TY - JOUR
T1 - Halogens Enhance Haze Pollution in China
AU - Li, Qinyi
AU - Fu, Xiao
AU - Peng, Xiang
AU - Wang, Weihao
AU - Badia, Alba
AU - Fernandez, Rafael P.
AU - Cuevas, Carlos A.
AU - Mu, Yujing
AU - Chen, Jianmin
AU - Jimenez, Jose L.
AU - Wang, Tao
AU - Saiz-Lopez, Alfonso
N1 - Funding Information:
This study received funding from the European Research Council Executive Agency under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Project ERC-2016- COG 726349 CLIMAHAL) and the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (Project T24-504/17-N and A-PolyU502/16). CU team is funded by NSF AGS-1822664. X.F. acknowledges the financial support of the Scientific Research Start-up Funds from Tsinghua Shenzhen International Graduate School (QD2021015C). The development and maintenance of the WRF-Chem model are conducted by NOAA/ESRL/GSD in active collaboration with other institutes. Computing resources, support, and data storage were provided by the Climate Simulation Laboratory at NCAR’s Computational and Information Systems Laboratory (CISL), sponsored by the NSF. We thank Ravan Ahmadov and Jordan Schnell in NOAA/ESRL/GSD for helpful discussion on WRF-Chem model configuration and description. All data needed to evaluate the conclusions in the paper are present in the paper and/or the Supporting Information. Additional data related to this paper may be requested from the authors.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 The Authors. Published by American Chemical Society.
PY - 2021/10/19
Y1 - 2021/10/19
N2 - Severe and persistent haze events in northern China, characterized by high loading of fine aerosol especially of secondary origin, negatively impact human health and the welfare of ecosystems. However, current knowledge cannot fully explain the formation of this haze pollution. Despite field observations of elevated levels of reactive halogen species (e.g., BrCl, ClNO
2, Cl
2, HBr) at several sites in China, the influence of halogens (particularly bromine) on haze pollution is largely unknown. Here, for the first time, we compile an emission inventory of anthropogenic bromine and quantify the collective impact of halogens on haze pollution in northern China. We utilize a regional model (WRF-Chem), revised to incorporate updated halogen chemistry and anthropogenic chlorine and bromine emissions and validated by measurements of atmospheric pollutants and halogens, to show that halogens enhance the loading of fine aerosol in northern China (on average by 21%) and especially its secondary components (∼130% for secondary organic aerosol and ∼20% for sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium aerosols). Such a significant increase is attributed to the enhancement of atmospheric oxidants (OH, HO
2, O
3, NO
3, Cl, and Br) by halogen chemistry, with a significant contribution from previously unconsidered bromine. These results show that higher recognition of the impact of anthropogenic halogens shall be given in haze pollution research and air quality regulation.
AB - Severe and persistent haze events in northern China, characterized by high loading of fine aerosol especially of secondary origin, negatively impact human health and the welfare of ecosystems. However, current knowledge cannot fully explain the formation of this haze pollution. Despite field observations of elevated levels of reactive halogen species (e.g., BrCl, ClNO
2, Cl
2, HBr) at several sites in China, the influence of halogens (particularly bromine) on haze pollution is largely unknown. Here, for the first time, we compile an emission inventory of anthropogenic bromine and quantify the collective impact of halogens on haze pollution in northern China. We utilize a regional model (WRF-Chem), revised to incorporate updated halogen chemistry and anthropogenic chlorine and bromine emissions and validated by measurements of atmospheric pollutants and halogens, to show that halogens enhance the loading of fine aerosol in northern China (on average by 21%) and especially its secondary components (∼130% for secondary organic aerosol and ∼20% for sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium aerosols). Such a significant increase is attributed to the enhancement of atmospheric oxidants (OH, HO
2, O
3, NO
3, Cl, and Br) by halogen chemistry, with a significant contribution from previously unconsidered bromine. These results show that higher recognition of the impact of anthropogenic halogens shall be given in haze pollution research and air quality regulation.
KW - Anthropogenic bromine emission
KW - Haze pollution
KW - Reactive halogen species
KW - Secondary aerosol
KW - WRF-Chem
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85117422677&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1021/acs.est.1c01949
DO - 10.1021/acs.est.1c01949
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:85117422677
SN - 0013-936X
VL - 55
SP - 13625
EP - 13637
JO - Environmental Science and Technology
JF - Environmental Science and Technology
IS - 20
ER -