Nagoya University · Earth and Planetary Sciences
Professor Mingxu Liu's research lab focuses on atmospheric chemistry and air quality, with a particular emphasis on the sources, transformations, and impacts of gaseous and particulate pollutants in China. Key research directions include ammonia (NH₃) emissions and their role in secondary aerosol formation, acid rain, and nitrogen deposition, as well as the development of high-resolution emission inventories using satellite observations and chemical transport modeling. The lab also investigates the interplay between industrialization, agricultural practices, and atmospheric pollution, especially during severe haze events in the North China Plain. Additionally, the lab explores sustainable solutions such as carbon-neutral hydrogen storage using formic acid-based catalytic systems.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
China has been experiencing fine particle (i.e., aerodynamic diameters ≤ 2.5 µm; PM<sub>2.5</sub>) pollution and acid rain in recent decades, which exert adverse impacts on human health and the ecosystem. Recently, ammonia (i.e., NH<sub>3</sub>) emission reduction has been proposed as a strategic option to mitigate haze pollution. However, atmospheric NH<sub>3</sub> is also closely bound to nitrogen deposition and acid rain, and comprehensive impacts of NH<sub>3</sub> emission control are still
Abstract. Ammonia (NH3) can interact in the atmosphere with other trace chemical species, which can lead to detrimental environmental consequences, such as the formation of fine particulates and ultimately global climate change. China is a major agricultural country, and livestock numbers and nitrogen fertilizer use have increased drastically since 1978, following the rapid economic and industrial development experienced by the country. In this study, comprehensive NH3 emissions inventories were
Abstract Aerosol acidity plays an important role in atmospheric chemistry. China emits large amounts of SO 2 , NO x , and NH 3 into the atmosphere, but aerosol acidity is poorly characterized. In this study, simultaneous 1 h measurements of particulate and gaseous compositions along with the ISORROPIA‐II thermodynamic equilibrium model were used to study aerosol acidity during severe haze episodes in northern China. The summed concentration of sulfate, nitrate, and ammonium was 135 ± 51 μg/m 3 w
Abstract. The North China Plain has been identified as a significant hotspot of ammonia (NH3) due to extensive agricultural activities. Satellite observations suggest a significant increase of about 30 % in tropospheric gas-phase NH3 concentrations in this area during 2008–2016. However, the estimated NH3 emissions decreased slightly by 7 % because of changes in Chinese agricultural practices, i.e., the transition in fertilizer types from ammonium carbonate fertilizer to urea, and in the livesto
Abstract In the context of global carbon dioxide increasing drastically, renewable energy is crucial maintain the economic growth of the world. Hydrogen has attracted considerable attention as a clean fuel, but the large‐scale storage and controllable release of H 2 is still urgently needed, yet largely not yet accomplished. Through the reactions of CO 2 hydrogenation to formic acid (FA) and FA dehydrogenation to hydrogen, a “carbon neutral” sustainable hydrogen storage system can be constructed
Abstract. Biomass burning plays a significant role in air pollution and climate change. In this study, we used a method based on fire radiative energy (FRE) to develop a biomass burning emission inventory for China from 2003 to 2017. Daily fire radiative power (FRP) data derived from 1 km MODIS Thermal Anomalies/Fire products (MOD14/MYD14) were used to calculate FRE and combusted biomass. Available emission factors were assigned to four biomass burning types: forest, cropland, grassland, and shr
Abstract. Although nitrogen oxide (NOx) emission controls have been implemented for several years, northern China is still facing high particulate nitrate (NO3-) pollution during severe haze events in winter. In this study, the thermodynamic equilibrium model (ISORROPIA-II) and the Weather Research and Forecast model coupled with chemistry (WRF-Chem) were used to study the efficiency of NH3 emission controls on alleviating particulate NO3- during a severe winter haze episode. We found that parti
Abstract. Anthropogenic emissions in China play an important role in altering the global radiation budget. Over the past decade, the strong clean-air policies in China have resulted in substantial reductions of anthropogenic emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and primary particulate matter, and air quality in China has consequently improved. However, the resultant aerosol radiative forcings have been poorly understood. In this study, we used an advanced global climate model integrated with the la
Abstract. China is one of the largest agricultural countries in the world. Thus, NH3 emission from agricultural activities in China considerably affects the country's regional air quality and visibility. In this study, a high-resolution agricultural NH3 emission inventory compiled on 1 km × 1 km horizontal resolution was applied to calculate the NH3 mass burden in China and reliably estimate the influence of NH3 on agriculture. The key parameter emission factors of this inventory were enhanced b
Terrestrial ecosystems in China receive the world's largest amount of reactive nitrogen (N) deposition. Recent controls on nitrogen oxides (NO<sub>x</sub> = NO + NO<sub>2</sub>) emissions in China to tackle air pollution are expected to decrease N deposition, yet the observed N deposition fluxes remain almost stagnant. Here we show that the effectiveness of NO<sub>x</sub> emission controls for reducing oxidized N (NO<sub>y</sub> = NO<sub>x</sub> + its oxidation products) deposition is unforeseen
Abstract In‐cloud wet scavenging dominates the wet removal of aerosols in the atmosphere, but is not well represented in climate models. Aircraft measurements of black carbon (BC) concentrations suggest that models commonly overestimate BC concentrations in the upper troposphere of the tropics by more than one order of magnitude but underestimate BC burdens in polar latitudes. In this study, we improved the in‐cloud wet scavenging parameterizations for convective clouds and mixed‐phase clouds to
Abstract The atmospheric deposition of soluble (bioaccessible) iron enhances ocean primary productivity and subsequent atmospheric CO 2 sequestration in iron-limited ocean basins, especially the Southern Ocean. While anthropogenic sources have been recently suggested to be important in some northern hemisphere oceans, the role in the Southern Ocean remains ambiguous. By comparing multiple model simulations with the new aircraft observations for anthropogenic iron, we show that anthropogenic solu
Abstract. East China experiences extensive crop residue burnings in fields during harvest season. The direct radiative effect (DRE) of carbonaceous aerosols from crop residue burning in June 2013 in East China was investigated using the Weather Research and Forecasting Model coupled with Chemistry (WRF-Chem). Absorption of organic aerosol (OA) in the presence of brown carbon was considered using the parameterization of Saleh et al. (2014), in which the imaginary part of the OA refractive index i
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