Meanwhile, the delta's air contained relatively little ozone.
This suggests the existence of another method of recycling OH radicals—one that occurs without nitric oxide, the team suggests in this week's Science Express.
Such a process is so unexpected that scientists likely did not have the right tools with them at the time to measure it, Rohrer said.
The team, led by Rohrer's colleague Andreas Hofzumahaus, plan to test Chinese air samples in a simulation chamber in their laboratory.
If they can solve the puzzle, the yet unknown ingredient could have a positive impact on the global atmosphere, Rohrer added.
"You have the advantage that the harmful pollutants are degraded fast, but you don't have the misfortune that ozone is generated for it," he said.
"You are gaining on both sides."
Big Change?
Jingqiu Mao, a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard University's Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group, said there may be other explanations for the high level of OH radicals found in the Chinese delta.
But he added in an email that the new study's findings are different than all previous field-research results around the world.
"This paper will largely change our understanding of ozone production in many scales," Mao said, if the findings "can be confirmed by more evidences from field studies or laboratory experiments."
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