A177-0005
Observations Modeling and Analysis of Air Quality in Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR) Thailand.

Tuesday, 15 December 2020
Poster
Pornpan Uttamang, North Carolina State University Raleigh, Raleigh, NC, United States, Patrick C Campbell, National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC, United States; NOAA Ocean and Atmospheric Research, College Park, MD, United States, Viney P Aneja, North Carolina State Univ, Raleigh, NC, United States and Adel F Hanna, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC, United States
Abstract:
Due to rapid industrialization and urbanization, Thailand has led to an impact on urban air quality, especially within and around Bangkok (BKK), the capital city of Thailand; and Bangkok Metropolitan Region (BMR). In this study, we present an observational analysis of air quality in the BMR during 2010 to 2014. The analysis revealed that among other gaseous criteria pollutants, O3 was the only species whose concentrations frequently exceeded the NAAQs of Thailand, especially during the dry seasons with strong solar radiation, high temperature and high humidity. Interconversion between O3, NO and NO2 indicates crossover points between the species occur when [NOx] (NO + NO2) is ~60 ppb. When [NOx] > 60 ppb, O3 destruction by NO might occur. To better quantify the role of precursor transport from China on O3 over BMR during dry season (as elevated O3 concentrations are frequently observed during dry seasons when there is a predominant Northeast monsoon wind direction) and to identify VOC- and NOx-limited regimes in the BMR, the Weather Research and Forecasting model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), version 3.9.1, was applied in this study. The model configuration consists of a triple-nested domain (36-, 12-, and 4-km horizontal resolutions), where the outer domain covered a majority of China and Thailand, and the inner domain focused on the BMR. Five simulations including a baseline and four sensitivity simulations (10 %, 20 %, and 40 % China’s NOx emission reductions, and 40 % China’s NOx emission reduction along with 40 % China’s VOC emission reduction) were performed. The simulations depicted that 1) China’s NOx emissions played an important role in controlling the NOx level in this region which the change in regional NOx corresponded directly to the change in China’s NOx emissions 2) the BMR was likely VOC-limited, therefore, controlling only NOx emissions was not an effective strategy to reduce [O3], but cooperating with VOC emission reductions would show more benefit to control O3 in the BMR.
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