Decades of air quality improvements have substantially reduced the motor vehicle emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Today, volatile chemical products (VCPs) are responsible for half of the petrochemical VOCs emitted in major urban areas. We show that VCP emissions are ubiquitous in US and European cities and scale with population density. We report significant VCP emissions for New York City (NYC), including a monoterpene flux of 14.7 to 24.4 kg ⋅ d⁻¹ ⋅ km⁻² from fragranced VCPs and other anthropogenic sources, which is comparable to that of a summertime forest. Photochemical modeling of an extreme heat event, with ozone well in excess of US standards, illustrates the significant impact of VCPs on air quality. In the most populated regions of NYC, ozone was sensitive to anthropogenic VOCs (AVOCs), even in the presence of biogenic sources. Within this VOC-sensitive regime, AVOCs contributed upwards of ∼20 ppb to maximum 8-h average ozone. VCPs accounted for more than 50% of this total AVOC contribution. Emissions from fragranced VCPs, including personal care and cleaning products, account for at least 50% of the ozone attributed to VCPs. We show that model simulations of ozone depend foremost on the magnitude of VCP emissions and that the addition of oxygenated VCP chemistry impacts simulations of key atmospheric oxidation products. NYC is a case study for developed megacities, and the impacts of VCPs on local ozone are likely similar for other major urban regions across North America or Europe.

数十年的空气质量改善显着减少了机动车挥发性有机化合物 (VOC) 的排放。今天，挥发性化学产品 (VCP) 占主要城市地区排放的石化 VOC 的一半。我们表明，VCP 排放在美国和欧洲城市无处不在，并且随着人口密度的增加而增加。我们报告了纽约市 (NYC) 的大量 VCP 排放，包括 14.7 至 24.4 kg ⋅ d ^-1 ⋅ km ^{-2的单萜通量}来自有香味的 VCP 和其他人为来源，可与夏季森林相媲美。臭氧远超美国标准的极端高温事件的光化学模型说明了 VCP 对空气质量的重大影响。在纽约市人口最多的地区，即使存在生物源，臭氧对人为 VOC (AVOC) 也很敏感。在这种对 VOC 敏感的区域内，AVOC 对最长 8 小时平均臭氧的贡献超过 20 ppb。VCP 占 AVOC 总贡献的 50% 以上。芳香 VCP 的排放，包括个人护理和清洁产品，至少占 VCP 产生的臭氧的 50%。我们表明，臭氧的模型模拟首先取决于 VCP 排放的量级，并且氧化 VCP 化学物质的添加会影响关键大气氧化产物的模拟。纽约市是发达特大城市的案例研究，VCP 对当地臭氧的影响可能与北美或欧洲的其他主要城市地区相似。