Net ozone production and its relationship to NOx and VOCs in the marine boundary layer around the Arabian Peninsula.

Strongly enhanced tropospheric ozone mixing ratios have been reported in the Arabian Basin, a region with intense solar radiation and high concentrations of ozone precursors such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. To analyze photochemical ozone production in the marine boundary layer (MBL) around the Arabian Peninsula, we use ship-borne observations of NO, NO₂, O₃, OH, HO₂, HCHO, actinic flux, water vapor, pressure and temperature obtained during the summer 2017 Air Quality and Climate in the Arabian Basin (AQABA) campaign, compare them to simulation results of the ECHAM-MESSy atmospheric chemistry (EMAC) general circulation model. Net ozone production rates (NOPR) were greatest over the Gulf of Oman, the Northern Red Sea and the Arabian Gulf with median values of 14 ppbv day⁻¹, 16 ppbv day⁻¹ and 28 ppbv day⁻¹, respectively. NOPR over the Mediterranean, the Southern Red Sea and the Arabian Sea did not significantly deviate from zero; however, results for the Arabian Sea indicate weak net ozone production of 5 ppbv day⁻¹, and net ozone destruction over the Mediterranean and the Southern Red Sea with −2 ppbv day⁻¹ and −4 ppbv day⁻¹, respectively. Constrained by measured HCHO/NO₂-ratios, our photochemistry calculations show that net ozone production in the MBL around the Arabian Peninsula occurs mostly in a transition regime between NO_x and VOC-limitation with a tendency towards NO_x-limitation except over the Northern Red Sea and the Oman Gulf. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]