Impacts of Ozone‐Vegetation Interactions on Ozone Pollution Episodes in North China and the Yangtze River Delta

Abstract Persistent ozone (O 3 ) pollution episodes (OPEs, with regionally averaged maximum daily 8‐h average (MDA8) O 3 concentration exceeding 80 ppbv and lasting for 5 days or longer) occurred frequently in megalopolis over eastern China in recent years. Here, we apply a newly developed chemistry‐biosphere model (GEOS‐Chem‐YIBs) to comprehensively quantify the vegetation contributions to OPEs in North China and Yangtze River Delta (YRD) over May to October in 2014–2017. The simulated MDA8 O 3 concentrations increases 16.7 and 16.6 ppbv) during OPEs in North China and YRD, of which about 1.4 ppbv (8.4%) and 3.8 ppbv (22.9%) are caused by the processes including increased BVOC emissions and reduced stomatal dry deposition. Furthermore, the O 3 damages to vegetation stomata slightly increase seasonal‐mean O 3 concentrations by <1 ppbv, but such effects are not exacerbated during OPEs despite the high O 3 exposure.