Precursors and potential sources of ground-level ozone in suburban Shanghai

Highlights

• Air masses from Zhejiang Province is the major source of O₃ in suburban Shanghai.

• O₃ formation was in VOC-sensitive regime in rural Shanghai.

• O₃ formation was most sensitive to propylene in rural Shanghai.

Abstract

A high level of ozone (O₃) is frequently observed in the suburbs of Shanghai, the reason for this high level remains unclear. To obtain a detailed insight on the high level of O₃ during summer in Shanghai, O₃ and its precursors were measured at a suburban site in Shanghai from July 1, 2016 to July 31, 2016. Using the Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model and concentration weighted trajectories (CWT), we found that Zhejiang province was the main potential source of O₃ in suburban Shanghai. When the sampling site was controlled by south-western winds exceeding 2 m/s, the O₃-rich air masses from upwind regions (such as Zhejiang province) could be transported to the suburban Shanghai. The propylene-equivalent concentration (PEC) and ozone formation potential (OFP) were further calculated for each VOC species, and the results suggested that propylene, (m+p)-xylene, and toluene played dominant roles in O₃ formation. The Ozone Isopleth Plotting Research (OZIPR) model was used to reveal the impact of O₃ precursors on O₃ formation, and 4 base-cases were selected to adjust the model simulation. An average disparity of 18.20% was achieved between the simulated and observed O₃ concentrations. The O₃ isopleth diagram illustrated that O₃ formation in July 2016 was in VOC-sensitive regime, although the VOC/NO_x ratio was greater than 20. By introducing sensitivity (S), a sensitivity analysis was performed for O₃ formation. We found that O₃ formation was sensitive to propylene, (m+p)-xylene, o-xylene and toluene. The results provide theoretical support for O₃ pollution treatment in Shanghai.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

Ozone / OZIPR / Volatile organic compounds / Shanghai / HYSPLIT

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Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from National Key Research and Development Program in China (No. 2016YFC0200502), Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau, Shanghai Environmental Protection Research Project (2018-06), and data supplied by Shanghai Environmental Monitoring Center (SEMC).

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-020-1271-8 and is accessible for authorized users.

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