Detection of Atmospheric Hydrofluorocarbon-22 with Ground-Based Remote High-Resolution Fourier Transform Spectroscopy over Hefei and an Estimation of Emissions in the Yangtze River Delta

Abstract

Under the control of the Montreal Protocol and its amendments, hydrofluorocarbons (HCFCs) are used as temporary substitutes for ozone-depleting substances, such as chlorofluorocarbons, and are regulated for consumption and production. China plans to phase out HCFCs by 2030, and HCFC-22 (CHClF2) is currently the most abundant HCFC in the atmosphere. This study measures the vertical profiles and total columns of atmospheric HCFC-22 from January 2017 to December 2022, based on the mid-infrared solar spectra recorded by the ground-based high-resolution Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer at the Hefei remote sensing station. The HCFC-22 total columns over Hefei increased from 2017–2018 and gradually decreased in 2018–2022, with an annual variation rate of 5.98% and −1.02% ± 0.02%, respectively. Compared with the ACE-FTS satellite independent dataset, the FTIR data indicate good consistency with the ACE-FTS data at a 5–25 km altitude, with an average relative difference of −4.38 ± 0.83% between the vertical profiles. HCFC-22 emissions in the Yangtze River Delta from 2017 to 2022 are estimated, derived from measured total columns combined with the Lagrangian transport model and the Bayesian inversion technique. In the Yangtze River Delta, HCFC-22 emissions were high in 2017, with a value of 33.3 ± 16.8 kt, and decreased from 2018 to 2022, with a minimum of 27.3 ± 13.6 kt in 2022 during the observations.