Influence of synoptic condition and holiday effects on VOCs and ozone production in the Yangtze River Delta region, China

Both anthropogenic emission and synoptic conditions play important roles in ozone (O3) formation and accumulation. In order to understand the influence of synoptic condition and holiday effects on ozone production in the Yangtze River Delta region, China, concentrations of speciated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and O3 as well as other relevant trace gases were simultaneously measured at the Station for Observing Regional Processes of the Earth System (SORPES) in Nanjing around the National Day holidays of China in 2014, which featured substantial change of emissions and dominated by typical anti-cyclones. Different groups of VOC species and their chemical reactivities were comprehensively analyzed. We observed clear diurnal variations of short alkenes during the measurement period, considerable amount of short alkenes were observed during night (more than 10 ppb) while almost no alkenes were measured during daytime, which might be attributed to different chemical processes. The obvious enhancement of the VOC tracers during the National Day holidays (Oct. 1st-Oct. 7th) indicated that the holiday effect strongly influenced the distribution of VOC profile and chemical reactivity in the atmosphere. At the same time, two meso-scale anticyclone processes were also observed during the measurement period. The synoptic condition contributed to the accumulation of VOCs and other precursors, which consequently impacted the ozone production in this region. The integrated influence of synoptic and holiday effects was also analyzed with an Observation Based Model (OBM) based on simplified MCM (Master Chemical Mechanism) chemical mechanism. The calculated relative increment reactivity (RIR) of different VOC groups revealed that during the holidays, this region was in VOC-limited regime and the variation of RIR shows a close linkage to the development and elimination of anti-cyclones, indicating an in-negligible contribution of synoptic effect toward ozone production in this region.