Effects of the sea-land breeze on coastal ozone pollution in the Yangtze River Delta, China.

Abstract Aim at the effects of the coastal characteristic on ozone pollution in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), a campaign was launched at the Ningbo, China in the summer of 2020, which mainly covered the monitoring of the vertical profiles of ozone (O3) concentration, three-dimensional wind field, temperature and humidity profiles and parameters of boundary layer dynamic-thermodynamic structure. At the coastal research station, a sea-land breeze (SLB) circulation accompanied by a concurrent coastal low-level jets (CLLJ) structure was observed and identified during 11–12 May 2020. The sea breeze first formed at 10:00 LT on 11 May, turned to land breeze at night, and returned to sea breeze again at 10:00 LT the next morning, prevailing at altitudes of 0–0.5 km and 0–0.3 km respectively. Land breeze at night carries O3 from the inland to the sea forming high ozone levels over the sea, and the shift of the sea breeze during daytime further blew pollution back to the land. Additionally, the conversion of SLB contributed to the occurrence of CLLJ at the altitudes of ~0.3–0.7 km by 02:00 and 06:00 LT, of which the center of wind speed reached ~13 m s−1. The CLLJ-induced turbulent activity decoupled the residual layer (RL) and stable boundary layer, leading to a reduction of RL-O3 levels and an increase of ~50 μg m−3 in surface-O3 concentration. The YRD's unique coastal characteristics make O3 pollution causes in coastal areas more complicated.