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www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/11/9887/2011/
doi:10.5194/acpd-11-9887-2011
© Author(s) 2011. This work is distributed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.
Detailed comparisons of airborne formaldehyde measurements with box models during the 2006 INTEX-B campaign: potential evidence for unmeasured and multi-generation volatile organic carbon oxidation processing
1The National Center for Atmospheric Research, Earth Observing Laboratory, 3450 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, CO, USA
2The National Center for Atmospheric Research, Atmospheric Chemistry Division, 3450 Mitchell Lane, Boulder, CO, USA
3NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA
4Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, IMK-IFU, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany
5The University of Colorado, Dept. of Chemistry, Boulder, CO, USA
6The University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, RI, USA
7United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, MD, USA
8University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA, USA
9University of California, Berkeley, Berkley, CA, USA
10Florida State University, Tallahassee, Florida, USA
11Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
12Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
13University of Miami, Miami, Fl, USA
14Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, USA
15NASA Ames Research, Moffett Field CA, USA
16NASA Lidar Applications Group, Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA, USA
Abstract. Detailed comparisons of airborne CH2O measurements acquired by tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy with steady state box model calculations were carried out using data from the 2006 INTEX-B campaign in order to improve our understanding of hydrocarbon oxidation processing. Select previous comparisons in other campaigns have highlighted some locations in the boundary layer where steady state box models have tended to underpredict CH2O, suggesting that standard steady state modeling assumptions might be unsuitable under these conditions, and pointing to a possible role for unmeasured hydrocarbons and/or additional primary emission sources of CH2O. Employing an improved instrument, more detailed measurement-model comparisons with better temporal overlap, up to date measurement and model precision estimates, up to date rate constants, and additional modeling tools based on both Lagrangian and Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) runs, we have explained much of the disagreement between observed and predicted CH2O as resulting from non-steady-state atmospheric conditions in the vicinity of large pollution sources, and have quantified the disagreement as a function of plume lifetime (processing time). We show that in the near-field (within ~4 to 6 h of the source), steady-state models can either over-or-underestimate observations, depending on the predominant non-steady-state influence. In addition, we show that even far field processes (10–40 h) can be influenced by non-steady-state conditions which can be responsible for CH2O model underestimations by as much as a factor of 2. At the longer processing times in the 10 to 40 h range during Mexico City outflow events, MCM model calculations, using assumptions about emissions of high-order NMHCs, further indicate the potential importance of CH2O produced from unmeasured and multi-generation hydrocarbon oxidation processing, particularly methylglyoxal and 3-hyroxypropanal.
Discussion Paper (PDF, 3347 KB) Interactive Discussion (Closed, 3 Comments) Final Revised Paper (ACP) Special Issue
Notice on Discussion StatusCitation: Fried, A., Cantrell, C., Olson, J., Crawford, J. H., Weibring, P., Walega, J., Richter, D., Junkermann, W., Volkamer, R., Sinreich, R., Heikes, B. G., O'Sullivan, D., Blake, D. R., Blake, N., Meinardi, S., Apel, E., Weinheimer, A., Knapp, D., Perring, A., Cohen, R. C., Fuelberg, H., Shetter, R. E., Hall, S. R., Ullmann, K., Brune, W. H., Mao, J., Ren, X., Huey, L. G., Singh, H. B., W Hair, J., and Riemer, D.: Detailed comparisons of airborne formaldehyde measurements with box models during the 2006 INTEX-B campaign: potential evidence for unmeasured and multi-generation volatile organic carbon oxidation processing, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 11, 9887-9957, doi:10.5194/acpd-11-9887-2011, 2011. Bibtex EndNote Reference Manager XML
