Detection and variability of combustion-derived vapor in an urban basin

Fiorella, Richard P.; Bares, Ryan; Lin, John C.; Ehleringer, James R.; Bowen, Gabriel J.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8529-2018

Articles | Volume 18, issue 12

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8529-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8529-2018

© Author(s) 2018. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 18, issue 12

Research article

|

18 Jun 2018

Research article |

| 18 Jun 2018

Detection and variability of combustion-derived vapor in an urban basin

Richard P. Fiorella, Ryan Bares, John C. Lin, James R. Ehleringer, and Gabriel J. Bowen

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-8529-2018-supplement

Data sets

Water Vapor Isotope Data from Salt Lake Valley, DJF 2013-2017 R. P. Fiorella and G. J. Bowen https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/EKTY3

IGRA database National Centers for Environmental Information, Integrated Global Radiosonde Archive, and United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/data-access/weather-balloon/integrated-global-radiosonde-archive

MesoWest: Cooperative mesonets in the western United States J. Horel, M. Splitt, L. Dunn, J. Pechmann, B. White, C. Ciliberti, S. Lazarus, J. Slemmer, D. Zaff, and J. Burks https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0477(2002)083<0211:MCMITW>2.3.CO;2

Data Repository, Utah Atmospheric Trace Gas & Air Quality Lab B. Fasoli, B., J. C. Lin, R. Bares, L. Mitchell, and J. Ehleringer https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1289887

Combustion Vapor - SLV Data R. P. Fiorella and G. J. Bowen https://osf.io/ekty3

University of Utah Water Vapor Data Processing Scripts v1.2.0b R. P. Fiorella, G. Gorski, G., and G. J. Bowen https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1285860

Model code and software

Water Vapor Isotope Processing Scripts R. P. Fiorella, G. Gorski, G. J. Bowen https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1285861

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Short summary

Fossil fuel combustion produces water; where fossil fuel combustion is concentrated in urban areas, this humidity source may represent ~ 10 % of total humidity. In turn, this water vapor addition may alter urban meteorology, though the contribution of combustion vapor is difficult to measure. Using stable water isotopes, we estimate that up to 16 % of urban humidity may arise from combustion when the atmosphere is stable during winter, and develop recommendations for application in other cities.