Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 6 6 2006 10.5194/acpd-6-13111-2006 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/6/13111/2006/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/6/13111/2006/acpd-6-13111-2006.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/6/13111/2006/acpd-6-13111-2006.pdf 13111 13138 2006-12-13 Behaviour of tracer diffusion in simple atmospheric boundary layer models P. S. Anderson philip.s.anderson@bas.ac.uk British Antarctic Survey, Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 0ET, UK 1-D profiles and time series from an idealised atmospheric boundary layer model are presented, which show agreement with measurements of polar photogenic NO and NO₂. Diffusion models are increasingly being used as the framework for studying tropospheric air chemistry dynamics. Models based on standard boundary layer diffusivity profiles have an intrinsic behaviour that is not necessarily intuitive, due to the variation of turbulent diffusivity with height. The relatively simple model provides both a programming and a conceptual tool in the analysis of observed trace gas evolution. A time scale inherent in the model can be tuned by fitting model time series to observations. This scale is then applicable to the more physically simple but chemically complex zeroth order or box models of chemical interactions. Ambach, W.: The influence of cloudiness on the net radiation balance of a snow surface with high albedo, J. Glaciol., 13, 73–84, 1974. Davis, D. D., Eisele, F., Chen, G., et al.: An overview of ISCAT 2000, Atmos. Environ., 38(32), 5363–5373 2004. Dibb, J. E. and Jaffrezo, J. L.: Air-snow exchange investigations at Summit, Greenland: An overview, J. Geophys. Res. 102, 26 795–26 807, 1997. Jones, A. E., Anderson, P. S., Wolff E. W., Turner, J., Rankin, A. M., and Colwell, S. R.: A role for newly forming sea ice in springtime polar tropospheric ozone loss? Observational evidence from Halley station, Antarctica, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D08306, doi:10.1029/2005JD006566, 2006. King, J. C. and Anderson, P. S.: Heat and Water Vapour fluxes and Scalar Roughness Lengths over an Antarctic Ice Shelf, Bound.-Layer Meteorol., 69, 101–121, 1994. King, J. C., Argentini, S. A., and Anderson, P. S.: Contrasts between summer time surface energy balance and boundary layer structure at Dome C and Halley stations, Antarctica, J. Geophys. Res., 111, D02105, doi:10.1029/2005JD006130, 2006. Mahrt, L.: Stratified Atmospheric Boundary Layers, Bound.-Layer Meteorol., 90, 375–396, 1998. Warren, S. G.: Optical Properties of Snow, Rev. Geophys. Space Phys., 20, 67–89, 1982.