Ground-level ozone in Mekong delta region: precursors, meteorological factors, and regional transport

Abstract The Mekong Delta region (MDR), also known as Vietnam's rice bowl, produced a bountiful harvest of about 23.8 million tons in 2020, accounting for 55.7% of the country's total production, providing food security for 20% of the world population. With the rapid pace of industrialisation and urbanisation, concentration of ozone in the lower atmosphere has risen to a level that reduces crop yields, especially rice, and is, therefore, the subject of research. This study has a goals to simulate the spatio–temporal distribution of ground-level ozone in the area, also to evaluate the impact of precursor emissions and meteorological factors on spatio–temporal distributions of concentration. The study area was divided into six agro-ecological zones to clarify the role of emissions in each zone. The simulation results showed that the ground-level O3 in the MDR ranged from 40.39 µg/m3 to 52.13 µg/m3. In six agro-ecological zones, the average annual ground-level O3 concentration was relatively high, and was the highest in areas six (CZ) and seven (CPZ), with 46.11 µg/m3 and 46.41 µg/m3, respectively. In each zone, the annual average O3 concentration tended to gradually increase from the inner delta to coastal areas. Two types of precursors, NOx and NMVOCs, are the main contributors to O3 pollution, with the largest contribution coming from zone 1 (FAZ) with 91.5 thousand tons of NOx/year and 455.2 thousand tons of NMVOCs/year. Among the meteorological factors considered, relative humidity (RH) and surface pressure (P) were the two main factors that contributed to the increase in ground-level ozone. The spatio–temporal distribution of ground-level O3 in the MDR was influenced by emission precursors from different zones as well as meteorological factors. The present results can help policymakers formulate plans for agro-industrial development in the entire region.