Increased diurnal difference of NO2 concentrations and its impact on recent ozone pollution in eastern China in summer

Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a key tropospheric O-3 precursor. Since 2013, efforts to decrease air pollution in China have driven substantial declines in annual NO2 concentrations, whereas ozone (O-3) concentrations have increased. Based on nationwide NO2 observations and a regional air quality model (WRF-CMAQ), we analyzed trends in the diurnal difference (DD, the difference between nighttime and daytime concentrations) of NO2 concentrations across eastern China and in five national urban agglomerations (UAs) from 2014 to 2021, and explored the factors underlying such changes and the potential impacts on O-3 pollution. We found that the observed DD of NO2 has increased in most cities and UAs, and that this trend can be primarily attributed to changes in anthropogenic emissions, based on comparison with DDs simulated with fixed anthropogenic emissions, which generally showed much weaker trends and little interannual variation. A sensitivity analysis using the WRF-CMAQ model was conducted to investigate the impact of a modified diurnal cycle of nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions on O-3 concentrations. The result revealed that enhancing the DD of NO2 would increase O-3 concentrations in the morning and the daily maximum 8-h O-3 concentrations in the cities with high NO concentrations, as well as downwind areas of cities, indicating that greater DDs in NO2 is one of the reasons that have led to the enhanced China's O-3 pollution in recent years.

Automated summary

Since 2013, efforts to decrease air pollution in China have led to a significant decrease in annual NO2 concentrations but an increase in O-3 concentrations. We analyzed the trends in diurnal difference (DD) of NO2 concentrations across eastern China and urban agglomerations. The observed DD of NO2 has increased in most cities and UAs, primarily due to changes in anthropogenic emissions, which has contributed to the enhanced O-3 pollution in China.