Zhongjing Jiang1, Jing Li1
1Laboratory for Climate and Ocean-Atmosphere Studies, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, China
Correspondence: Jing Li (jing-li@pku.edu.cn)
Abstract
Tropospheric ozone, as a critical atmospheric component, plays an important role in influencing radiation equilibrium and ecological health. It is affected not only by anthropogenic activities but also by natural climate variabilities. Here we examine the tropospheric ozone changes in China associated with the Eastern Pacific (EP) and Central Pacific (CP) El Niño using satellite observations from 2007 to 2017 and GEOS-Chem simulations from 1980 to 2017. GEOS-Chem reasonably reproduced the satellite-retrieved lower tropospheric ozone (LTO) changes despite a slight underestimation. In general, both types of El Niño exert negative impacts on LTO concentration in China, except for southeastern China during the pre-CP El Niño autumn and post-EP El Niño summer. Ozone budget analysis further reveals that for both events, LTO changes are dominated by the transport processes controlled by circulation patterns and the chemical processes influenced by local meteorological anomalies associated with El Niño, especially the changes in solar radiation and relative humidity. The differences between EP and CP-induced LTO changes mostly lie in southern China. The different strengths, positions, and duration of the Western North Pacific Anomalous Anticyclone (WNPAC) induced by tropical warming are likely responsible for the different EP and CP LTO changes. During the post-EP El Niño summer, the Indian Ocean capacitor effect also plays an important role in mediating LTO changes over southern China.
Citation
Jiang, Z. and Li, J.: Impact of eastern and central Pacific El Niño on lower tropospheric ozone in China, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7273–7285, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7273-2022, 2022.
