IASI measurements of tropospheric ozone over Chinese megacities: Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong
Abstract. IASI observations of tropospheric ozone over Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong during one year have been analysed, demonstrating the capability of space-borne infrared nadir measurements to probe both seasonal and daily variations of lower tropospheric ozone around megacities on the regional scale. The monthly variations of lower tropospheric ozone retrieved from IASI show the influence of the Asian summer monsoon that brings clean air masses from the Pacific during summer. They exhibit indeed a sharp ozone maximum in late spring and early summer (May–June) followed by a summer minimum. The time periods and the intensities of the maxima and of the decreases are latitude-dependent: they are more pronounced in Hong Kong and Shanghai than in Beijing. Moreover, IASI provides the opportunity to follow the spatial variations of ozone over the surroundings of each megacity as well as its daily variability. We show indeed that the large lower tropospheric ozone amounts observed with IASI are consistent with the highest population density distribution in each region, thus suggesting the anthropogenic origin of the large ozone amounts observed. Finally an analysis of the mean daily ozone profiles over each region for selected periods with high ozone events shows that the high ozone amounts observed during winter are likely related to descents of ozone-rich air from the stratosphere whereas in spring and summer the tropospheric ozone is likely enhanced by photochemical production in polluted areas and/or in fire plumes.