Ozone dry deposition and chemical removal in the urban environment of Beijing: I. Chemical and meteorological controlling parameters

Tropospheric ozone (O₃) is a major air pollutant that negatively affects human health and vegetation, and plays a central role in climate change and atmospheric chemistry. Current simulations of tropospheric O₃ concentrations in climate and air-quality models are significantly limited by the inaccurate representation of O₃ dry deposition rate—particularly in urban areas, where field measurements remain scarce. We hypothesize that O₃ dry deposition in the urban environment is controlled by factors similar to those over vegetation, albeit via potentially different mechanisms. Accordingly, we performed O₃ and reactive nitrogen oxide (NO_x = [NO] + [NO₂]) flux measurements using eddy covariance (EC) technique from a meteorological tower in an urban area of Beijing (IAP) during the spring and summer, complemented by EC flux measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) using Vocus-PTR-TOF-MS. Our analyses indicated that the downward ozone velocity (Vdw,O₃) at the IAP measurement site is controlled by both gas-phase chemical reactions and surface uptake, with comparable contributions. The reaction of O₃ with NO emissions dominated the chemical contribution to Vdw,O₃, with a significant contribution of NO near the ground, particularly in the morning. The effect of relative humidity (RH) on Vdw,O₃, likely via surface wetness accumulation similar to its effect on non-stomatal O₃ deposition over vegetation, showed a logarithmic and hyperbolic dependency of Vdw,O₃ on RH, for 5 % < RH < 30 % and RH > 70 %, respectively. Both NO emissions from elevated sources and RH < 30 %—conditions associated with a higher frequency of positive O₃ flux events—dramatically limited Vdw,O₃.