EGU2020-1476
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1476
EGU General Assembly 2020
© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Seasonal effects of additional HONO sources and the heterogeneous reactions of N2O5 on nitrate in the North China Plain

Yu Qu and Junling An
Yu Qu and Junling An
  • (quyu@mail.iap.ac.cn)

We coupled the heterogeneous hydrolysis of N2O5 into the newly updated Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) to reveal the relative importance of the hydrolysis of N2O5 and additional nitrous acid (HONO) sources for the formation of nitrate during high PM2.5 events in the North China Plain (NCP) in four seasons. The results showed that additional HONO sources produced the largest nitrate concentrations in winter and negligible nitrates in summer, leading to a 10% enhancement of a PM2.5 peak in southern Beijing and a 15% enhancement in southeastern Hebei in winter. In contrast, the hydrolysis of N2O5 produced high nitrate in summer and low nitrate in winter, with the largest contribution of nearly 20% for a PM2.5 peak in southeastern Hebei in summer. During PM2.5 explosive growth events, the additional HONO sources played a key role in nitrate increases in southern Beijing and southwestern Hebei in winter, whereas the hydrolysis of N2O5 contributed the most to a rapid increase in nitrate in other seasons. HONO photolysis produced more hydroxyl radicals, which were greater than 1.5 μg m-3 h-1 in the early explosive stage and led to a rapid nitrate increase at the southwestern Hebei sites in winter, while the heterogeneous reaction of N2O5 contributed greatly to a significant increase in nitrate in summer. The above results suggest that the additional HONO sources and the heterogeneous hydrolysis of N2O5 contributed the most to nitrate formation in NCP in winter and summer, respectively.

How to cite: Qu, Y. and An, J.: Seasonal effects of additional HONO sources and the heterogeneous reactions of N2O5 on nitrate in the North China Plain, EGU General Assembly 2020, Online, 4–8 May 2020, EGU2020-1476, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-1476, 2019