Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze

Gehui Wang; Renyi Zhang; Mario E. Gomez; Lingxiao Yang; Misti Levy Zamora; Min Hu; Yun Lin; Jianfei Peng; Song Guo; Jingjing Meng; Jianjun Li; Chunlei Cheng; Tafeng Hu; Yanqin Ren; Yuesi Wang; Jian Gao; Junji Cao; Zhisheng An; Weijian Zhou; Guohui Li; Jiayuan Wang; Pengfei Tian; Wilmarie Marrero-Ortiz; Jeremiah Secrest; Zhuofei Du; Jing Zheng; Dongjie Shang; Limin Zeng; Min Shao; Weigang Wang; Yao Huang; Yuan Wang; Yujiao Zhu; Yixin Li; Jiaxi Hu; Bowen Pan; Li Cai; Yuting Cheng; Yuemeng Ji; Fang Zhang; Daniel Rosenfeld; Peter S. Liss; Robert A. Duce; Charles E. Kolb; Mario J. Molina

doi:10.1073/pnas.1616540113

Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze

Gehui Wang, Renyi Zhang^*, Mario E. Gomez, Lingxiao Yang, Misti Levy Zamora, Min Hu, Yun Lin, Jianfei Peng, Song Guo, Jingjing Meng, Jianjun Li, Chunlei Cheng, Tafeng Hu, Yanqin Ren, Yuesi Wang, Jian Gao, Junji Cao, Zhisheng An, Weijian Zhou, Guohui LiJiayuan Wang, Pengfei Tian, Wilmarie Marrero-Ortiz, Jeremiah Secrest, Zhuofei Du, Jing Zheng, Dongjie Shang, Limin Zeng, Min Shao, Weigang Wang, Yao Huang, Yuan Wang, Yujiao Zhu, Yixin Li, Jiaxi Hu, Bowen Pan, Li Cai, Yuting Cheng, Yuemeng Ji, Fang Zhang, Daniel Rosenfeld, Peter S. Liss, Robert A. Duce, Charles E. Kolb, Mario J. Molina

^*Corresponding author for this work

Fredy & Nadine Herrmann Institute of Earth Sciences

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1172 Scopus citations

Abstract

Sulfate aerosols exert profound impacts on human and ecosystem health, weather, and climate, but their formation mechanism remains uncertain. Atmospheric models consistently underpredict sulfate levels under diverse environmental conditions. From atmospheric measurements in two Chinese megacities and complementary laboratory experiments, we show that the aqueous oxidation of SO₂ by NO₂ is key to efficient sulfate formation but is only feasible under two atmospheric conditions: on fine aerosols with high relative humidity and NH₃ neutralization or under cloud conditions. Under polluted environments, this SO₂ oxidation process leads to large sulfate production rates and promotes formation of nitrate and organic matter on aqueous particles, exacerbating severe haze development. Effective haze mitigation is achievable by intervening in the sulfate formation process with enforced NH₃ and NO₂ control measures. In addition to explaining the polluted episodes currently occurring in China and during the 1952 London Fog, this sulfate production mechanism is widespread, and our results suggest a way to tackle this growing problem in China and much of the developing world.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	13630-13635
Number of pages	6
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	113
Issue number	48
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1616540113
State	Published - 29 Nov 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016, National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Climate
Human health
Pollution
Severe haze
Sulfate aerosol

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1073/pnas.1616540113

Cite this

Wang, G., Zhang, R., Gomez, M. E., Yang, L., Zamora, M. L., Hu, M., Lin, Y., Peng, J., Guo, S., Meng, J., Li, J., Cheng, C., Hu, T., Ren, Y., Wang, Y., Gao, J., Cao, J., An, Z., Zhou, W., ... Molina, M. J. (2016). Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 113(48), 13630-13635. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1616540113

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title = "Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze",

abstract = "Sulfate aerosols exert profound impacts on human and ecosystem health, weather, and climate, but their formation mechanism remains uncertain. Atmospheric models consistently underpredict sulfate levels under diverse environmental conditions. From atmospheric measurements in two Chinese megacities and complementary laboratory experiments, we show that the aqueous oxidation of SO2 by NO2 is key to efficient sulfate formation but is only feasible under two atmospheric conditions: on fine aerosols with high relative humidity and NH3 neutralization or under cloud conditions. Under polluted environments, this SO2 oxidation process leads to large sulfate production rates and promotes formation of nitrate and organic matter on aqueous particles, exacerbating severe haze development. Effective haze mitigation is achievable by intervening in the sulfate formation process with enforced NH3 and NO2 control measures. In addition to explaining the polluted episodes currently occurring in China and during the 1952 London Fog, this sulfate production mechanism is widespread, and our results suggest a way to tackle this growing problem in China and much of the developing world.",

keywords = "Climate, Human health, Pollution, Severe haze, Sulfate aerosol",

author = "Gehui Wang and Renyi Zhang and Gomez, {Mario E.} and Lingxiao Yang and Zamora, {Misti Levy} and Min Hu and Yun Lin and Jianfei Peng and Song Guo and Jingjing Meng and Jianjun Li and Chunlei Cheng and Tafeng Hu and Yanqin Ren and Yuesi Wang and Jian Gao and Junji Cao and Zhisheng An and Weijian Zhou and Guohui Li and Jiayuan Wang and Pengfei Tian and Wilmarie Marrero-Ortiz and Jeremiah Secrest and Zhuofei Du and Jing Zheng and Dongjie Shang and Limin Zeng and Min Shao and Weigang Wang and Yao Huang and Yuan Wang and Yujiao Zhu and Yixin Li and Jiaxi Hu and Bowen Pan and Li Cai and Yuting Cheng and Yuemeng Ji and Fang Zhang and Daniel Rosenfeld and Liss, {Peter S.} and Duce, {Robert A.} and Kolb, {Charles E.} and Molina, {Mario J.}",

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Wang, G, Zhang, R, Gomez, ME, Yang, L, Zamora, ML, Hu, M, Lin, Y, Peng, J, Guo, S, Meng, J, Li, J, Cheng, C, Hu, T, Ren, Y, Wang, Y, Gao, J, Cao, J, An, Z, Zhou, W, Li, G, Wang, J, Tian, P, Marrero-Ortiz, W, Secrest, J, Du, Z, Zheng, J, Shang, D, Zeng, L, Shao, M, Wang, W, Huang, Y, Wang, Y, Zhu, Y, Li, Y, Hu, J, Pan, B, Cai, L, Cheng, Y, Ji, Y, Zhang, F, Rosenfeld, D, Liss, PS, Duce, RA, Kolb, CE & Molina, MJ 2016, 'Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 113, no. 48, pp. 13630-13635. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1616540113

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T1 - Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze

AU - Wang, Gehui

AU - Zhang, Renyi

AU - Gomez, Mario E.

AU - Yang, Lingxiao

AU - Zamora, Misti Levy

AU - Hu, Min

AU - Lin, Yun

AU - Peng, Jianfei

AU - Guo, Song

AU - Meng, Jingjing

AU - Li, Jianjun

AU - Cheng, Chunlei

AU - Hu, Tafeng

AU - Ren, Yanqin

AU - Wang, Yuesi

AU - Gao, Jian

AU - Cao, Junji

AU - An, Zhisheng

AU - Zhou, Weijian

AU - Li, Guohui

AU - Wang, Jiayuan

AU - Tian, Pengfei

AU - Marrero-Ortiz, Wilmarie

AU - Secrest, Jeremiah

AU - Du, Zhuofei

AU - Zheng, Jing

AU - Shang, Dongjie

AU - Zeng, Limin

AU - Shao, Min

AU - Wang, Weigang

AU - Huang, Yao

AU - Wang, Yuan

AU - Zhu, Yujiao

AU - Li, Yixin

AU - Hu, Jiaxi

AU - Pan, Bowen

AU - Cai, Li

AU - Cheng, Yuting

AU - Ji, Yuemeng

AU - Zhang, Fang

AU - Rosenfeld, Daniel

AU - Liss, Peter S.

AU - Duce, Robert A.

AU - Kolb, Charles E.

AU - Molina, Mario J.

PY - 2016/11/29

Y1 - 2016/11/29

N2 - Sulfate aerosols exert profound impacts on human and ecosystem health, weather, and climate, but their formation mechanism remains uncertain. Atmospheric models consistently underpredict sulfate levels under diverse environmental conditions. From atmospheric measurements in two Chinese megacities and complementary laboratory experiments, we show that the aqueous oxidation of SO2 by NO2 is key to efficient sulfate formation but is only feasible under two atmospheric conditions: on fine aerosols with high relative humidity and NH3 neutralization or under cloud conditions. Under polluted environments, this SO2 oxidation process leads to large sulfate production rates and promotes formation of nitrate and organic matter on aqueous particles, exacerbating severe haze development. Effective haze mitigation is achievable by intervening in the sulfate formation process with enforced NH3 and NO2 control measures. In addition to explaining the polluted episodes currently occurring in China and during the 1952 London Fog, this sulfate production mechanism is widespread, and our results suggest a way to tackle this growing problem in China and much of the developing world.

AB - Sulfate aerosols exert profound impacts on human and ecosystem health, weather, and climate, but their formation mechanism remains uncertain. Atmospheric models consistently underpredict sulfate levels under diverse environmental conditions. From atmospheric measurements in two Chinese megacities and complementary laboratory experiments, we show that the aqueous oxidation of SO2 by NO2 is key to efficient sulfate formation but is only feasible under two atmospheric conditions: on fine aerosols with high relative humidity and NH3 neutralization or under cloud conditions. Under polluted environments, this SO2 oxidation process leads to large sulfate production rates and promotes formation of nitrate and organic matter on aqueous particles, exacerbating severe haze development. Effective haze mitigation is achievable by intervening in the sulfate formation process with enforced NH3 and NO2 control measures. In addition to explaining the polluted episodes currently occurring in China and during the 1952 London Fog, this sulfate production mechanism is widespread, and our results suggest a way to tackle this growing problem in China and much of the developing world.

KW - Climate

KW - Human health

KW - Pollution

KW - Severe haze

KW - Sulfate aerosol

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SN - 0027-8424

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JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

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ER -

Persistent sulfate formation from London Fog to Chinese haze

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

UN SDGs

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