A case study on the characterization of non-methane hydrocarbons over the South China Sea: Implication of land-sea air exchange

Abstract We present the characteristics of non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) over the northern South China Sea (SCS) during a cruise campaign from September to October 2013. The mixing ratios of the total NMHCs ranged from 1.45 to 7.13 ppbv with an average of 3.54 ± 1.81 ppbv. Among the measured NMHCs, alkanes and aromatics were the major groups, accounting for 45.8 ± 8.7% and 28.7 ± 12.3% of the total NMHCs, respectively. Correlations of NMHCs with typical source tracers suggest that the light alkanes and benzene were largely contributed by vehicular exhaust via long-range transport, while other aromatics might be related to industrial sources and marine ship emissions. The spatial variations of NMHCs were observed with higher mixing ratios of NMHCs in the samples collected in the offshore areas than those in coastal areas. Air mass back-trajectory analysis and diagnostic ratios of NMHCs show that the elevations of the total NMHCs were caused by the regional pollution transport from the southeast coast of China and/or southern China. The ozone formation potential (OFP) of NMHCs were calculated and the results showed that the aromatics associated with marine ship emissions were the important contributors to the total OFP. This study provides useful information on the interaction between continental outflow and marine atmosphere.