Ozone concentrations, flux and potential effect on yield during wheat growth in the NorthwestShandong Plain of China

Ozone（O3） concentration and flux（Fo） were measured using the eddy covariance technique over a wheat field in the Northwest-Shandong Plain of China. The O3-induced wheat yield loss was estimated by utilizing O3exposure-response models. The results showed that：（1） During the growing season（7 March to 7 June, 2012）, the minimum（16.1 ppb V） and maximum（53.3 ppb V）mean O3 concentrations occurred at approximately 6：30 and 16：00, respectively. The mean and maximum of all measured O3 concentrations were 31.3 and 128.4 ppb V, respectively. The variation of O3 concentration was mainly affected by solar radiation and temperature.（2） The mean diurnal variation of deposition velocity（V d） can be divided into four phases, and the maximum occurred at noon（12：00）. Averaged V d during daytime（6：00–18：00） and nighttime（18：00–6：00） were 0.42 and 0.14 cm/sec, respectively. The maximum of measured V d was about1.5 cm/sec. The magnitude of V d was influenced by the wheat growing stage, and its variation was significantly correlated with both global radiation and friction velocity.（3） The maximum mean F o appeared at 14：00, and the maximum measured F o was-33.5 nmol/（m^2·sec）. Averaged F o during daytime and nighttime were-6.9 and-1.5 nmol/（m^2·sec）, respectively.（4） Using O3 exposure-response functions obtained from the USA, Europe, and China, the O3-induced wheat yield reduction in the district was estimated as 12.9% on average（5.5%–23.3%）. Large uncertainties were related to the statistical methods and environmental conditions involved in deriving the exposure-response functions.

Impacts of Weather Conditions Modified by Urban Expansion on Surface Ozone: Comparison between the Pearl River Delta and Yangtze River Delta Regions

In this paper, the online weather research and forecasting and chemistry （WRF-Chem） model is used to explore the impacts of urban expansion on regional weather conditions and its implication on surface ozone concentrations over the Pearl River Delta（PRD） and Yangtze River Delta（YRD） regions. Two scenarios of urban maps are used in the WRF-Chem to represent the early 1990s （pre-urbanization） and the current urban distribution in the PRD and the YRD. Month-long simulation results using the above land-use scenarios for March 2001 show that urbanization increases both the day- and night-time 2-m temperatures by about 0.6℃and 1.4℃, respectively. Daytime reduction in the wind speed by about 3.0 m s-1 is larger than that for the nighttime （0.5 to 2 m s-1）. The daytime increase in the PBL height （〉 200 m） is also larger than the nighttime （50-100 m）. The meteorological conditions modified by urbanization lead to detectable ozone-concentration changes in the PRD and the YRD. Urbanization increases the nighttime surface-ozone concentrations by about 4.7%-8.5% and by about 2.9%-4.2% for the daytime. In addition to modifying individual meteorological variables, urbanization also enhances the convergence zones, especially in the PRD. More importantly, urbanization has different effects on the surface ozone for the PRD and the YRD, presumably due to their urbanization characteristics and geographical locations. Even though the PRD has a smaller increase in the surface temperature than the YRD, it has （a） weaker surface wind speed, （b） smaller increase in PBL heights, and （c） stronger convergence zones. The latter three factors outweighed the temperature increase and resulted in a larger ozone enhancement in the PRD than the YRD.

Distribution of Surface Ozone Concentration in the Clean Areas of China and Its Possible Impact on Crop Yields

From August 1994 to July 1995, ozone and its precursors were measured in the clean areas of China. The results show that in the period of crop growth, hourly mean ozone concentration, ozone concentration averaged in seven hours of daytime and accumulated ozone concentration in long period have approached or overpassed the harmful level in environmental and health standard of U. S. A. and Canada.

Estimation of Total Emission of VOCs Discharged by Afforesting Vegetation and Its Impacts on Ozone Concentration in Nanjing

Based on Guenther light-temperature model , annual emission of VOCs discharged by plants in Nanjing was estimated, and the impacts of VOCs discharged by afforesting vegetation in the city on ozone concentration was analyzed. The results show that annual emission of VOCs dis- charged by plants in Nanjing is about 0.004 9 Tg C. The annual emmisions of isoprene, monoterpene and other VOCs account for 18.0%, 25.9% and 56.1% of total emission of VOCs respectively. VOCs discharged by afforesting vegetation in Nanjing has the greatest impact on average con- centration of ozone in winter.

Evaluation of Uncertainty in the Determination of Ozone Concentration in the Air by Sodium Indigo Disulfonate Spectrophotometry

The uncertainty of the determination of ozone concentration in the air at a workplace by sodium indigo disulfonate spectrophotometry was evaluated.The results show that the expanded uncertainty of ozone concentration U was 0.016 mg/m^(3),and the main factor affecting the measurement uncertainty of ozone concentration was the uncertainty introduced during sample collection.

Relations between Climatic Changes and High Pollution Levels in Bulgaria

One of the important consequences of the climatic changes is the potential danger of increasing the concentrations of some pollutants, which may cause damages to humans, animals and plants. Therefore, it is worthwhile to study carefully the impact of future climate changes on the high pollution levels. The major topic of the discussion in this paper is the increase of some ozone levels in Bulgaria, but several related topics are also discussed. The particular mathematical tool applied in this study is a large-scale air pollution model, the Unified Danish Eulerian Model (UNI- DEM), which was successfully used in several investigations related to potentially dangerous pollution levels in several European countries. This model is described by a non-linear system of partial differential equations, which is solved numerically by using (a) advanced numerical algorithms and (b) modern computer architectures. Moreover, (c) the code is parallelized and (d) the cache memories of the available computers are efficiently utilized. It is shown that in Bulgaria, as in the other European countries, the climatic changes will result in permanent increases of some quantities related to the ozone pollution. The important issue is that in our study the changes of the dangerous pollution levels are followed year by year. In this way, an attempt is made both to capture the effect of the interannual variations of the meteorological conditions on the levels of the ozone concentrations and to follow directly the influence of the climatic changes on the pollution levels. Moreover, the sensitivity of the pollution levels to variations of the human made (anthropogenic) and natural (biogenic) emissions is also discussed.

Discharge Characteristics of Series Surface/Packed-Bed Discharge Reactor Diven by Bipolar Pulsed Power

The discharge characteristics of the series surface/packed-bed discharge （SSPBD） reactor driven by bipolar pulse power were systemically investigated in this study. In order to evaluate the advantages of the SSPBD reactor, it was compared with traditional surface discharge （SD） reactor and packed-bed discharge （PBD） reactor in terms of the discharge voltage, discharge current, and ozone formation. The SSPBD reactor exhibited a faster rising time and lower tail voltage than the SD and PBD reactors. The distribution of the active species generated in differ- ent discharge regions of the SSPBD reactor was analyzed by optical emission spectra and ozone analysis. It was found that the packed-bed discharge region （3.5 mg/L）, rather than the surface discharge region （1.3 mg/L） in the SSPBD reactor played a more important role in ozone gener- ation. The optical emission spectroscopy analysis indicated that more intense peaks of the active species （e.g. N2 and OI） in the optical emission spectra were observed in the packed-bed region.

Degradation of o-dichlorobenzene by DBD-NTP co-modified titanium gel catalyst

In order to study the degradation process of dioxins in industrial flue gas,the decomposition of o-dichlorobenzene(o-DCB)in a DBD plasma catalytic reactor was investigated.The results showed that an NTP-catalyzed system,especially using the Cu Mn Ti Oxcatalyst,had better o-DCB degradation performance compared to plasma alone.The combination of the Cu Mn Ti Oxcatalyst with NTP can achieve a degradation efficiency of up to 97.2%for o-DCB;the selectivity of CO and CO_(2)and the carbon balance were 40%,45%,and 85%,respectively.The dielectric constant and electrical property results indicated that the surface discharge capacity of the catalysts played a major role in the degradation of o-DCB,and a higher dielectric constant could suppress the plasma expansion and enhance the duration of the plasma discharge per discharge cycle.According to the O1s XPS and O_(2)-TPD results,the conversion of CO to CO_(2)follows the M-v-K mechanism;thus,the active species on the catalyst surface play an important role.Moreover,the Cu Mn Ti Oxand NTP mixed system exhibited excellent stability,which is probably because Cu doping improved the lifetime of the catalyst.This work can provide an experimental and theoretical basis for research in the degradation of o-DCB by plasma catalyst systems.

IMPACTS OF OZONE CONCENTRATION CHANGES ON CROPS AND VEGETABLES IN CHINA

The controlled simulation experiments revealed that ozone concentration increases cause various degrees of injury to leaves of crop and vegetable.The injury to vegetables is greater than that to crops.Ozone can dramatically affect stomatal conductance,photosynthetic rate and transpiration rate,and consequently the yield of crops.No matter how long exposure time was, stomatal conductance increased and photosynthetic and transpiration rates decreased with increases in ozone concentration.When ozone concentration was 100 nmol/mol,yields of rice and winter wheat declined by 27.1% and 60.5% respectively.When up to 200 nmol/mol,there was a significant reduction of yields:a decline up to 33.7% for rice and 81.3% for winter wheat.On the other hand,ozone benefits the improvement of grain quality such as amino acid and protein.

IMPACTS OF OZONE CONCENTRATION AND EXPOSURE TIME CHANGES ON RICE YIELDS

The impacts of O_3 concentration change on rice yields for different lengths of exposure time are studied by means of the OTC-1 open-top chamber.The resuhs indicate that when O_3 concentration increased from 50 ppb to 200 ppb during the time period of 20 to 80 days in the experiment,the rice yield was reduced by 6.78% to 33.72%.Two main influencing factors for rice yields are the increased O_3 concentration and the extended exposure time.Using a logarithm function to simulate the impacts of O_3 concentration on rice yields is better than using a the Weibull function.

Concentration-and flux-based dose-responses of isoprene emission from poplar leaves and plants exposed to an ozone concentration gradient

Supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China,Key Research Program of Frontier Sciences,CAS,the Hundred Talents Program,Chinese Academy of Sciences(CAS),and National Natural Science Foundation of China,a cooperative study by the research groups led by Prof.