Influence of dynamic ozone dry deposition on ozone pollution

Declining snow cover by the end of the 21st-century tempers the previously identified influence of rising methane on winter ozone. Dynamic dry deposition changes summer surface ozone by -4 to +7 ppb. While previous studies emphasize the importance of uptake by plant stomata, new diagnostic tracking of depositional pathways reveals a widespread impact of nonstomatal deposition on ozone pollution.

Daily variability in both stomatal and nonstomatal deposition contribute to daily variability in ozone pollution. Twenty-first century changes in summer deposition result from a balance among changes in individual pathways, reflecting differing responses to both high carbon dioxide (through plant physiology versus biomass accumulation) and water availability. Our findings highlight a need for constraints on the processes driving ozone dry deposition to test representation in regional-to-global models.