Contribution of the anthropogenic precursor emission from multiple sectors to the tropospheric ozone concentrations: A case study in Henan Province, China

• Power sector is the largest contributor to annual O 3 among industry, residential, and transport. • Industry, power and residence contributed in the spring and transportation in the summer. • There is negative correlation between NOx and ozone concentrations in all sectors. Understanding the mechanisms behind tropospheric ozone pollution formation is crucial for developing precise pollution prevention and control policies. However, the contribution of different sectors to ozone generation has not been thoroughly elucidated. Utilizing the Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), this study simulated the spatiotemporal variations of ozone concentrations in Henan Province of China under different sectoral emission reduction scenarios. We also quantified the contribution of different sectors to ozone concentrations. Significant spatiotemporal disparities were observed in annual ozone concentrations across different scenarios. Higher ozone concentrations in scenarios where emissions were zeroed out from the industrial, power, and residential sectors were concentrated in the southwestern region of Henan province, while lower ozone concentrations were concentrated in the northeastern region. Conversely, higher ozone concentrations in the transportation sector zero-out scenario were concentrated in the northwestern region. Overall, ozone concentrations peaked at 50 ppb in summer, followed by spring (20 ppb) and autumn (21 ppb), with the lowest concentrations of 11 ppb observed in winter. The power sector was found to contribute the most to yearly ozone concentrations was about −12 to 9 ppb, followed by the residential sector, while the transportation and industrial sectors made the least contributions. Seasonal contributions to ozone concentrations from the industrial, power, and residential sectors were primarily observed in spring, followed by summer, whereas the transportation sector’s contribution was mainly concentrated in summer.