LAUSR

Organic nitrates are secondary atmospheric pollutants that play a key role in ozone and aerosol production. This study focused on the simulation of organic nitrates through a box model coupled with RACM2 (Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Mechanism, version 2), based on data from the PRIDE-PRD2006 campaign in Backgarden, China. Our study found that an overestimation of organic nitrate production rate was generated by the model. Furthermore, the effective production ratio (αeff) of organic nitrates was around 0.033 after optimizing its chemical production module. The chemical impacts of organic nitrates on ozone production were related to VOC-OH reactivity and αeff. We found that VOC-OH reactivity was positively related to αeff, resulting in the suppression of ozone production caused by organic nitrates, which showed that P(Ox=O3+NO2) increased initially and subsequently decreased with VOC-OH reactivity. These results highlight the importance of organic nitrate’s impact on ozone production in strategies to control ozone pollution, specifically regarding the reduction of low-molecular-weight VOCs in the Pearl River Delta.