Net ozone production and its relationship to nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds in the marine boundary layer around the Arabian Peninsula

International audienceStrongly enhanced tropospheric ozone (O 3) mixing ratios have been reported in the Arabian Basin, a region with intense solar radiation and high concentrations of O 3 precursors such as nitrogen oxides (NO x) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). To analyze photochemical O 3 production in the marine boundary layer (MBL) around the Arabian Peninsula, we use shipborne observations of NO, NO 2 , O 3 , OH, HO 2 , HCHO, the actinic flux, water vapor, pressure and temperature obtained during the summer 2017 Air Quality and Climate in the Arabian Basin (AQABA) campaign, and we compare them to simulation results from the ECHAM-MESSy Atmospheric Chemistry (EMAC) general circulation model. Net O 3 production rates (NOPRs) were greatest over both the Gulf of Oman and the northern Red Sea (16 ppbv d −1) and over the Arabian Gulf (32 ppbv d −1). The NOPR over the Mediterranean, the southern Red Sea and the Arabian Sea did not significantly deviate from zero; however, the results for the Arabian Sea indicated weak net O 3 production of 5 ppbv d −1 as well as net O 3 destruction over the Mediterranean and the southern Red Sea with values of −1 and −4 ppbv d −1 , respectively. Constrained by HCHO/NO 2 ratios, our photochemistry calculations show that net O 3 production in the MBL around the Arabian Peninsula mostly occurs in NO x-limited regimes with a significant share of O 3 production occurring in the transition regime between NO x limitation and VOC limitation over the Mediterranean and more significantly over the northern Red Sea and Oman Gulf