 60 ppbv,while those of BVOCs and NOx are notable only in some limited areas with high BVOC emissions in South China,with a maximum of 25 ppbv.This result implies that BVOCs contribute much less to summer averaged O3DM concentrations than AVOCs in most areas of East Asia at a coarse spatial resolution （1×1） although global emissions of BVOCs are much greater than those of AVOCs.Daily maximum total contributions of BVOCs can approach 20 ppbv in North China,but they can reach 40 ppbv in South China,approaching or exceeding those in some developed countries in Europe and North America.BVOC emissions in such special areas should be considered when O3 control measures are taken.Synergistic contributions among AVOCs,BVOCs and NOx significantly enhance O3 concentrations in the Beijing-Tianjin-Tangshan region and decrease them in some areas in South China.Thus,the total contributions of BVOCs to O3DM vary significantly from day to day and from location to location.This result suggests that O3 control measures obtained from episodic studies could be limited for long-term applications.
The impacts of emissions from industry,power plant,transportation,residential,and biogenic sources on daily maximum surface ozone （O3DM） over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei （BTH） region in North China in the summer of 2007 were examined in a modeling study.The modeling system consisted of the Weather Research and Forecasting （WRF） model and the photochemical dispersion model,CAMx.The factor separation technique （FST） was used to quantify the effect of individual emission source types and the synergistic interactions among two or more types.Additionally,the effectiveness of emission reduction scenarios was explored.The industry,power plant,and transportation emission source types were found to be the most important in terms of their individual effects on O3DM.The key contributor to high surface O3 was power plant emissions,with a peak individual effect of 40 ppbv in the southwestern BTH area.The individual effect from the biogenic emission category was quite low.The synergistic effects from the combinations of each pair of anthropogenic emission types suppressed O3 formation,while the synergistic effects for combinations of three were favorable for O3 formation when the industrial and power plant emission source types coexisted.The quadruple synergistic effects were positive only with the combination of power plant,transportation,residential,and biogenic sources,while the quintuple synergistic effect showed only minor impacts on O3DM concentrations.A 30％ reduction in industrial and transportation sources produced the most effective impacts on O3 concentrations,with a maximum decrease of 20 ppbv.These results suggested that the synergistic impacts among emission source types should be considered when formulating emission control strategies for O3 reduction.
QU YuAN JunlingLI JianCHEN YongLI YingLIU XingangHU Min
