Abstract
Ammonia, as the only high-concentration alkaline gas in the atmosphere, plays an extremely important role in the initial nucleation process of aerosols. A rise in the concentration of NH3 after sunrise has been observed in many areas, known as the "morning peak phenomenon", which is likely related to the dew evaporation process because of the considerable amount of NH4+ present in dew. To investigate and compare the flux and rate of NH3 release from dew evaporation in downtown (WH) and suburban areas (SL), the dew amount and chemical makeup were measured and analyzed in Changchun, in northeastern China, from April to October 2021. The differences in the fraction of NH4+ released as NH3 gas and the NH3 emission flux and rate during the process of dew evaporation between SL and WH were identified. The results showed that the daily dew amount in WH (0.038 ± 0.017 mm) was lower than that in SL (0.065 ± 0.032 mm) (P < 0.01), and the pH in SL (6.58 ± 0.18) was approximately 1 pH unit higher than that in WH (5.60 ± 0.25). SO42−, NO3−, Ca2+ and NH4+ were the main ions in WH and SL. The ion concentration in WH was significantly higher than that in SL (P < 0.05), which was influenced by human activities and pollution sources. A total of 24%-48% NH4+ was released as NH3 gas during dew evaporation in WH, which was lower than the conversion fraction of SL dew (44%-57%). The evaporation rate of NH3 was 3.9–20.6 ng/m2·s (9.9 ± 5.7 ng/m2·s) in WH and 3.3–15.9 ng/m2·s (8.6 ± 4.2 ng/m2·s) in SL. The dew evaporation process makes an important contribution to the NH3 morning peak phenomenon, but it is not the only contributor.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
References
Aguirre-Gutiérrez CA, Holwerda F, Goldsmith GR, Delgado J, Yepez E, Carbajal N, Escoto-Rodríguez M, Arredondo JT (2019) The importance of dew in the water balance of a continental semiarid grassland. J Arid Environ 168:26–35. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaridenv.2019.05.003
Bash JO, Walker JT, Katul GG, Jones MR, Nemitz E, Robarge WP (2010) Estimation of in-canopy ammonia sources and sinks in a fertilized zea mays field. Environ Sci Technol 44:1683–1689. https://doi.org/10.1021/es9037269
Beysens D, Ohayon C, Muselli M, Clus O (2006) Chemical and biological characteristics of dew and rain water in an urban coastal area (Bordeaux, France). Atmos Environ 40:3710–3723. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2006.03.007
Beysens D, Mongruel A, Acker K (2017) Urban dew and rain in Paris, France: Occurrence and physico-chemical characteristic. Atmos Res 189:152–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2017.01.013
Chang YH, Zou Z, Zhang YL, Deng CR, Hu JL, Shi ZH, Dore AJ, Collett JL (2019) Assessing contributions of agricultural and nonagricultural emissions to atmospheric ammonia in a Chinese megacity. Environ Sci Technol 53:1822–1833. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.8b05984
Chen S, Cheng M, Guo Z, Xu W, Du XH, Li Y (2020) Enhanced atmospheric NH3 pollution in China from 2008 to 2016 Evidence from a combination of observations and emissions. Environ Pollut 114421. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.114421
Foster JR, Pribush R, Carter BH (1990) The chemistry of dew and frosts in Indianapolis, Indiana. Atmos Environ 24(8):2229–2236. https://doi.org/10.1016/0960-1686(90)90254-K
Gałek G, Sobik M, Błaśa M, Polkowska Ż, Cichała-Kamrowska K (2011) Dew formation and chemistry near a motorway in Poland. Pure Appl Geophys. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-011-0331-1
Gałek G, Sobik M, Błaśa M, Polkowska Ż, Cichała-Kamrowska K (2016) Urban dew formation efficiency and chemistry in Poland. Atmos Pollut Res 7:18–24. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2015.06.013
Hao XM, Li C, Guo B, Ma JX, Ayup M, Chen ZS (2012) Dew formation and its long-term trend in a desert riparian forest ecosystem on the eastern edge of the Taklimakan Desert in China. J Hydrol 472–473:90–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2012.09.015
Hong L, Zhu B, Yu XN, Shi SS, Chen K (2019) Chemical composition of dew water at a suburban site in Nanjing, China, during the 2016–2017 winter. Atmos Environ 211:226–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2019.05.008
Jia ZF, Wang Z, Wang H (2019a) Characteristics of dew formation in the semi-arid loess plateau of central Shaanxi Province, China. Water 11:126. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11010126
Jia ZF, Zhao ZQ, Zhang QY, Wu WC (2019b) Dew yield and its influencing factors at the western edge of Gurbantunggut Desert, China. Water 11:733. https://doi.org/10.3390/w11040733
Jiries A (2001) Chemical composition of dew in Amman, Jordan. Atmos Res 57:261–268. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0169-8095(01)00079-5
Kidron GJ, Starinsky A (2012) Chemical composition of dew and rain in an extreme desert (Negev): Cobbles serve as sink for nutrients. J Hydrol 420:284–291. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhydrol.2011.12.014
Kuang Y, Xu WY, Lin WL, Meng ZY, Zhao HR, Ren SX, Zhang G, Liang LL, Xu XB (2019) Explosive morning growth phenomena of NH3 on the North China Plain: Cause and potential impacts on aerosol formation. Environ Pollut 257:113621. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2019.113621
Kurzyca I, Frankowski M (2019) Scavenging of nitrogen from the atmosphere by atmospheric (rain, snow) and occult (dew, frost) precipitation. Comparison of urban and nonurban deposition profiles. J Geophys Res: Biogeosci 124:2288–2304. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JG005030
Lakhani A, Parmar RS, Prakash S (2012) Chemical composition of dew resulting from radiative cooling at a semi-arid site in Agra, India. Pure Appl Geophys 169:859–871. https://doi.org/10.1007/s024-011-03-8
Lekouch I, Mileta M, Muselli M, Milimouk-Melnytchouk I, Sojat V, Kabbachi B, Beysens D (2010) Comparative chemical analysis of dew and rain water. Atmos Res 95(2–3):224–234. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2009.10.002
Lekouch I, Muselli M, Kabbachi B, Ouazzani J, Melnytchouk-Milimouk I, Beysens D (2011) Dew, fog, and rain as supplementary sources of water in south-western Morocco. Energy 36(4):2257–2265. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2010.03.017
Meng Y, Wen XF (2016) Characteristics of dew events in an arid artificial oasis cropland and a sub-humid cropland in China. J Arid Land 8:399–408. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-016-0006-y
Muselli M, Clus O, Ortege P, Milimouk I, Beysens D (2021) Physical, chemecal and biological characteristics of dew and rainwater during the dry season of tropical island. Atmos 12:69. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos12010069
Nath S, Yadav S (2018) A comparative study on fog and dew water chemistry at New Delhi, India. Aerosol Air Qual Res 18:26–36. https://doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2017.01.0033
Odeh I, Arar S, Al-Hunaiti A, Sa’aydeh H, Hammad G, Duplissy J, Vuollekoski H, Korpela A, Petaja T, Kulmala M, Hussein T (2017) Chemical investigation and quality of urban dew collections with dust precipitates. Environ Sci Pollut Res. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-8870-3
Okochi H, Kajimito T, Arai Y, Igawa M (1996) Effect of acid deposition on urban dew chemistry in Yokohama, Japan. Bull Chem Soc Jpn 69:3355–3365. https://doi.org/10.1246/bcsj.69.3355
Osada K (2020) Measurement report: Short-term variation in ammonia concentrations in an urban area increased by mist evaporation and emissions from a forest canopy with bird droppings. Atmos Chem Phys 20:11941–11954. https://doi.org/10.5194/ACP-20-11941-2020
Pan YX, Wang XP, Zhang YF, Hu R (2018) Dew formation characteristics at annual and daily scale in xerophyte shrub plantations at Southeast margin of Tengger desert, Northern China. Ecohydrology 11:e1968. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.1968
Polkowska Ż, Błaś M, Klimaszewska K, Sobik M, Małek S, Namieśnik J (2008) Chemical characterization of dew water collected in different geographic regions of Poland. Sensors 8(6):4006–4032. https://doi.org/10.3390/s8064006
Richards K (2005) Urban and rural dewfall, surface moisture, and associated canopy-level air temperature and humidity measurements for Vancouver, Canada. Bound-Lay Meteorol 114:143–163. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10546-004-8947-7
Rubio MA, Lissi E, Villena G (2002) Nitrite in rain and dew in Santiago city, Chile. Its possible impact on the early morning start of the photochemical smog. Atmos Environ 36:293–297. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1352-2310(01)00356-9
Rubio MA, Lissi E, Villena G (2008) Factors determining the concentration of nitrite in dew from Santiago, Chile. Atmos Environ 42:7651–7656. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.05.055
Shohel M, Simol HA, Reid E et al (2017) Dew water chemical composition and source characterization in the IGP outflow location (coastal Bhola, Bangladesh). Air Qual Atmos Health 10(8):981–990. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-017-0487-7
Singh SP, Khare P, Kumari KM, Srivastava SS (2006) Chemical characterization of dew at a regional representative site of North-Central India. Atmos Res 80:239–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2005.09.003
Sun K, Tao L, Miller DJ et al (2017) Vehicle emissions as an important urban ammonia source in the United States and China. Environ Sci Technol 51(4):2472–2481. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.6b02805
Sutton MA, Dijk N, Levy PE, Jones MR, Leith LD, Sheppard LJ, Leeson S, Tang YS, Stephens A et al (2020) Alkaline air: changing perspectives on nitrogen and air pollution in an ammonia-rich world. Phil Tans R Soc A 378:20190315. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2019.0315
Takenaka N, Suzue T, Ohira K, Morikawa T, Maeda Y (1999) Natural denitrification in drying process of dew. Environ Sci Technol 33:1444–1447. https://doi.org/10.1021/es980913h
Takenaka N, Takayama K, Ojiro N, Shimazaki W, Ohira K, Soda H, Suzue T, Sadanaga Y, Bandow H, Maeda Y (2009) The chemistry of drying an aqueous solution of salts. J Phys Chem A 113(44):12233–12242. https://doi.org/10.1021/jp9054395
Teng XL, Hu QJ, Zhang LM, Qi JJ, Shi JH, Xie H, Gao HW, Yao XH (2017) Identification of major sources of atmospheric NH in an urban environment in northern China during wintertime. Environ Sci Technol 51:6839–6848. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.7b00328
Wagner GH, Steele KF, Peden ME (1992) Dew and frost chemistry at a mid-continent site, United States. J Geophys Res Atmos 97:20591–20597. https://doi.org/10.1029/92jd02385
Walker JT, Robarge WP, Wu Y, Meyers TP (2006) Measurement of bi-directional ammonia fluxes over soybean using the modified Bowen-ratio technique. Agr Forest Meteorol 138:54–68. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2006.03.011
Wang X, Gao ZY, Wang YK, Wang Z, Jin SS (2017) Dew measurement and estimation of rain-fed jujube (Zizyphys jujube Mill) in a semi-arid loess hilly region of China. J Arid Land 9:547–557. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40333-017-0061-z
Wentworth GR, Murphy JG, Gregoire PK, Cheyne CAL, Tevlin AG, Hems R (2014) Soil-atmosphere exchange of ammonia in a non-fertilized grassland: measured emission potentials and inferred fluxes. Biogeosciences 11:5675–5686. https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-11-5675-2014
Wentworth GR, Murphy JG, Benedict KB, Bangs EJ, Collett JLJ (2016) The role of dew as a night-time reservoir and morning source for atmospheric ammonia. Atmos Chem Phys 16:7435–7449. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2016-169
Xu YY, Yan BX, Luan ZQ, Zhu H (2012) Dewfall variation by large-scale reclamation in Sanjiang Plain. Wetlands 32:783–790. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-012-0314-8
Xu YY, Zhu H, Tang J, Lin YZ (2015) Chemical compositions of dew and scavenging of particles in Changchun, China. Adv Meteorol. https://doi.org/10.1155/2015/104048
Xu WY, Kuang Y, Zhao CS et al (2019) NH3-promoted hydrolysis of NO2 induces explosive growth in HONO. Atmos Chem Phys 19:10557–10570. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2018-996
Xu YY, Liu HZ, Jia CZ (2022) Evaluation of the environmental effects of dew evaporation based on the PSR model. Air Qual Atmos Health. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-022-01274-0
Yadav S, Kumar P (2014) Pollutant scavenging in dew water collected from an urban environment and related implications. Air Qual Atmos Health 7:559–566. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11869-014-0258-7
Ye YH, Zhou K, Song LY, Jin JH, Peng SL (2007) Dew amounts and its correlations with meteorological factors in urban landscapes of Guangzhou, China. Atmos Res 86:21–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosres.2007.03.001
Zhang WG, Meng JY, Liu B, Zhang SC, Zhang J, Jiang M, Lv XG (2017) Sources of monsoon precipitation and dew assessed in a semiarid area via stable isotopes. Hydrol Process 31:1990–1999. https://doi.org/10.1002/hyp.11155
Zhuang YL, Zhao WZ (2017) Dew formation and its variation in Haloxylon ammodendron plantations at the edge of a desert oasis, northwestern China. Agr Forest Meteorol 247:541–550. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agrformet.2017.08.032
Funding
This work was supported by National Nature Science Foundation of China (42175140).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
All authors contributed to the study conception and design. Yingying Xu, Chenzhuo Jia and Yingbo Dou performed material preparation, data collection and analysis. Yingying Xu wrote the manuscript, and all authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. Xu Yang and Yan Yi provided editorial advice. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval
Not applicable.
Consent to participate
All authors of this paper have participated in the submitted research and consent to publish the submitted paper in “Environmental Science and Pollution Research” after acceptance.
Consent for publication
All authors approved the manuscript for publication.
Competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests of personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Additional information
Responsible Editor: Gerhard Lammel
Publisher's note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Highlights
• A six-month dataset on the dew daily amount, evaporation period, and chemical composition in downtown and suburban areas of Changchun city is presented.
• The differences in the fraction of NH4+ released as NH3 gas and the NH3 emission flux and rate during the process of dew evaporation in downtown and suburban areas were identified.
• The dew evaporation process makes an important contribution to the NH3 morning peak phenomenon, but it is not the only contributor.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Xu, Y., Jia, C., Dou, Y. et al. Flux of NH3 release from dew evaporation in downtown and suburban Changchun, China. Environ Sci Pollut Res 30, 85305–85317 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28139-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-023-28139-y