Global inorganic nitrate production mechanisms: comparison of a global model with nitrate isotope observations

Alexander, Becky; Sherwen, Tomás; Holmes, Christopher D.; Fisher, Jenny A.; Chen, Qianjie; Evans, Mat J.; Kasibhatla, Prasad

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3859-2020

Articles | Volume 20, issue 6

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3859-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3859-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 20, issue 6

Research article

|

31 Mar 2020

Research article |

| 31 Mar 2020

Global inorganic nitrate production mechanisms: comparison of a global model with nitrate isotope observations

Becky Alexander, Tomás Sherwen, Christopher D. Holmes, Jenny A. Fisher, Qianjie Chen, Mat J. Evans, and Prasad Kasibhatla

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3859-2020-supplement

Model code and software

GEOS-Chem version 12.0.0 GEOS-Chem community https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1343547

Download

Article (8897 KB)
Full-text XML

Short summary

Nitrogen oxides are important for the formation of tropospheric oxidants and are removed from the atmosphere mainly through the formation of nitrate. We compare observations of the oxygen isotopes of nitrate with a global model to test our understanding of the chemistry nitrate formation. We use the model to quantify nitrate formation pathways in the atmosphere and identify key uncertainties and their relevance for the oxidation capacity of the atmosphere.