Fate of Oxygenated Volatile Organic Compounds in the Yangtze River Delta Region: Source Contributions and Impacts on the Atmospheric Oxidation Capacity
Jingyi Li, Xiaodong Xie, Lin Li, Xueying Wang, Hongli Wang, Shengao Jing, Qi Ying, Momei Qin, Jianlin Hu
Abstract
The Community Multiscale Air Quality model (CMAQv5.2) was implemented to investigate the sources and sinks of oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs) during a high O3 and high PM2.5 season in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, based on constraints from observations. The model tends to overpredict non-oxygenated VOCs and underpredict OVOCs, which has been improved with adjusted emissions of all VOCs. The OVOCs in the YRD are dominated by ketones, aldehydes, and alcohols. Ketones and aldehydes mainly originate from direct emissions and secondary formation in the northern YRD, and primarily originate from secondary formation in the southern part influenced by biogenic emissions. The concentration of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) produced by OVOCs is 0.5–1.5 μg/m3, with 40–80% originated from organic nitrates, 20–70% originated from dicarbonyls, and 0–20% originated from isoprene epoxydiols. The influences of OVOCs on the atmospheric oxidation capacity are dominated by the OH• pathway during the day (∼350%) and by the NO3• pathway at night (∼150%). Consequently, O3 is enhanced by 30–70% in the YRD. Aerosols are also enhanced by 50–140%, 20–80%, and ∼20% for SOA, nitrate, and sulfate, respectively.