Comparative analysis for the impacts of VOC subgroups and atmospheric oxidation capacity on O3 based on different observation-based methods at a suburban site in the North China Plain

The persistent O3 pollution in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region remains unresolved, largely due to limited comprehension of O3-precursor relationship and photochemistry drivers. In this work, intraday O3 sensitivity evolution from VOC-limited (volatile organic compound) regime in the forenoon to transition regime in the late afternoon was inferred by relative incremental reactivity (RIR) in summer 2019 at Xianghe, a suburban site in BTH region, suggesting that VOC-focused control policy could combine with stringent afternoon NOx control. Then detailed impacts of VOC subgroups on O3 formation were further comprehensively quantified by parametric OH reactivity (KOH), O3 formation potential (OFP), as well as RIR weighted value and O3 formation path tracing (OFPT) approach based on photochemical box model. O3 episode days corresponded to stronger O3 formation, depicted by higher KOH (10.4 s−1), OFP (331.7 μg m−3), RIR weighted value (1.2), and F(O3)-OFPT (15.5 ppbv h−1). High proportions of isoprene and OVOCs (oxygenated VOCs) to the total KOH and the OFPT method were demonstrated whereas results of OFP and RIR-weighted presented extra great impacts of aromatics on O3 formation. The OFPT approach captured the process that has already happened and included final O3 response to the original VOC, thus reliable for replicating VOC impacts. The comparison results of the four methods showed similarities when utilizing KOH and OFPT methods, which reveals that the potential applicability of simple KOH for contingency VOC control and more complex OFPT method for detailed VOC- and source-oriented control during policy-making. To investigate propulsion of VOC-involved O3 photochemistry, atmospheric oxidation capacity (AOC) was quantified by two atmospheric oxidation indexes (AOI). Both AOIp_G (7.0 × 107 molec cm−3 s−1, potential AOC calculated by oxidation reaction rates) and AOIe_G (8.5 μmol m−3, estimated AOC given redox electron transfer for oxidation products) were stronger on O3 episode days, indicating that AOC promoted the radical cycling initiated from VOC oxidation and subsequent O3 production. Result-oriented AOIe_G reasonably characterized actual AOC inferred by good linear correlation between AOIe_G and O3 concentrations compared to process-oriented AOIp_G. Therefore, with continuous NOx abatement, AOIe_G should be considered to represent actual AOC, also O3-inducing ability.