Impacts of Ozone‐Vegetation Interactions on Ozone Pollution Episodes in North China and the Yangtze River Delta
Cheng Gong, Hong Liao, Xu Yue, Yimian Ma, Yadong Lei
Abstract
Abstract Persistent ozone (O 3 ) pollution episodes (OPEs, with regionally averaged maximum daily 8‐h average (MDA8) O 3 concentration exceeding 80 ppbv and lasting for 5 days or longer) occurred frequently in megalopolis over eastern China in recent years. Here, we apply a newly developed chemistry‐biosphere model (GEOS‐Chem‐YIBs) to comprehensively quantify the vegetation contributions to OPEs in North China and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) over May to October in 2014–2017. The simulated MDA8 O 3 concentrations increases 16.7 and 16.6 ppbv) during OPEs in North China and YRD, of which about 1.4 ppbv (8.4%) and 3.8 ppbv (22.9%) are caused by the processes including increased BVOC emissions and reduced stomatal dry deposition. Furthermore, the O 3 damages to vegetation stomata slightly increase seasonal‐mean O 3 concentrations by <1 ppbv, but such effects are not exacerbated during OPEs despite the high O 3 exposure.