Effects of Asian air pollution transport and photochemistry on carbon monoxide variability and ozone production in subtropical coastal south China

Abstract

Surface ozone and carbon monoxide (CO) measured from a relatively remote coastal station in Hong Kong are analyzed to study the effects of pollutant transport and associated ozone production on CO and ozone variations in the subtropical south China region. CO and ozone concentrations show a common minimum in summer and in the maritime air masses from the South China Sea and Pacific Ocean. They have higher values in other seasons and in the continental air masses that have passed over mainland Asia and the East Asian coast. CO shows the maximum monthly median of 457–552 ppbv in winter while ozone shows a maximum of 40–50 ppbv in autumn and a distinct peak of 41–43 ppbv in spring. The CO concentrations especially in the continental air masses (median of 277 to 428 ppbv) are very high when compared with measurements in most parts of the world. This suggests that the south China region is under the strong influence of pollutant transport from the Asian continent and East Asian coast. Ozone and CO show strong positive correlations in the polluted maritime air masses and from late spring to early autumn (May–September) with the linear regression slopes of the ozone-CO plot from 0.08 to 0.22 (with respective standard errors from 0.01 to 0.03). The strong correlations and slopes plus the high CO levels indicate that there is substantial ozone production from pollution in the polluted maritime air masses and in the late spring to early autumn period.