Strong ozone production at a rural site in the North China Plain: Mixed effects of urban plumes and biogenic emissions

Regional ozone (O-3) pollution has drawn increasing attention in China over the recent decade, but the contributions from urban pollution and biogenic emissions have not been clearly elucidated. To better understand the formation of the regional O-3 problem in the North China Plain (NCP), intensive field measurements of O-3 and related parameters were conducted at a rural site downwind of Ji'nan, the capital city of Shandong province, in the summer of 2013. Markedly severe O-3 pollution was recorded, with the O-3 mixing ratios exceeding the Chinese national ambient air quality standard on 28 days (a frequency of 78%) and with a maximum hourly value of 198 ppbv. Extensive regional transport of well-processed urban plumes to the site was identified. An observation-constrained chemical box model was deployed to evaluate in situ photochemical O-3 production on two episodes. The results show that the in situ formation accounted for approximately 46% of the observed O-3 accumulation, while the remainder (similar to 54%) was contributed by regional transport of the O-3-laden urban plumes. The in situ ozone production was in a mixed controlled regime that reducing either NOx or VOCs would lead to a reduction of ozone formation. Biogenic VOCs played an important role in the local ozone formation. This study demonstrates the significant mixed effects of both anthropogenic pollution from urban zones and biogenic emission in rural areas on the regional O-3 pollution in the NCP region, and may have general applicability in facilitating the understanding of the formation of secondary pollution over China. (C) 2018 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V.