Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze

Wang, Gehui, Zhang, Renyi, Gomez, Mario E, Yang, Lingxiao, Levy Zamora, Misti, Hu, Min, Lin, Yun, Peng, Jianfei, Guo, Song, Meng, Jingjing, Li, Jianjun, Cheng, Chunlei, Hu, Tafeng, Ren, Yanqin, Wang, Yuesi, Gao, Jian, Cao, Junji, An, Zhisheng, Zhou, Weijian, Li, Guohui, Wang, Jiayuan, Tian, Pengfei, Marrero-Ortiz, Wilmarie, Secrest, Jeremiah, Du, Zhuofei, Zheng, Jing, Shang, Dongjie, Zeng, Limin, Shao, Min, Wang, Weigang, Huang, Yao, Wang, Yuan, Zhu, Yujiao, Li, Yixin, Hu, Jiaxi, Pan, Bowen, Cai, Li, Cheng, Yuting, Ji, Yuemeng, Zhang, Fang, Rosenfeld, Daniel, Liss, Peter S, Duce, Robert A, Kolb, Charles E and Molina, Mario J (2016) Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America (PNAS), 113 (48). pp. 13630-13635. ISSN 1091-6490

Preview

PDF (Published manuscript) - Published Version Download (1MB) | Preview

Abstract

Sulfate aerosols exert profound impacts on human and ecosystem health, weather, and climate, but their formation mechanism remains uncertain. Atmospheric models consistently underpredict sulfate levels under diverse environmental conditions. From atmospheric measurements in two Chinese megacities and complementary laboratory experiments, we show that the aqueous oxidation of SO2 by NO2 is key to efficient sulfate formation but is only feasible under two atmospheric conditions: on fine aerosols with high relative humidity and NH3 neutralization or under cloud conditions. Under polluted environments, this SO2 oxidation process leads to large sulfate production rates and promotes formation of nitrate and organic matter on aqueous particles, exacerbating severe haze development. Effective haze mitigation is achievable by intervening in the sulfate formation process with enforced NH3 and NO2 control measures. In addition to explaining the polluted episodes currently occurring in China and during the 1952 London Fog, this sulfate production mechanism is widespread, and our results suggest a way to tackle this growing problem in China and much of the developing world.

Item Type:	Article
Additional Information:	Freely available online through the PNAS open access option
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sulfate aerosol,severe haze,pollution,human health,climate,sdg 3 - good health and well-being,sdg 13 - climate action ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Climate, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (former - to 2017) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Climatic Research Unit Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (former - to 2017) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences
Depositing User:	Pure Connector
Date Deposited:	07 Dec 2016 00:06
Last Modified:	14 Jun 2023 12:47
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/61598
DOI:	10.1073/pnas.1616540113

Downloads

Actions (login required)

View Item