MICS-Asia II: Impact of global emissions on regional air quality in Asia

This study quantifies the seasonality and geographic variability of global pollutant inflow to Asia. Asia is often looked to as a major source of intercontinental air pollution transport with rising emissions and efficient pollutant export processes. However, the degree to which foreign emissions have been imported to Asia has not been thoroughly examined. The Model Inter-Comparison Study for Asia (MICS-Asia) is an international collaboration to study air pollution transport and chemistry in Asia. Using the global atmospheric chemistry Model of Ozone and Related Tracers (MOZART v. 2.4), and comparing results with a suite of regional models participating in MICS-Asia, we find that imported O3 contributes significantly throughout Asia. The choice of upper boundary condition is found to be particularly important for O3, even for surface concentrations. Both North America and Europe contribute to ground-level O3 concentrations throughout the region, though the seasonality of these two sources varies. North American contributions peak at over 10% of monthly mean O3 during winter months in East Asia, compared to Europe's spring- and autumn-maxima (5–8%). In comparison to observed data from the Acid Deposition Monitoring Network in East Asia (EANET), MOZART concentrations for O3 generally fall within the range of the MICS models, but MOZART is unable to capture the fine spatial variability of shorter-lived species as well as the regional models.