Atmospheric Hydrogen Peroxide (H2O2) at the Foot and Summit of Mt. Tai: Variations, Sources and Sinks, and Implications for Ozone Formation Chemistry. Issue 15 (5th August 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Ye, Can; Xue, Chaoyang; Zhang, Chenglong; Ma, Zhuobiao; Liu, Pengfei; Zhang, Yuanyuan; Liu, Chengtang; Zhao, Xiaoxi; Zhang, Wenjin; He, Xiaowei; Song, Yifei; Liu, Junfeng; Wang, Weihao; Sui, Benhui; Cui, Ran; Yang, Xue; Mei, Rubo; Chen, Jianmin; Mu, Yujing
• Is Part Of: Journal of geophysical research. Volume 126:Issue 15(2021)
• Page Start: n/a
• Page End: n/a
• Publication Date: 2021-08-05
• Subjects: Atmospheric physics -- Periodicals; Geophysics -- Periodicals; 551.5
• DOI: 10.1029/2020JD033975
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2169-897X

Abstract

Abstract: Hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) acts as a terminal sink for atmospheric HOx radicals (OH and HO2 ), playing a key role in tropospheric O3 formation. However, there are few field measurements of atmospheric H2 O2 to assess its role in O3 formation, especially for the seriously polluted region of the North China Plain. In this study, H2 O2 concentrations were measured at the foot of Mt. Tai from May to July 2018 and the summit of Mt. Tai from May to June 2019, with average values of 0.93 ± 1.01 and 2.05 ± 1.20 ppb, respectively. H2 O2 exhibited a pronounced diurnal variation with a noon‐peak at the foot of Mt. Tai, which could be well reproduced by a gas‐phase box model with H2 O2 dry deposition velocity of 3 cm s −1 included, indicating H2 O2 was mainly photochemically produced. Modeling analysis showed H2 O2 production at the foot was most sensitive to alkenes and aromatics, while the source and sink for H2 O2 were dominated by HO2 recombination and dry deposition, respectively. Compared with the summer‐measurement in 2007, the remarkable elevation of H2 O2 at the summit might be ascribed to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) increase and SO2 decline. Both H2 O2 ‐O3 correlation and H2 O2 /NOz ratio suggested O3 formation at the foot of Mt. Tai was mainly VOC‐sensitive in the early morning and shifted to NOx ‐sensitive thereafter. Therefore, reduction of VOCs emission especially for the reactive species of alkenes and aromatics in the morning as well as NOx emission around noontime will be effective for mitigating the serious O3 (as well as H2 O2 ) pollution in Tai'an city. Key Points: Gas‐phase hydrogen peroxide (H2 O2 ) at the summit of Mt. Tai evidently increased from 2007 to 2018, which might be ascribed to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) increase and SO2 decline Observed H2 O2 at the foot of Mt. Tai could be well reproduced by a box model with H2 O2 dry deposition velocity of 3 cm s −1 included O3 formation in Tai'an city was mainly VOC‐sensitive in the early morning and shifted to NOx ‐sensitive thereafter