Vertical distributions of wintertime atmospheric nitrogenous compounds and the corresponding OH radicals production in Leshan, southwest China

• Published in: Journal of environmental sciences (China) 2021-07, Vol.105, p.44-55
• Main Authors: Xing, Chengzhi, Liu, Cheng, Hu, Qihou, Fu, Qingyan, Wang, Shanshan, Lin, Hua, Zhu, Yizhi, Wang, Shuntian, Wang, Weiwei, Javed, Zeeshan, Ji, Xiangguang, Liu, Jianguo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: HONO; Hydroxyl radical; MAX-DOAS; Secondary source; Verticle distribution
• ISSN: 1001-0742; 1878-7320
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jes.2020.11.019

•The ratio between OH production from HONO and from (HONO+O3) lager than 90% before 12:00.•The source of HONO from combustion emission is ~26%.•NO2 being converted to HONO under the conditions with high aerosol extinction coefficient and high relative humidity was a dominant factor for the secondary produce of HONO.•HONO mainly distributed near the surface and localized, and NO2 mainly transmitted from north at ~ 0.6 km. Ground-based multi-axis differential optical absorption spectroscopy (MAX-DOAS) observations were operated from 02 to 21 December 2018 in Leshan, southwest China, to measure HONO, NO2 and aerosol extinction vertical distributions, and these were the first MAX-DOAS measurement results in Sichuan Basin. During the measurement period, characteristic ranges for surface concentration were found to be 0.26–4.58 km−1 and averaged at 0.93 km−1 for aerosol extinction, 0.49 to 35.2 ppb and averaged at 4.57 ppb for NO2 and 0.03 to 7.38 ppb and averaged at 1.05 ppb for HONO. Moreover, vertical profiles of aerosol, NO2 and HONO were retrieved from MAX-DOAS measurements using the Heidelberg Profile (HEIPRO) algorithm. By analysing the vertical gradients of pollutants and meteorological information, we found that aerosol and HONO are strongly localised, while NO2 is mainly transmitted from the north direction (city center direction). Nitrogen oxides such as HONO and NO2 are important for the production of hydroxyl radical (OH) and oxidative capacity in the troposphere. In this study, the averaged value of OH production rate from HONO is about 0.63 ppb/hr and maximum value of ratio between OH production from HONO and from (HONO+O3) is > 93% before12:00 in Leshan. In addition, combustion emission contributes to 26% for the source of HONO in Leshan, and we found that more NO2 being converted to HONO under the conditions with high aerosol extinction coefficient and high relative humidity is also a dominant factor for the secondary produce of HONO. [Display omitted]