Effect of NO2 on SO2–SO42- conversion in atmosphere: Evidence from long-term precipitation

Abstract

Sulfate aerosol (SO42−) is an important factor leading to acid rain and aggravating atmospheric particulate pollution. SO42− is mainly converted from gaseous SO2, in which the oxidant gas NO2 may play a key role. In real atmosphere with complexity and nonlinearity, the impact of NO2 on SO2–SO42- conversion exhibits scale dependence due to the combined effect of meteorology, atmospheric chemistry, and pollution emission. Here, based on the long-term atmospheric precipitation data from 2014 to 2021 of Nanchong City in the Sichuan Basin, the Extended Ensemble Empirical Mode Decomposition (EEMD) and Multifractal Detrended Cross-Correlation Analysis (MF-DCCA) methods have been employed to analyze the nonlinear correlations between gaseous SO2 and SO42− in rainwater at different time scales. A multifractal parameter Δh has been described as the scaling features of SO2–SO42- conversion efficiency in the real atmosphere. Then, the impact of NO2 on SO2–SO42- conversion in cold and warm seasons has been quantified, using sliding window analysis and Pearson correlation analysis. The results show that NO2 significantly promoted SO2–SO42- conversion in the cold season, but had little effect on it in the warm season. As direct evidence from atmospheric precipitation analysis, this finding has provided a new theoretical basis for evaluating the impact of NO2 on secondary aerosol generation.