Anthropogenic control over wintertime oxidation of atmospheric pollutants

During winter in the midlatitudes, photochemical oxidation is significantly slower than in summer and the main radical oxidants driving formation of secondary pollutants, such as fine particulate matter and ozone, remain uncertain, owing to a lack of observations in this season. Using airborne observations, we quantify the contribution of various oxidants on a regional basis during winter, enabling improved chemical descriptions of wintertime air pollution transformations. We show that 25-60% of NOx is converted to N2O5 via multiphase reactions between gas-phase nitrogen oxide reservoirs and aerosol particles, with similar to 93% reacting in the marine boundary layer to form >2.5 ppbv ClNO2. This results in >70% of the oxidizing capacity of polluted air during winter being controlled by multiphase reactions and emissions of volatile organic compounds, such as HCHO, rather than reaction with OH. These findings highlight the control local anthropogenic emissions have on the oxidizing capacity of the polluted wintertime atmosphere.

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Author Haskins, J.
Lopez-Hilfiker, F. D.
Lee, B. H.
Shah, V.
Wolfe, G. M.
DiGangi, J.
Fibiger, D.
McDuffie, E. E.
Veres, P.
Schroder, J. C.
Campuzano-Jost, P.
Day, D. A.
Jimenez, J. L.
Weinheimer, Andrew
Sparks, T.
Cohen, R. C.
Campos, Teresa
Sullivan, A.
Guo, H.
Weber, R.
Dibb, J.
Green, J.
Fiddler, M.
Bililign, S.
Jaeglé, L.
Brown, S. S.
Thornton, J. A.
Publisher UCAR/NCAR - Library
Publication Date 2019-12-28T00:00:00
Digital Object Identifier (DOI) Not Assigned
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Resource Version N/A
Topic Category geoscientificInformation
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Metadata Date 2025-07-11T19:22:47.335577
Metadata Record Identifier edu.ucar.opensky::articles:23116
Metadata Language eng; USA
Suggested Citation Haskins, J., Lopez-Hilfiker, F. D., Lee, B. H., Shah, V., Wolfe, G. M., DiGangi, J., Fibiger, D., McDuffie, E. E., Veres, P., Schroder, J. C., Campuzano-Jost, P., Day, D. A., Jimenez, J. L., Weinheimer, Andrew, Sparks, T., Cohen, R. C., Campos, Teresa, Sullivan, A., Guo, H., Weber, R., Dibb, J., Green, J., Fiddler, M., Bililign, S., Jaeglé, L., Brown, S. S., Thornton, J. A.. (2019). Anthropogenic control over wintertime oxidation of atmospheric pollutants. UCAR/NCAR - Library. https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d74b34gw. Accessed 30 July 2025.

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