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The ozone (O3) variations in southeast China are largely different between mountainous forest areas located inland, and lowland urban areas located near the coast. Here, we selected these two kinds of areas to compare their similarities and differences in surface O3 variability from diurnal to seasonal scales. Our results show that in comparison with the lowland urban areas (coastal areas), the mountainous forest areas (inland areas) are characterized with less human activates, lower precursor emissions, wetter and colder meteorological conditions, and denser vegetation covers. This can lead to lower chemical O3 production and higher O3 deposition rates in the inland areas. The annual mean of 8-h O3 maximum concentrations (MDA8 O3) in the inland areas are ~15 μg·m−3 (i.e. ~15%) lower than that in the coastal areas. The day-to-day variation in surface O3 in the two types of the areas is rather similar, with a correlation coefficient of 0.75 between them, suggesting similar influences on large scales, such as weather patterns, regional O3 transport, and background O3. Over 2016–2020, O3 concentrations in all the areas shows a trend of "rising and then falling", with a peak in 2017 and 2018. Daily MDA8 O3 correlates with solar radiation most in the coastal areas, while in the inland areas, it is correlated with relative humidity most. Diurnally, during the morning, O3 concentrations in the inland areas increase faster than in the coastal areas in most seasons, mainly due to a faster increase in temperature and decrease in humidity. While in the evening, O3 concentrations decrease faster in the inland areas than in the coastal areas, mostly attributable to a higher titration effect in the inland areas. Seasonally, both areas share a double-peak variation in O3 concentrations, with two peaks in spring and autumn and two valleys in summer and winter. We found that the valley in summer is related to the summer Asian monsoon that induces large-scale convections bringing local O3 upward but blocking inflow of O3 downward, while the one in winter is due to low O3 production. The coastal areas experienced more exceedance days (~30 days per year) than inland areas (~5-10 days per year), with O3 sources largely from the northeast. Overall, the similarities and differences in O3 concentrations between inland and coastal areas in southeastern China are rather unique, reflecting the collective impact of geographic-related meteorology, O3 precursor emissions, and vegetation on surface O3 concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface ozone (O3) is influenced not only by anthropogenic emissions but also by meteorological factors, with wind direction being one of the most overlooked factors. Here, we combine the observational data of both O3 and wind flow to compare the variation in surface O3 with wind direction between coastal and inland regions of Fujian, a province in the southeast coast of China with complicated topography. We further conduct a numerical simulation using a global chemical transport model, GEOS-Chem, to interpret the observational results, explore the linkages between these O3 variations and wind flows, and identify the dominant processes for the occurrence of high O3 that varies with wind flows. The results from the observations over 2015–2021 suggest that, over coastal regions, surface O3 concentrations show a strong dependence on wind flow changes. On average, during the daytime, when southeasterly winds prevail, the mean of O3 concentrations reaches 83.5 μg/m3, which is 5.0 μg/m3 higher than its baseline values (the mean O3 concentrations), while the northwesterly winds tend to reduce surface O3 by 6.4 μg/m3. The positive O3 anomalies with southeasterly wind are higher in the autumn and summer than in the spring and winter. During the nighttime, the onshore northeasterly winds are associated with enhanced O3 levels, likely due to the airmass containing less NO2, alleviating the titration effects. Over inland regions, however, surface O3 variations are less sensitive to wind flow changes. The GEOS-Chem simulations show that the prevailing southeasterly and southwesterly winds lead to the positive anomaly of chemical reactions of O3 over coastal regions, suggesting enhanced photochemical production rates. Furthermore, southeasterly winds also aid in transporting more O3 from the outer regions into the coastal regions of Fujian, which jointly results in elevated surface O3 when southeasterly winds dominates. When affected by wind flows in different directions, the chemical reaction and transport in the inland regions do not exhibit significant differences regarding their impact on O3. This could be one of the reasons for the difference in O3 distribution between coastal and inland regions. This study could help to deepen our understanding of O3 pollution and aid in providing an effective warning of high-O3 episodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we use an ensemble of 17 landfalling typhoons over 2014-2018 to investigate the positive and negative influences of typhoons on tropospheric ozone over southern China. Referring to the proximity to typhoons and typhoon developmental stages, we found that surface ozone is enhanced when typhoons are 400-1500 km away during the initial stages of typhoons (e.g., from 1 day before and to 1 day after typhoon genesis). The positive ozone anomaly averagely reaches 1020 ppbv at the daytime and 9 ppbv at nighttime compared with the background ozone level. Particularly, surface ozone at radial distances of 1100-1300 km is most significantly enhanced during these initial stages. As the typhoons approach and land in southern China, the influences of typhoons change from enhancing to reducing ozone. Surface ozone concentrations decrease with a negative ozone anomaly ranging between -12 % ~ -17 % relative to the background ozone level. We explore the physical linkages between typhoons, meteorological conditions and ozone variations. Results show that during typhoon initial stages, the increasing temperature and weak winds in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) and dominating downward motions promote ozone production and accumulation over the outskirts of typhoons. While the deteriorating weather accompanied by dropping temperature, wind gales and convective activity reduces the production and accumulation of surface ozone when typhoons are making landfalling. Variations of tropospheric ozone profiles during the differential developmental stages of landfalling typhoons are further examined to quantify the influences of typhoon-induced stratospheric intrusions on lower troposphere and surface ozone. Using temporally dense ozone vertical observations, we found two regions of high ozone concentrations separately located in the ABL and the middle-to-upper troposphere under the influences of typhoons. Averagely, the ozone enhancement maximizes around 10-12 ppbv at 1-1.5 km altitude at the typhoon initial stages. The ozone enhancement persists over a longer period in the middle-to-upper troposphere with a positive ozone anomaly of 10 ppbv at 7-8 km altitude shortly after typhoon genesis, and 30 ppbv near 12 km altitude when typhoons reach their maximum intensity. When typhoons are landing, a negative ozone anomaly appears and extends upward with a maximum ozone reduction of 14-18 ppbv at 5 km altitude and 20-25 ppbv at 11 km altitude. Though the overall tropospheric ozone is usually reduced during typhoon landfalling, we quantify that five of eight typhoon samples deduce ozone-rich air with the stratospheric origin (80 ppbv) above 4 km altitude, and in 3 typhoon cases the ozone-rich air intrusions (60 ppbv) can sink to the ABL. This suggests that the typhoon-induced stratospheric ozonerich air intrusions play an important role in surface ozone enhancement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study reports the main features of quasi-biennial oscillation (QBO) period variability at stratospheric levels from 70 to 10 hPa and its attribution from the duration variability of westerly and easterly phases using monthly mean zonal wind data from August 1956 to July 2013, archived by Free University of Berlin. A total of 24 QBO events have been distinguished based on the zonal wind field and wavelet analysis for it. The QBO period varies in phase at various stratospheric levels and shows no significant long-term trend but decadal to multi-decadal variability. The noted case-to-case variations in QBO period are due to variations in durations of the westerly and easterly phases at the same level. The highly coupled variability of the easterly duration in the upper levels above 30 hPa and westerly durations in the lower levels below, which manifests the stalling or accelerating of the descent rate of easterly wind regimes around 30 hPa, is found to be the dominant variability of the easterly and westerly durations at various stratospheric levels. Accordingly, the period of QBO in the lower levels below 40 hPa/upper levels above 20 hPa is determined by the westerly/easterly durations there in about 75 % of the 24 QBO events; and at 30 hPa, variations in the durations of both easterly and westerly phases contribute to the QBO period variability. On the contrary, in only 4 out of 24 QBO events, the variations of the westerly/easterly durations in the upper/lower levels are greater than the variations of the easterly/westerly durations in the upper/lower levels, making deterministic contributions to the QBO period variability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]