Nationwide ground-level ozone measurements in China suggest serious risks to forests

We processed hourly ozone (O₃) concentrations collected in 2015 and in 2016 by a network of 1497 stations across China, with the main aim of assessing the risk that present ambient O₃ exposure is posing to Chinese forests. Our results indicate that the values of the metrics AOT40 (the accumulated hourly O₃ concentrations above 40 ppb during daylight hours) recommended as European Union standard, and W126 (the sum of weighted hourly concentrations from 8:00 to 20:00) recommended as USA standard for forest protection, exceeded the critical levels (5 ppm h across 6 months for AOT40 and 7-21 ppm h over 3 months for W126) on average by 5.1 and 1.2 times, respectively. N100 showed on average 65 annual exceedances of 100 ppb as hourly value. The 12-h and 24-h averages showed a small difference, suggesting high concentrations also at night. Risk was higher for the northern temperate climate than for the southern tropical and sub-tropical climates, and overall for the northern regions than for the southern regions. Higher risk occurred in the non-urban areas than in the urban areas in northern, south-west and north-west China, whereas risk was higher at urban areas in eastern and southern China. The overall results of this first nationwide assessment suggest a significant risk for forests over the entire China and warrant for urgent measures for controlling O₃ precursor emissions and establishing standards of protection.