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AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • surface ozone on Tibetan Plateau
  • China's anthropogenic pollutants
  • long-range transport

Index Terms

  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Pollution: urban and regional
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere: constituent transport and chemistry
  • Atmospheric Composition and Structure: Troposphere: composition and chemistry

Abstract

GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, VOL. 36, L24802, 6 PP., 2009
doi:10.1029/2009GL041123

Modeling of the impacts of China's anthropogenic pollutants on the surface ozone summer maximum on the northern Tibetan Plateau

Jie Li

Research Institute for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan

LAPC, NZC, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Zifa Wang

LAPC, NZC, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China

Hajime Akimoto

Research Institute for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan

Jie Tang

Key Laboratory for Atmospheric Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Meteorological Sciences, Beijing, China

Itsushi Uno

Research Institute for Global Change, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Yokohama, Japan

Research Institute for Applied Mechanics, Kyushu University, Fukuoka, Japan

The current debate about the role of anthropogenic pollutants in a unique broad summer maximum pattern at a remote site (Waliguan, 3810 asl) on the northern edge of the Tibetan Plateau is continuing. This study quantifies the impacts of anthropogenic emissions and stratosphere-to-troposphere exchange (STE) on surface ozone on the Tibetan Plateau using a regional chemical transport model with an on-line tracer tagging module. The model is shown to be well suited for simulating the unique seasonal variation at Waliguan. Model results clearly show that the regional transport of photochemically produced ozone in China is responsible for the summer maximum on the northern Tibetan Plateau with a contribution of ∼10–25 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) in summer, which is more than ∼5 ppbv of the contribution to STE. The weak local ozone photochemical production (−0.5–0.1 ppbv/day) suggests that this transport to the Tibetan Plateau mostly concentrates on photochemical products. The unique strong near-surface convergence and upper layer divergence driven by elevated surface heating and low air density over the Tibetan Plateau in summer is its dynamic cause. These transported anthropogenic pollutants are likely to rise to the upper troposphere and circulate globally. This study also demonstrates that the effect of convection on surface ozone over the northern Tibetan Plateau is compensated by the advective updrafts in summer.

Received 24 September 2009; accepted 17 November 2009; published 18 December 2009.

Citation: Li, J., Z. Wang, H. Akimoto, J. Tang, and I. Uno (2009), Modeling of the impacts of China's anthropogenic pollutants on the surface ozone summer maximum on the northern Tibetan Plateau, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L24802, doi:10.1029/2009GL041123.

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