Effects of stress factors on biogenic isoprene emissions and their contribution to ozone and secondary organic aerosols in China

Isoprene serves an important part in plant defense against biotic and abiotic stresses, while also exerting a crucial influence on atmospheric photochemical processes and global climate change. The regional climate-chemistry-ecosystem model (RegCM-Chem-YIBs) was employed in the following study to estimate the biogenic isoprene emissions (BISP) in China during 2018-2020. The model explored the relative contributions of various stress factors such as drought, carbon dioxide (CO2), and surface ozone (O3) to isoprene emissions. Furthermore, the potential effects of stress factors on surface O3 and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) were also assessed quantitatively. Investigations revealed that the three-year average BISP in China ranged between 15.38 and 22.23 Tg while considering different stress factors. BISP exhibited obvious seasonal variations, showing higher levels in summer and lower levels in winter, accounting for 55.4 % and 3.2 % of the annual total emissions, respectively. The effects of O3 damage and CO2 inhibition on BISP were found to be more significant as compared to drought stress. The CO2 suppression effect caused annual BISP across China to decrease about 10 %, whereas the largest reduction (-3 mg C m-2 d-1) appeared in southeastern China and eastern Sichuan. BISP in China decreased by about 16.3 % (6.8 %) at high (low) O3 damage sensitivity during 2018-2020. Variations in monthly emissions differed, with the largest decline in summer. If no stressors are considered, BISP leads to a maximum increase of 13 ppb in daily maximum 1 h (MDA1) O3 and 1.5 μg m-3 in SOA in summer. Under the combined effects of multiple factors (drought, CO2, and O3), the relative differences in O3 are over 50 % in central and eastern China, while the SOA formed by isoprene reduced by ~0.15 μgm-3 in China. The outcomes of this work emphasize the significance of multiple stressors on BISP and the resulting air quality.

Impact of Climate-Driven Land-Use Change on O3 and PM Pollution by Driving BVOC Emissions in China in 2050

This study predicted three future land-use type scenarios in 2050 (including the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway SSP126, SSP585, and carbon scenario) based on the Land-Use Harmonization (LUH2) project and the future evolution of land-use types considering China’s carbon neutrality background. The contribution of land-use changes to terrestrial natural source biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), as well as O3 and PM concentrations, were determined. Under the SSP126 pathway, meteorological changes would increase BVOC emissions in China by 1.0 TgC in 2050, compared with 2015, while land-use changes would increase them by 1.5–7.1 TgC. The impact of land-use changes on O3 and PM concentrations would be less than 3.6% in 2050 and greater in summer. Regional differences must be considered when calculating future environmental background concentrations of pollutants. Due to more afforestation measures under the SSP126 scenario, the impact of land-use change on pollutants was more obvious under the SSP126 pathway than under the SSP585 pathway. Under the carbon scenario, the increase in PM concentration caused by land-use changes would pose a risk to air quality compliance; thus, it is necessary to consider reducing or offsetting this potential risk through anthropogenic emission control measures.

Impact of climate change on mercury concentrations and deposition in the eastern United States

The global-regional climate-air pollution modeling system (GRE-CAPS) was applied over the eastern United States to study the impact of climate change on the concentration and deposition of atmospheric mercury. Summer and winter periods (300 days for each) were simulated, and the present-day model predictions (2000s) were compared to the future ones (2050s) assuming constant emissions. Climate change affects Hg(2+) concentrations in both periods. On average, atmospheric Hg(2+) levels are predicted to increase in the future by 3% in summer and 5% in winter respectively due to enhanced oxidation of Hg(0) under higher temperatures. The predicted concentration change of Hg(2+) was found to vary significantly in space due to regional-scale changes in precipitation, ranging from -30% to 30% during summer and -20% to 40% during winter. Particulate mercury, Hg(p) has a similar spatial response to climate change as Hg(2+), while Hg(0) levels are not predicted to change significantly. In both periods, the response of mercury deposition to climate change varies spatially with an average predicted increase of 6% during summer and 4% during winter. During summer, deposition increases are predicted mostly in the western parts of the domain while mercury deposition is predicted to decrease in the Northeast and also in many areas in the Midwest and Southeast. During winter mercury deposition is predicted to change from -30% to 50% mainly due to the changes in rainfall and the corresponding changes in wet deposition.

Application of AERMOD on near future air quality simulation under the latest national emission control policy of China: a case study on an industrial city

Air quality model can be an adequate tool for future air quality prediction, also atmospheric observations supporting and emission control strategies responders. The influence of emission control policy (emission reduction targets in the national "China's 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015)") on the air quality in the near future over an important industrial city of China, Xuanwei in Yunnan Province, was studied by applying the AERMOD modeling system. First, our analysis demonstrated that the AERMOD modeling system could be used in the air quality simulation in the near future for SO2 and NOx under average meteorology but not for PM10. Second, after evaluating the simulation results in 2008 and 2015, ambient concentration of SO2, NOx and PM10 (only 2008) were all centered in the middle of simulation area where the emission sources concentrated, and it is probably because the air pollutions were source oriented. Last but not least, a better air quality condition will happen under the hypothesis that the average meteorological data can be used in near future simulation. However, there are still heavy polluted areas where ambient concentrations will exceed the air quality standard in near future. In spatial allocation, reduction effect of SO2 is more significant than NOx in 2015 as the contribution of SO2 from industry is more than NOx. These results inspired the regulatory applications of AERMOD modeling system in evaluating environmental pollutant control policy.

Evaluating the effects of climate change on summertime ozone using a relative response factor approach for policymakers

The impact of climate change on surface-level ozone is examined through a multiscale modeling effort that linked global and regional climate models to drive air quality model simulations. Results are quantified in terms of the relative response factor (RRF(E)), which estimates the relative change in peak ozone concentration for a given change in pollutant emissions (the subscript E is added to RRF to remind the reader that the RRF is due to emission changes only). A matrix of model simulations was conducted to examine the individual and combined effects offuture anthropogenic emissions, biogenic emissions, and climate on the RRF(E). For each member in the matrix of simulations the warmest and coolest summers were modeled for the present-day (1995-2004) and future (2045-2054) decades. A climate adjustment factor (CAF(C) or CAF(CB) when biogenic emissions are allowed to change with the future climate) was defined as the ratio of the average daily maximum 8-hr ozone simulated under a future climate to that simulated under the present-day climate, and a climate-adjusted RRF(EC) was calculated (RRF(EC) = RRF(E) x CAF(C)). In general, RRF(EC) > RRF(E), which suggests additional emission controls will be required to achieve the same reduction in ozone that would have been achieved in the absence of climate change. Changes in biogenic emissions generally have a smaller impact on the RRF(E) than does future climate change itself The direction of the biogenic effect appears closely linked to organic-nitrate chemistry and whether ozone formation is limited by volatile organic compounds (VOC) or oxides of nitrogen (NO(x) = NO + NO2). Regions that are generally NO(x) limited show a decrease in ozone and RRF(EC), while VOC-limited regions show an increase in ozone and RRF(EC). Comparing results to a previous study using different climate assumptions and models showed large variability in the CAF(CB).

IMPLICATIONS

We present a methodology for adjusting the RRF to account for the influence of climate change on ozone. The findings of this work suggest that in some geographic regions, climate change has the potential to negate decreases in surface ozone concentrations that would otherwise be achieved through ozone mitigation strategies. In regions of high biogenic VOC emissions relative to anthropogenic NO(x) emissions, the impact of climate change is somewhat reduced, while the opposite is true in regions of high anthropogenic NO(x) emissions relative to biogenic VOC emissions. Further, different future climate realizations are shown to impact ozone in different ways.

Global air quality and climate

Emissions of air pollutants and their precursors determine regional air quality and can alter climate. Climate change can perturb the long-range transport, chemical processing, and local meteorology that influence air pollution. We review the implications of projected changes in methane (CH(4)), ozone precursors (O(3)), and aerosols for climate (expressed in terms of the radiative forcing metric or changes in global surface temperature) and hemispheric-to-continental scale air quality. Reducing the O(3) precursor CH(4) would slow near-term warming by decreasing both CH(4) and tropospheric O(3). Uncertainty remains as to the net climate forcing from anthropogenic nitrogen oxide (NO(x)) emissions, which increase tropospheric O(3) (warming) but also increase aerosols and decrease CH(4) (both cooling). Anthropogenic emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and non-CH(4) volatile organic compounds (NMVOC) warm by increasing both O(3) and CH(4). Radiative impacts from secondary organic aerosols (SOA) are poorly understood. Black carbon emission controls, by reducing the absorption of sunlight in the atmosphere and on snow and ice, have the potential to slow near-term warming, but uncertainties in coincident emissions of reflective (cooling) aerosols and poorly constrained cloud indirect effects confound robust estimates of net climate impacts. Reducing sulfate and nitrate aerosols would improve air quality and lessen interference with the hydrologic cycle, but lead to warming. A holistic and balanced view is thus needed to assess how air pollution controls influence climate; a first step towards this goal involves estimating net climate impacts from individual emission sectors. Modeling and observational analyses suggest a warming climate degrades air quality (increasing surface O(3) and particulate matter) in many populated regions, including during pollution episodes. Prior Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) scenarios (SRES) allowed unconstrained growth, whereas the Representative Concentration Pathway (RCP) scenarios assume uniformly an aggressive reduction, of air pollutant emissions. New estimates from the current generation of chemistry-climate models with RCP emissions thus project improved air quality over the next century relative to those using the IPCC SRES scenarios. These two sets of projections likely bracket possible futures. We find that uncertainty in emission-driven changes in air quality is generally greater than uncertainty in climate-driven changes. Confidence in air quality projections is limited by the reliability of anthropogenic emission trajectories and the uncertainties in regional climate responses, feedbacks with the terrestrial biosphere, and oxidation pathways affecting O(3) and SOA.