A multiscale modeling system that consists of a global chemical transport model (CTM) and a nested continental CTM was used to simulate the global atmospheric fate and transport of mercury and its deposition over the contiguous United States. The performance of the CTMs was evaluated against available data. The coefficient of determination (r2) for observed versus simulated annual mercury wet deposition fluxes over North America was 0.50 with average normalized error and bias of 25% and 11%, respectively. The CTMs were used to conduct a global source attribution for selected receptor areas. Three global emission scenarios were used that differed in their distribution of background emissions among direct natural emissions and re-emissions of natural and anthropogenic mercury. North American anthropogenic sources were calculated to contribute only from 25 to 32% to the total mercury deposition over the continental United States. At selected receptors, the contribution of North American anthropogenic emissions ranges from 9 to 81%; Asian anthropogenic emissions were calculated to contribute from 5 to 36%; natural emissions were calculated to contribute from 6 to 59%.

Following a comprehensive model evaluation in part 1, this part 2 paper describes results from 1 year process analysis and a number of sensitivity simulations using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system aimed to understand the formation mechanisms of O3 and PM2.5, their impacts on global environment, and implications for pollution control policies. Process analyses show that the most influential processes for O3 in the planetary boundary layer (PBL) are vertical and horizontal transport, gas‐phase chemistry, and dry deposition and those for PM2.5 are primary PM emissions, horizontal transport, PM processes, and cloud processes. Exports of O3 and Ox from the U.S. PBL to free troposphere occur primarily in summer and at a rate of 0.16 and 0.65 Gmoles day−1, respectively. In contrast, export of PM2.5 is found to occur during all seasons and at rates of 25.68–34.18 Ggrams day−1, indicating a need to monitor and control PM2.5 throughout the year. Among nine photochemical indicators examined, the most robust include PH2O2/PHNO3, HCHO/NOy, and HCHO/NOz in winter and summer, H2O2/(O3 + NO2) in winter, and NOy in summer. They indicate a VOC‐limited O3 chemistry in most areas in winter, but a NOx‐limited O3 chemistry in most areas except for major cities in April–November, providing a rationale for nationwide NOx emission control and integrated control of NOx and VOCs emissions for large cities during high O3 seasons (May–September). For sensitivity of PM2.5 to its precursors, the adjusted gas ratio provides a more robust indicator than that without adjustment, especially for areas with insufficient sulfate neutralization in winter. NH4NO3 can be formed in most of the domain. Integrated control of emissions of PM precursors such as SO2, NOx, and NH3 are necessary for PM2.5 attainment. Among four types of VOCs examined, O3 formation is primarily affected by isoprene and low molecular weight anthropogenic VOCs, and PM2.5 formation is affected largely by terpenes and isoprene. Under future emission scenarios, surface O3 may increase in summer; surface PM2.5 may increase or decrease. With 0.71°C increase in future surface temperatures in summer, surface O3 may increase in most of the domain and surface PM2.5 may decrease in the eastern U.S. but increase in the western U.S.

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[1] The effect of new mercury (Hg) chemistry information on Hg atmospheric concentrations is investigated in a systematic manner with a global chemical transport model, taking into account current uncertainties in Hg emission and removal rates. The reactions of interest include the gas-phase oxidation of Hg (0) by O 3 , the gas-phase oxidation of Hg (0) by OH, the aqueous-phase reduction of Hg(II) by HO 2 radicals, a hypothetical gas-phase reduction of Hg(II) by SO 2 , and a hypothetical pseudo-first-order gas-phase reduction of Hg(II). The new kinetics of the oxidation of Hg (0) by O 3 is fast and would require balancing by a commensurate reduction reaction pathway that has not been identified; it may include some heterogeneous component and should be seen as an upper limit for atmospheric applications. Eliminating the gas-phase oxidation of Hg(0) by both O 3 and OH does not lead to realistic Hg(0) concentrations even after eliminating the aqueous-phase reduction of Hg(II) by HO 2 and having a greater dry deposition rate of Hg(0). Thus gas-phase oxidation of Hg (0) by oxidants such as O 3 and/or OH is required to reproduce global Hg(0) concentration patterns. The reduction of Hg(II) by HO 2 (or a reaction with a similar overall rate) is needed to balance the oxidation of Hg(0) by OH and O 3 but is not needed if the gas-phase oxidation of Hg (0) by OH is eliminated. The reduction of Hg(II) in power plant plumes can be represented by a reaction of Hg(II) with SO 2 ; such a reaction is consistent with the global cycling of Hg. However, a first-order reaction for Hg(II) reduction in power plant plumes is not consistent with our current understanding of the atmospheric Hg chemistry. Additional laboratory studies are recommended to address the remaining uncertainties in the atmospheric chemistry of Hg.

[1] As part 1 in a series of papers describing long-term simulations using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) modeling system and subsequent process analyses and sensitivity simulations, this paper presents a comprehensive model evaluation for the full year of 2001 over the continental U.S. using both ground-based and satellite measurements. CMAQ is assessed for its ability to reproduce concentrations and long-term trends of major criteria pollutants such as surface ozone (O 3 ) and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) and related variables such as indicator species, wet deposition fluxes, and column mass abundances of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NO 2 ), tropospheric ozone residuals (TORs), and aerosol optical depths (AODs). The domain-wide and site-specific evaluation of surface predictions shows an overall satisfactory performance in terms of normalized mean biases for annual mean maximum 1 h and 8 h average O 3 mixing ratios (À11.6 to 0.1% and À4.6 to 3.0%, respectively), 24 h average concentrations of PM 2.5 (4.2-35.3%), sulfate (À13.0 to 43.5%), and organic carbon (OC) (À37.6 to 24.8%), and wet deposition fluxes (À13.3 to 31.6%). Larger biases, however, occur in the concentrations and wet deposition fluxes of ammonium and nitrate domain-wide and in the concentrations of PM 2.5 , sulfate, black carbon, and OC at some urban/suburban sites. The reasons for such model biases may be errors in emissions, chemistry, aerosol processes, or meteorology. The evaluation of column mass predictions shows a good model performance in capturing the seasonal variations and magnitudes of column CO and NO 2 , but relatively poor performance in reproducing observed spatial distributions and magnitudes of TORs for winter and spring and those of AODs in all seasons. Possible reasons for the poor column predictions include the underestimates of emissions, inaccurate upper layer boundary conditions, lack of model treatments of sea salt and dust, and limitations and uncertainties in satellite data.Citation: Zhang, Y., K. Vijayaraghavan, X.-Y. Wen, H. E. Snell, and M. Z. Jacobson (2009), Probing into regional ozone and particulate matter pollution in the United States: 1. A 1 year CMAQ simulation and evaluation using surface and satellite data,