Impacts of Secondary Aerosols on a Persistent Fog Event in Northern China

The chemistry version of the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF/Chem) was coupled with the anthropogenic emission inventory of David Streets to investigate the impacts of secondary aerosols on a persistent fog event from 25 to 26 October 2007, in Northern China. The spatial distribution of the simulated fog is consistent with satellite observations, and the time-height distributions of the simulated boundary layer where the fog formed are also in good agreement with these observations. The sensitivity studies show that the secondary aerosols of SO4, NO3, and NH4 formed from gaseous precursors of SO2, NOx, and NH3 had substantial impacts on the formation processes and microphysical structure of the fog event. The decrease of the secondary aerosols obviously reduced the liquid water path and column droplet number concentration of the fog below the 1-km layer, and the corresponding area-averaged liquid water path and droplet number concentration of the fog decreased by 43% and 79%, respectively. The concentrations of NOx and NO3 were found to be extremely high in this case. The concentration of interstitial aerosol NO3 was much higher than the SO4 and NH4, but the concentration of SO4 was highest in the cloud-borne aerosols. The average activation ratios for SO4, NO3, and NH4 were 34%, 31%, and 30%, respectively, and the maximum ratios reached 62%, 86%, and 55% during the fog episode.