Ethanol and Methanol in South Korea and China: Evidence for Large Anthropogenic Emissions Missing from Current Inventories
Observations during the KORUS-AQ, MAPS-Seoul, and APHH-Beijing field campaigns of 2015-2017 reveal high concentrations of ethanol and methanol in urban air over South Korea and China, with median concentrations of 2-4 ppb for ethanol and 12-18 ppb for methanol. Simulations with the GEOS-Chem model show that these values cannot be captured by current emission inventories. They could originate from volatile chemical products (VCPs). Fitting observed ethanol concentrations with GEOS-Chem would imply per capita VCP emissions 2.4 times higher in South Korea and 1.5 times higher in China than in the U.S. The strong ethanol-methanol correlation suggests a major methanol component in VCP emissions, unlike in the U.S. where methanol use is largely banned. Including these emissions in GEOS-Chem increases the level of surface ozone over South Korea and China by 1-3 ppb. KORUS-AQ aircraft profiles also indicate a high free tropospheric methanol background of 3.2 ppb, which appears to be of terrestrial biospheric origin but cannot be reproduced by GEOS-Chem.
Authors
- Laura Hyesung Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0057-7120)
- Kelvin H. Bates (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7544-9580)
- James Hopkins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0917-3667)
- Hong Liao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6628-1798)
- Isobel J. Simpson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4211-1126)
- D. J. Jacob
- Shixian Zhai (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0073-7809)
- Ellie Beaudry
- Armin Wisthaler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5050-3018)
- Nadia K. Colombi (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0004-5052-0095)
- Drew C. Pendergrass (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8210-4983)
- Ke Li (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9181-3562)
Institutions
- Planetary Science Institute (US)
- Harvard University (US)
- Chinese University of Hong Kong (HK)
- University of Oslo (NO)
- University of Colorado Boulder (US)
- Universität Innsbruck (AT)
- Nanjing University of Information Science and Technology (CN)
- University of California, Irvine (US)
- Harvard University Press (US)
- University of Colorado System (US)
- National Centre for Atmospheric Science (GB)
- Environmental Earth Sciences (AU)
- University of York (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- ACS ES&T Air
- Published
- 2025-03-27
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1021/acsestair.4c00210
- Citations
- 3
- Primary Topic
- Atmospheric chemistry and aerosols
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 3.90
Funders
- National Aeronautics and Space Administration
- Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology
- Bundesministerium für Verkehr, Innovation und Technologie
- National Key Research and Development Program of China