Work

The impact of tropical cyclones on regional ozone pollution and its future trend in the Yangtze River Delta of China

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: . Tropical cyclones (TCs) have a significant impact on ozone (O3) in coastal regions by affecting atmospheric circulation and meteorological conditions. This paper investigates the impact and its future changing trends in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region. It was found that regional O3 pollution usually occurred before TCs made landfall and after they dissipated in 2018–2022. Using rotation principal component analysis in T-mode (PTT) method, five main synoptic weather patterns (SWPs) are identified. The TC weather pattern (SWP5) is a high-frequency weather pattern in summer (72.22 %). Subsequently, with the aid of the data reconstruction of O3 concentrations, how SWPs, especially TCs, affect O3 is quantified. It is found that the intensity of SWPs is the dominant factor for the annual variation sequence of O3, contributing 81.39 %. Finally, based on future climate scenario data, the changes in TCs and their impact on the trend of O3 are discussed. Under the SSP2-4.5 scenario, the O3 in the warm seasons of the YRD is expected to increase by 8.3 μg/m3 compared with the historical period, and the SWP5 is expected to contribute the most to the estimated O3 concentration in 2030 (15.14 %). Under the SSP5-8.5 scenario, the O3 will increase by 10.9 μg/m3. The SWP5 is expected to contribute the most to the estimated O3 in 2060 (20.66 %). This shows that the intensification of climate change will intensify the impact of TCs on O3 in the YRD, and monitoring and early warning need to be strengthened.

Source: Atmospheric chemistry and physics

DOI: 10.5194/acp-25-14573-2025