Abstract
Abstract. Ozone pollution in China is influenced by meteorological processes on multiple scales. Using regression analysis and weather classification, we statistically assess the impacts of local and synoptic meteorology on daily variability in surface ozone in eastern China in summer during 2013–2018. In this period, summertime surface ozone in eastern China (20–42∘ N, 110–130∘ E) is among the highest in the world, with regional means of 73.1 and 114.7 µg m−3, respectively, in daily mean and daily maximum 8 h average. Through developing a multiple linear regression (MLR) model driven by local and synoptic weather factors, we establish a quantitative linkage between the daily mean ozone concentrations and meteorology in the study region. The meteorology described by the MLR can explain ∼43 % of the daily variability in summertime surface ozone across eastern China. Among local meteorological factors, relative humidity is the most influential variable in the center and south of eastern China, including the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions, while temperature is the most influential variable in the north, covering the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. To further examine the synoptic influence of weather conditions explicitly, six predominant synoptic weather patterns (SWPs) over eastern China in summer are objectively identified using the self-organizing map clustering technique. The six SWPs are formed under the integral influence of the East Asian summer monsoon, the western Pacific subtropical high, the Meiyu front, and the typhoon activities. On average, regionally, two SWPs bring about positive ozone anomalies (1.1 µg m−3 or 1.7 % and 2.7 µg m−3 or 4.6 %), when eastern China is under a weak cyclone system or under the prevailing southerly wind. The impact of SWPs on the daily variability in surface ozone varies largely within eastern China. The maximum impact can reach ±8 µg m−3 or ±16 % of the daily mean in some areas. A combination of the regression and the clustering approaches suggests a strong performance of the MLR in predicting the sensitivity of surface ozone in eastern China to the variation of synoptic weather. Our assessment highlights the importance of meteorology in modulating ozone pollution over China.
Highlights
Surface ozone is a major air pollutant detrimental to human health (Jerrett et al, 2009) and vegetation growth (Yue et al, 2017)
To have a comprehensive and quantitative understanding of how weather influences ozone pollution in China is the primary motivation of this study, in which we aim to quantify the impacts of meteorology, the dominant synoptic weather systems and the key local meteorological variables, on daily variations in surface ozone in eastern China, including three representative megacity clusters, BTH, the YRD, and the PRD
The results show that meteorology can explain 18 % of the enhancement in the regional mean of summertime surface ozone over eastern China from 2013 to 2018, and the explained variance is 16 %, 41 %, and 44 % for BTH, the YRD, and the PRD, respectively (Fig. S4)
Summary
Surface ozone is a major air pollutant detrimental to human health (Jerrett et al, 2009) and vegetation growth (Yue et al, 2017). The daily variation of surface ozone in China is sensitive to synoptic weather systems, as illustrated by studies for BTH (Zhang et al, 2012; Huang et al, 2015), the YRD (Shu et al, 2016, 2019), the PRD (Zhang et al, 2013; Jiang et al, 2015), and other regions of China (Tan et al, 2018). To have a comprehensive and quantitative understanding of how weather influences ozone pollution in China is the primary motivation of this study, in which we aim to quantify the impacts of meteorology, the dominant synoptic weather systems and the key local meteorological variables, on daily variations in surface ozone in eastern China, including three representative megacity clusters, BTH, the YRD, and the PRD.
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