Articles | Volume 26, issue 4
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-2623-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-2623-2026
Research article
 | 
18 Feb 2026
Research article |  | 18 Feb 2026

Large and increasing stratospheric contribution to tropospheric ozone over East Asia

Nadia K. Colombi, Daniel J. Jacob, Xingpei Ye, Robert M. Yantosca, Kelvin H. Bates, Drew C. Pendergrass, Laura Hyesung Yang, Ke Li, and Hong Liao

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Cited articles

Akritidis, D., Pozzer, A., and Zanis, P.: On the impact of future climate change on tropopause folds and tropospheric ozone, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 14387–14401, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-14387-2019, 2019. 
Albers, J. R., Perlwitz, J., Butler, A. H., Birner, T., Kiladis, G. N., Lawrence, Z. D., Manney, G. L., Langford, A. O., and Dias, J.: Mechanisms Governing Interannual Variability of Stratosphere-to-Troposphere Ozone Transport, Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 123, 234–260, https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JD026890, 2018. 
Basha, G., Ratnam, M. V., and Kishore, P.: Asian summer monsoon anticyclone: trends and variability, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 6789–6801, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-6789-2020, 2020. 
Bae, M., Kim, B.-U., Kim, H. C., Kim, J., and Kim, S.: Role of emissions and meteorology in the recent PM2.5 changes in China and South Korea from 2015 to 2018, Environmental Pollution, 270, 116233, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.116233, 2021. 
Bates, K. H. and Jacob, D. J.: An Expanded Definition of the Odd Oxygen Family for Tropospheric Ozone Budgets: Implications for Ozone Lifetime and Stratospheric Influence, Geophysical Research Letters, 47, e2019GL084486, https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL084486, 2020. 
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Short summary
Surface ozone pollution in East Asia is among the highest in the world and has risen steadily over the past two decades. Using aircraft observations and a global 3-D chemical transport model, we show that ozone in the lower atmosphere in East Asia has risen in part due to intensified transport from the upper atmosphere. This rising natural background limits the effectiveness of local pollution controls, with major implications for air quality policy.
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