Land use and land cover change on surface ozone air quality (2016-2018)

Private: Dr. WANG Lang

Surface ozone (O3) is an important air pollutant and greenhouse gas. Land use and land cover (LULC) is one of the critical factors influencing ozone, in addition to anthropogenic emissions and climate. LULC change can on the one hand affect ozone “biogeochemically”, i.e., via dry deposition and biogenic emissions of volatile organic compounds. LULC change can on the other hand alter regional- to large-scale climate through modifying albedo and evapotranspiration, which can lead to changes in surface temperature, hydrometeorology and atmospheric circulation that can ultimately impact ozone “biogeophysically” over local and remote areas. This project investigated the individual and combined effects of LULC on ozone, and explicitly examines the critical pathway for how LULC change impacts ozone pollution. A global coupled atmosphere-chemistry-land model was employed.