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Heterogeneous chemistry: a mechanism missing in current models to explain secondary inorganic aerosol formation during the January 2013 haze episode in North China

Journal Article · · Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online)
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [6];  [6];  [7]
  1. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China); None
  2. Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality, Beijing (China); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
  3. Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality, Beijing (China); North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
  4. Collaborative Innovation Center for Regional Environmental Quality, Beijing (China); State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing (China); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
  5. North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
  6. Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China)
  7. Kimoto Electric Co., Ltd., Osaka (Japan)

Severe regional haze pollution events occurred in eastern and central China in January 2013, which had adverse effects on the environment and public health. Extremely high levels of particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter of 2.5 μm or less (PM2.5) with dominant components of sulfate and nitrate are responsible for the haze pollution. Although heterogeneous chemistry is thought to play an important role in the production of sulfate and nitrate during haze episodes, few studies have comprehensively evaluated the effect of heterogeneous chemistry on haze formation in China by using the 3-D models due to of a lack of treatments for heterogeneous reactions in most climate and chemical transport models. In this work, the WRF-CMAQ model with newly added heterogeneous reactions is applied to East Asia to evaluate the impacts of heterogeneous chemistry and the meteorological anomaly during January 2013 on regional haze formation. As the parameterization of heterogeneous reactions on different types of particles is not well established yet, we arbitrarily selected the uptake coefficients from reactions on dust particles and then conducted several sensitivity runs to find the value that can best match observations. The revised CMAQ with heterogeneous chemistry not only captures the magnitude and temporal variation of sulfate and nitrate, but also reproduces the enhancement of relative contribution of sulfate and nitrate to PM2.5 mass from clean days to polluted haze days. Finally, these results indicate the significant role of heterogeneous chemistry in regional haze formation and improve the understanding of the haze formation mechanisms during the January 2013 episode.

Research Organization:
North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0006695
OSTI ID:
1452792
Journal Information:
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online), Journal Name: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (Online) Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 15; ISSN 1680-7324
Publisher:
European Geosciences UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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