Articles | Volume 24, issue 14
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8317-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8317-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
24 Jul 2024
Research article |
| 24 Jul 2024
| 24 Jul 2024
Revising VOC emissions speciation improves the simulation of global background ethane and propane
Matthew J. Rowlinson
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Mat J. Evans
National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Lucy J. Carpenter
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Katie A. Read
National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Shalini Punjabi
National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Adedayo Adedeji
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Luke Fakes
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Ally Lewis
National Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Wolfson Atmospheric Chemistry Laboratories, Department of Chemistry, University of York, York, YO10 5DD, UK
Ben Richmond
Ricardo, Fermi Avenue, Harwell, Oxon, OX11 0QR, UK
Neil Passant
Ricardo, Fermi Avenue, Harwell, Oxon, OX11 0QR, UK
Tim Murrells
Ricardo, Fermi Avenue, Harwell, Oxon, OX11 0QR, UK
Barron Henderson
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, Durham, NC 27709, USA
Kelvin H. Bates
NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
Detlev Helmig
Boulder AIR LLC, Boulder, CO 80305, USA
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HONO is key to tropospheric chemistry. Observations show high HONO concentrations in remote air, possibly explained by nitrate aerosol photolysis. We use observational data to parameterize nitrate photolysis, evaluating simulated HONO against observations from multiple sources. We show improved agreement with observed HONO, but large overestimates in NOx and O3, beyond observational constraints. This implies a large uncertainty in the NOx budget and our understanding of atmospheric chemistry.
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The first comprehensive dataset of tropospheric ozone over oceans/polar regions is presented, including 77 ship/buoy and 48 aircraft campaign observations (1977–2022, 0–5000 m altitude), supplemented by ozonesonde and surface data. Air masses isolated from land for 72+ hours are systematically selected as essentially oceanic. Among the 11 global regions, they show daytime decreases of 10–16% in the tropics, while near-zero depletions are rare, unlike in the Arctic, implying different mechanisms.
Adedayo R. Adedeji, Stephen J. Andrews, Matthew J. Rowlinson, Mathew J. Evans, Alastair C. Lewis, Shigeru Hashimoto, Hitoshi Mukai, Hiroshi Tanimoto, Yasunori Tohjima, and Takuya Saito
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9229–9244, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9229-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9229-2023, 2023
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We use the GEOS-Chem model to interpret observations of CO, C2H6, C3H8, NOx, NOy and O3 made from Hateruma Island in 2018. The model captures many synoptic-scale events and the seasonality of most pollutants at the site but underestimates C2H6 and C3H8 during the winter. These underestimates are unlikely to be reconciled by increases in biomass burning emissions but could be reconciled by increasing the Asian anthropogenic source of C2H6 and C3H8 by factors of around 2 and 3, respectively.
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Simone T. Andersen, Lucy J. Carpenter, Beth S. Nelson, Luis Neves, Katie A. Read, Chris Reed, Martyn Ward, Matthew J. Rowlinson, and James D. Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3071–3085, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3071-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3071-2021, 2021
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NOx has been measured in remote marine air via chemiluminescence detection using two different methods for NO2 to NO photolytic conversion: (a) internal diodes and a reaction chamber made of Teflon-like barium-doped material, which causes a NO2 artefact, and (b) external diodes and a quartz photolysis cell. Once corrections are made for the artefact of (a), the two converters are shown to give comparable NO2 mixing ratios, giving confidence in the quantitative measurement of NOx at low levels.
Matthew J. Rowlinson, Alexandru Rap, Douglas S. Hamilton, Richard J. Pope, Stijn Hantson, Steve R. Arnold, Jed O. Kaplan, Almut Arneth, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Piers M. Forster, and Lars Nieradzik
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10937–10951, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10937-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10937-2020, 2020
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Tropospheric ozone is an important greenhouse gas which contributes to anthropogenic climate change; however, the effect of human emissions is uncertain because pre-industrial ozone concentrations are not well understood. We use revised inventories of pre-industrial natural emissions to estimate the human contribution to changes in tropospheric ozone. We find that tropospheric ozone radiative forcing is up to 34 % lower when using improved pre-industrial biomass burning and vegetation emissions.
Suvarna Fadnavis, Rolf Müller, Gayatry Kalita, Matthew Rowlinson, Alexandru Rap, Jui-Lin Frank Li, Blaž Gasparini, and Anton Laakso
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9989–10008, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9989-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9989-2019, 2019
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This paper highlights the impact of Asian anthropogenic emission changes in SO2 on sulfate loading in the Asian upper troposphere–lower stratosphere from a global chemistry–climate model and satellite remote sensing. Estimated seasonal mean direct radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere induced by the increase in Indian SO2 is −0.2–−1.5 W m2 over India. Chinese SO2 emission reduction leads to a positive radiative forcing of ~0.6–6 W m2 over China. It will likely decrease Indian rainfall.
Matthew J. Rowlinson, Alexandru Rap, Stephen R. Arnold, Richard J. Pope, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Joe McNorton, Piers Forster, Hamish Gordon, Kirsty J. Pringle, Wuhu Feng, Brian J. Kerridge, Barry L. Latter, and Richard Siddans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8669–8686, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8669-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8669-2019, 2019
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Wildfires and meteorology have a substantial effect on atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases such as methane and ozone. During the 1997 El Niño event, unusually large fire emissions indirectly increased global methane through carbon monoxide emission, which decreased the oxidation capacity of the atmosphere. There were also large regional changes to tropospheric ozone concentrations, but contrasting effects of fire and meteorology resulted in a small change to global radiative forcing.
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Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 881–895, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-881-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-881-2025, 2025
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Significant improvements have been made to the instruments used to measure OH reactivity, which is equivalent to the sum of air pollutant concentrations. Accurate and precise measurements with a high time resolution have been achieved, allowing use on aircraft, as demonstrated during flights in the USA.
Yugo Kanaya, Roberto Sommariva, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Andrea Mazzeo, Theodore K. Koenig, Kaori Kawana, James E. Johnson, Aurélie Colomb, Pierre Tulet, Suzie Molloy, Ian E. Galbally, Rainer Volkamer, Anoop Mahajan, John W. Halfacre, Paul B. Shepson, Julia Schmale, Hélène Angot, Byron Blomquist, Matthew D. Shupe, Detlev Helmig, Junsu Gil, Meehye Lee, Sean C. Coburn, Ivan Ortega, Gao Chen, James Lee, Kenneth C. Aikin, David D. Parrish, John S. Holloway, Thomas B. Ryerson, Ilana B. Pollack, Eric J. Williams, Brian M. Lerner, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Teresa Campos, Frank M. Flocke, J. Ryan Spackman, Ilann Bourgeois, Jeff Peischl, Chelsea R. Thompson, Ralf M. Staebler, Amir A. Aliabadi, Wanmin Gong, Roeland Van Malderen, Anne M. Thompson, Ryan M. Stauffer, Debra E. Kollonige, Juan Carlos Gómez Martin, Masatomo Fujiwara, Katie Read, Matthew Rowlinson, Keiichi Sato, Junichi Kurokawa, Yoko Iwamoto, Fumikazu Taketani, Hisahiro Takashima, Monica Navarro Comas, Marios Panagi, and Martin G. Schultz
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-566, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-566, 2025
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The first comprehensive dataset of tropospheric ozone over oceans/polar regions is presented, including 77 ship/buoy and 48 aircraft campaign observations (1977–2022, 0–5000 m altitude), supplemented by ozonesonde and surface data. Air masses isolated from land for 72+ hours are systematically selected as essentially oceanic. Among the 11 global regions, they show daytime decreases of 10–16% in the tropics, while near-zero depletions are rare, unlike in the Arctic, implying different mechanisms.
Diego Guizzardi, Monica Crippa, Tim Butler, Terry Keating, Rosa Wu, Jacek W. Kamiński, Jeroen Kuenen, Junichi Kurokawa, Satoru Chatani, Tazuko Morikawa, George Pouliot, Jacinthe Racine, Michael D. Moran, Zbigniew Klimont, Patrick M. Manseau, Rabab Mashayekhi, Barron H. Henderson, Steven J. Smith, Rachel Hoesly, Marilena Muntean, Manjola Banja, Edwin Schaaf, Federico Pagani, Jung-Hun Woo, Jinseok Kim, Enrico Pisoni, Junhua Zhang, David Niemi, Mourad Sassi, Annie Duhamel, Tabish Ansari, Kristen Foley, Guannan Geng, Yifei Chen, and Qiang Zhang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-601, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-2024-601, 2025
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The global air pollution emission mosaic HTAP_v3.1 is the state-of-the-art database for addressing the evolution of a set of policy-relevant air pollutants over the past 2 decades. The inventory is made by the harmonization and blending of seven regional inventories, gapfilled using the most recent release of EDGAR (EDGARv8). By incorporating the best available local information, the HTAP_v3.1 mosaic inventory can be used for policy-relevant studies at both regional and global levels.
Alex T. Archibald, Bablu Sinha, Maria R. Russo, Emily Matthews, Freya A. Squires, N. Luke Abraham, Stephane J.-B. Bauguitte, Thomas J. Bannan, Thomas G. Bell, David Berry, Lucy J. Carpenter, Hugh Coe, Andrew Coward, Peter Edwards, Daniel Feltham, Dwayne Heard, Jim Hopkins, James Keeble, Elizabeth C. Kent, Brian A. King, Isobel R. Lawrence, James Lee, Claire R. Macintosh, Alex Megann, Bengamin I. Moat, Katie Read, Chris Reed, Malcolm J. Roberts, Reinhard Schiemann, David Schroeder, Timothy J. Smyth, Loren Temple, Navaneeth Thamban, Lisa Whalley, Simon Williams, Huihui Wu, and Mingxi Yang
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 135–164, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-135-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-135-2025, 2025
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Here, we present an overview of the data generated as part of the North Atlantic Climate System Integrated Study (ACSIS) programme that are available through dedicated repositories at the Centre for Environmental Data Analysis (CEDA; www.ceda.ac.uk) and the British Oceanographic Data Centre (BODC; bodc.ac.uk). The datasets described here cover the North Atlantic Ocean, the atmosphere above (it including its composition), and Arctic sea ice.
Xiansheng Liu, Xun Zhang, Marvin Dufresne, Tao Wang, Lijie Wu, Rosa Lara, Roger Seco, Marta Monge, Ana Maria Yáñez-Serrano, Marie Gohy, Paul Petit, Audrey Chevalier, Marie-Pierre Vagnot, Yann Fortier, Alexia Baudic, Véronique Ghersi, Grégory Gille, Ludovic Lanzi, Valérie Gros, Leïla Simon, Heidi Héllen, Stefan Reimann, Zoé Le Bras, Michelle Jessy Müller, David Beddows, Siqi Hou, Zongbo Shi, Roy M. Harrison, William Bloss, James Dernie, Stéphane Sauvage, Philip K. Hopke, Xiaoli Duan, Taicheng An, Alastair C. Lewis, James R. Hopkins, Eleni Liakakou, Nikolaos Mihalopoulos, Xiaohu Zhang, Andrés Alastuey, Xavier Querol, and Thérèse Salameh
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 625–638, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-625-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-625-2025, 2025
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This study examines BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, xylenes) pollution in urban areas across seven European countries. Analyzing data from 22 monitoring sites, we found traffic and industrial activities significantly impact BTEX levels, with peaks during rush hours. The risk from BTEX exposure remains moderate, especially in high-traffic and industrial zones, highlighting the need for targeted air quality management to protect public health and improve urban air quality.
Gregory P. Schill, Karl D. Froyd, Daniel M. Murphy, Christina J. Williamson, Charles A. Brock, Tomás Sherwen, Mat J. Evans, Eric A. Ray, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Alan J. Hills, Jeff Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Chelsea R. Thompson, Ilann Bourgeois, Donald R. Blake, Joshua P. DiGangi, and Glenn S. Diskin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 45–71, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-45-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-45-2025, 2025
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Using single-particle mass spectrometry, we show that trace concentrations of bromine and iodine are ubiquitous in remote tropospheric aerosol and suggest that aerosols are an important part of the global reactive iodine budget. Comparisons to a global climate model with detailed iodine chemistry are favorable in the background atmosphere; however, the model cannot replicate our measurements near the ocean surface, in biomass burning plumes, and in the stratosphere.
Koketso Michelle Molepo, Johannes Bieser, Alkuin Maximilian Koenig, Ian Michael Hedgecock, Ralf Ebinghaus, Aurélien Dommergue, Olivier Magand, Hélène Angot, Oleg Travnikov, Lynwill Martin, Casper Labuschagne, Katie Read, and Yann Bertrand
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3722, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3722, 2024
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Mercury exchange between the ocean and atmosphere is poorly understood due to limited in situ data. Here, using atmospheric mercury observations from ground-based monitoring stations along with air mass trajectories, we found that atmospheric Hg levels increase with air mass ocean exposure time, matching predictions for ocean mercury emissions. This finding indicates that ocean emissions directly influence atmospheric mercury levels and enables us to estimate these emissions on a global scale.
T. Nash Skipper, Christian Hogrefe, Barron H. Henderson, Rohit Mathur, Kristen M. Foley, and Armistead G. Russell
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 8373–8397, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8373-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-8373-2024, 2024
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Chemical transport model simulations are combined with ozone observations to estimate the bias in ozone attributable to US anthropogenic sources and individual sources of US background ozone: natural sources, non-US anthropogenic sources, and stratospheric ozone. Results indicate a positive bias correlated with US anthropogenic emissions during summer in the eastern US and a negative bias correlated with stratospheric ozone during spring.
T. Nash Skipper, Emma L. D'Ambro, Forwood C. Wiser, V. Faye McNeill, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Barron H. Henderson, Ivan R. Piletic, Colleen B. Baublitz, Jesse O. Bash, Andrew R. Whitehill, Lukas C. Valin, Asher P. Mouat, Jennifer Kaiser, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jason M. St. Clair, Thomas F. Hanisco, Alan Fried, Bryan K. Place, and Havala O.T. Pye
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12903–12924, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12903-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12903-2024, 2024
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We develop the Community Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Multiphase Mechanism (CRACMM) version 2 to improve predictions of formaldehyde in ambient air compared to satellite-, aircraft-, and ground-based observations. With the updated chemistry, we estimate the cancer risk from inhalation exposure to ambient formaldehyde across the contiguous USA and predict that 40 % of this risk is controllable through reductions in anthropogenic emissions of nitrogen oxides and reactive organic carbon.
Simone T. Andersen, Max R. McGillen, Chaoyang Xue, Tobias Seubert, Patrick Dewald, Gunther N. T. E. Türk, Jan Schuladen, Cyrielle Denjean, Jean-Claude Etienne, Olivier Garrouste, Marina Jamar, Sergio Harb, Manuela Cirtog, Vincent Michoud, Mathieu Cazaunau, Antonin Bergé, Christopher Cantrell, Sebastien Dusanter, Bénédicte Picquet-Varrault, Alexandre Kukui, Abdelwahid Mellouki, Lucy J. Carpenter, Jos Lelieveld, and John N. Crowley
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11603–11618, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11603-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11603-2024, 2024
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Using measurements of various trace gases in a suburban forest near Paris in the summer of 2022, we were able to gain insight into the sources and sinks of NOx (NO+NO2) with a special focus on their nighttime chemical and physical loss processes. NO was observed as a result of nighttime soil emissions when O3 levels were strongly depleted by deposition. NO oxidation products were not observed at night, indicating that soil and/or foliar surfaces are an efficient sink of reactive N.
Ursula A. Jongebloed, Jacob I. Chalif, Linia Tashmim, William C. Porter, Kelvin H. Bates, Qianjie Chen, Erich C. Osterberg, Bess G. Koffman, Jihong Cole-Dai, Dominic A. Winksi, David G. Ferris, Karl J. Kreutz, Cameron P. Wake, and Becky Alexander
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3026, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3026, 2024
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Marine phytoplankton emit dimethyl sulfide (DMS), which forms methanesulfonic acid (MSA) and sulfate. MSA concentrations in ice cores decreased over the industrial era, which has been attributed to pollution-driven changes in DMS chemistry. We use a models to investigate DMS chemistry compared to observations of DMS, MSA, and sulfate. We find that modeled DMS, MSA, and sulfate are influenced by pollution-sensitive oxidant concentrations, characterization of DMS chemistry, and other variables.
Ryan J. Pound, Lucy V. Brown, Mat J. Evans, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9899–9921, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9899-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9899-2024, 2024
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Iodine-mediated loss of ozone to the ocean surface and the subsequent emission of iodine species has a large effect on the troposphere. Here we combine recent experimental insights to develop a box model of the process, which we then parameterize and incorporate into the GEOS-Chem transport model. We find that these new insights have a small impact on the total emission of iodine but significantly change its distribution.
Andrew O. Langford, Raul J. Alvarez II, Kenneth C. Aikin, Sunil Baidar, W. Alan Brewer, Steven S. Brown, Matthew M. Coggan, Patrick D. Cullis, Jessica Gilman, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Detlev Helmig, Bryan J. Johnson, K. Emma Knowland, Rajesh Kumar, Aaron D. Lamplugh, Audra McClure-Begley, Brandi J. McCarty, Ann M. Middlebrook, Gabriele Pfister, Jeff Peischl, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Pamela S. Rickley, Andrew W. Rollins, Scott P. Sandberg, Christoph J. Senff, and Carsten Warneke
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1938, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1938, 2024
Preprint withdrawn
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High ozone (O3) formed by reactions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can harm human health and welfare. High O3 is usually associated with hot summer days, but under certain conditions, high O3 can also form under winter conditions. In this study, we describe a high O3 event that occurred in Colorado during the COVID-19 quarantine that was caused in part by the decrease in traffic, and in part by a shallow inversion created by descent of stratospheric air.
Katherine R. Travis, Benjamin A. Nault, James H. Crawford, Kelvin H. Bates, Donald R. Blake, Ronald C. Cohen, Alan Fried, Samuel R. Hall, L. Gregory Huey, Young Ro Lee, Simone Meinardi, Kyung-Eun Min, Isobel J. Simpson, and Kirk Ullman
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9555–9572, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9555-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9555-2024, 2024
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Human activities result in the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that contribute to air pollution. Detailed VOC measurements were taken during a field study in South Korea. When compared to VOC inventories, large discrepancies showed underestimates from chemical products, liquefied petroleum gas, and long-range transport. Improved emissions and chemistry of these VOCs better described urban pollution. The new chemical scheme is relevant to urban areas and other VOC sources.
Beth S. Nelson, Zhenze Liu, Freya A. Squires, Marvin Shaw, James R. Hopkins, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Andrew R. Rickard, Alastair C. Lewis, Zongbo Shi, and James D. Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9031–9044, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9031-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9031-2024, 2024
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The impact of combined air quality and carbon neutrality policies on O3 formation in Beijing was investigated. Emissions inventory data were used to estimate future pollutant mixing ratios relative to ground-level observations. O3 production was found to be most sensitive to changes in alkenes, but large reductions in less reactive compounds led to larger reductions in future O3 production. This study highlights the importance of understanding the emissions of organic pollutants.
Jianghao Li, Alastair C. Lewis, Jim R. Hopkins, Stephen J. Andrews, Tim Murrells, Neil Passant, Ben Richmond, Siqi Hou, William J. Bloss, Roy M. Harrison, and Zongbo Shi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6219–6231, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6219-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6219-2024, 2024
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A summertime ozone event at an urban site in Birmingham is sensitive to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) – particularly those of oxygenated VOCs. The roles of anthropogenic VOC sources in urban ozone chemistry are examined by integrating the 1990–2019 national atmospheric emission inventory into model scenarios. Road transport remains the most powerful means of further reducing ozone in this case study, but the benefits may be offset if solvent emissions of VOCs continue to increase.
Lucy V. Brown, Ryan J. Pound, Lyndsay S. Ives, Matthew R. Jones, Stephen J. Andrews, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 3905–3923, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3905-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-3905-2024, 2024
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Ozone is deposited from the lower atmosphere to the surface of the ocean; however, the chemical reactions which drive this deposition are currently not well understood. Of particular importance is the reaction between ozone and iodide, and this work measures the kinetics of this reaction and its temperature dependence, which we find to be negligible. We then investigate the subsequent emissions of iodine-containing species from the surface ocean, which can further impact ozone.
Kelvin H. Bates, Mathew J. Evans, Barron H. Henderson, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 17, 1511–1524, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1511-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-17-1511-2024, 2024
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Accurate representation of rates and products of chemical reactions in atmospheric models is crucial for simulating concentrations of pollutants and climate forcers. We update the widely used GEOS-Chem atmospheric chemistry model with reaction parameters from recent compilations of experimental data and demonstrate the implications for key atmospheric chemical species. The updates decrease tropospheric CO mixing ratios and increase stratospheric nitrogen oxide mixing ratios, among other changes.
Heather Simon, Christian Hogrefe, Andrew Whitehill, Kristen M. Foley, Jennifer Liljegren, Norm Possiel, Benjamin Wells, Barron H. Henderson, Lukas C. Valin, Gail Tonnesen, K. Wyat Appel, and Shannon Koplitz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1855–1871, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1855-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1855-2024, 2024
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We assess observed and modeled ozone weekend–weekday differences in the USA from 2002–2019. A subset of urban areas that were NOx-saturated at the beginning of the period transitioned to NOx-limited conditions. Multiple rural areas of California were NOx-limited for the entire period but become less influenced by local day-of-week emission patterns in more recent years. The model produces more NOx-saturated conditions than the observations but captures trends in weekend–weekday ozone patterns.
Matthew M. Coggon, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Megan S. Claflin, Eva Y. Pfannerstill, Lu Xu, Jessica B. Gilman, Julia Marcantonio, Cong Cao, Kelvin Bates, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Aaron Lamplugh, Erin F. Katz, Caleb Arata, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Felix Piel, Francesca Majluf, Donald R. Blake, Armin Wisthaler, Manjula Canagaratna, Brian M. Lerner, Allen H. Goldstein, John E. Mak, and Carsten Warneke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 801–825, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-801-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-801-2024, 2024
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Mass spectrometry is a tool commonly used to measure air pollutants. This study evaluates measurement artifacts produced in the proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometer. We provide methods to correct these biases and better measure compounds that degrade air quality.
Brandon Bottorff, Michelle M. Lew, Youngjun Woo, Pamela Rickly, Matthew D. Rollings, Benjamin Deming, Daniel C. Anderson, Ezra Wood, Hariprasad D. Alwe, Dylan B. Millet, Andrew Weinheimer, Geoff Tyndall, John Ortega, Sebastien Dusanter, Thierry Leonardis, James Flynn, Matt Erickson, Sergio Alvarez, Jean C. Rivera-Rios, Joshua D. Shutter, Frank Keutsch, Detlev Helmig, Wei Wang, Hannah M. Allen, Johnathan H. Slade, Paul B. Shepson, Steven Bertman, and Philip S. Stevens
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10287–10311, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10287-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10287-2023, 2023
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The hydroxyl (OH), hydroperoxy (HO2), and organic peroxy (RO2) radicals play important roles in atmospheric chemistry and have significant air quality implications. Here, we compare measurements of OH, HO2, and total peroxy radicals (XO2) made in a remote forest in Michigan, USA, to predictions from a series of chemical models. Lower measured radical concentrations suggest that the models may be missing an important radical sink and overestimating the rate of ozone production in this forest.
Adedayo R. Adedeji, Stephen J. Andrews, Matthew J. Rowlinson, Mathew J. Evans, Alastair C. Lewis, Shigeru Hashimoto, Hitoshi Mukai, Hiroshi Tanimoto, Yasunori Tohjima, and Takuya Saito
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9229–9244, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9229-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9229-2023, 2023
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We use the GEOS-Chem model to interpret observations of CO, C2H6, C3H8, NOx, NOy and O3 made from Hateruma Island in 2018. The model captures many synoptic-scale events and the seasonality of most pollutants at the site but underestimates C2H6 and C3H8 during the winter. These underestimates are unlikely to be reconciled by increases in biomass burning emissions but could be reconciled by increasing the Asian anthropogenic source of C2H6 and C3H8 by factors of around 2 and 3, respectively.
Monica Crippa, Diego Guizzardi, Tim Butler, Terry Keating, Rosa Wu, Jacek Kaminski, Jeroen Kuenen, Junichi Kurokawa, Satoru Chatani, Tazuko Morikawa, George Pouliot, Jacinthe Racine, Michael D. Moran, Zbigniew Klimont, Patrick M. Manseau, Rabab Mashayekhi, Barron H. Henderson, Steven J. Smith, Harrison Suchyta, Marilena Muntean, Efisio Solazzo, Manjola Banja, Edwin Schaaf, Federico Pagani, Jung-Hun Woo, Jinseok Kim, Fabio Monforti-Ferrario, Enrico Pisoni, Junhua Zhang, David Niemi, Mourad Sassi, Tabish Ansari, and Kristen Foley
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 2667–2694, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2667-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-2667-2023, 2023
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This study responds to the global and regional atmospheric modelling community's need for a mosaic of air pollutant emissions with global coverage, long time series, spatially distributed data at a high time resolution, and a high sectoral resolution in order to enhance the understanding of transboundary air pollution. The mosaic approach to integrating official regional emission inventories with a global inventory based on a consistent methodology ensures policy-relevant results.
Joanna E. Dyson, Lisa K. Whalley, Eloise J. Slater, Robert Woodward-Massey, Chunxiang Ye, James D. Lee, Freya Squires, James R. Hopkins, Rachel E. Dunmore, Marvin Shaw, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Alastair C. Lewis, Stephen D. Worrall, Asan Bacak, Archit Mehra, Thomas J. Bannan, Hugh Coe, Carl J. Percival, Bin Ouyang, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Roderic L. Jones, Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa J. Kramer, W. Joe F. Acton, William J. Bloss, Supattarachai Saksakulkrai, Jingsha Xu, Zongbo Shi, Roy M. Harrison, Simone Kotthaus, Sue Grimmond, Yele Sun, Weiqi Xu, Siyao Yue, Lianfang Wei, Pingqing Fu, Xinming Wang, Stephen R. Arnold, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5679–5697, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5679-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5679-2023, 2023
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The hydroxyl (OH) and closely coupled hydroperoxyl (HO2) radicals are vital for their role in the removal of atmospheric pollutants. In less polluted regions, atmospheric models over-predict HO2 concentrations. In this modelling study, the impact of heterogeneous uptake of HO2 onto aerosol surfaces on radical concentrations and the ozone production regime in Beijing in the summertime is investigated, and the implications for emissions policies across China are considered.
Qian Shu, Sergey L. Napelenok, William T. Hutzell, Kirk R. Baker, Barron H. Henderson, Benjamin N. Murphy, and Christian Hogrefe
Geosci. Model Dev., 16, 2303–2322, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-2303-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-16-2303-2023, 2023
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Source attribution methods are generally used to determine culpability of precursor emission sources to ambient pollutant concentrations. However, source attribution of secondarily formed pollutants such as ozone and its precursors cannot be explicitly measured, making evaluation of source apportionment methods challenging. In this study, multiple apportionment approach comparisons show common features but still reveal wide variations in predicted sector contribution and species dependency.
Laura Hyesung Yang, Daniel J. Jacob, Nadia K. Colombi, Shixian Zhai, Kelvin H. Bates, Viral Shah, Ellie Beaudry, Robert M. Yantosca, Haipeng Lin, Jared F. Brewer, Heesung Chong, Katherine R. Travis, James H. Crawford, Lok N. Lamsal, Ja-Ho Koo, and Jhoon Kim
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 2465–2481, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2465-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-2465-2023, 2023
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A geostationary satellite can now provide hourly NO2 vertical columns, and obtaining the NO2 vertical columns from space relies on NO2 vertical distribution from the chemical transport model (CTM). In this work, we update the CTM to better represent the chemistry environment so that the CTM can accurately provide NO2 vertical distribution. We also find that the changes in NO2 vertical distribution driven by a change in mixing depth play an important role in the NO2 column's diurnal variation.
Viral Shah, Daniel J. Jacob, Ruijun Dang, Lok N. Lamsal, Sarah A. Strode, Stephen D. Steenrod, K. Folkert Boersma, Sebastian D. Eastham, Thibaud M. Fritz, Chelsea Thompson, Jeff Peischl, Ilann Bourgeois, Ilana B. Pollack, Benjamin A. Nault, Ronald C. Cohen, Pedro Campuzano-Jost, Jose L. Jimenez, Simone T. Andersen, Lucy J. Carpenter, Tomás Sherwen, and Mat J. Evans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 1227–1257, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1227-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-1227-2023, 2023
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NOx in the free troposphere (above 2 km) affects global tropospheric chemistry and the retrieval and interpretation of satellite NO2 measurements. We evaluate free tropospheric NOx in global atmospheric chemistry models and find that recycling NOx from its reservoirs over the oceans is faster than that simulated in the models, resulting in increases in simulated tropospheric ozone and OH. Over the U.S., free tropospheric NO2 contributes the majority of the tropospheric NO2 column in summer.
James D. East, Barron H. Henderson, Sergey L. Napelenok, Shannon N. Koplitz, Golam Sarwar, Robert Gilliam, Allen Lenzen, Daniel Q. Tong, R. Bradley Pierce, and Fernando Garcia-Menendez
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15981–16001, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15981-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15981-2022, 2022
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We present a framework that uses a computer model of air quality, along with air pollution data from satellite instruments, to estimate emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) across the Northern Hemisphere. The framework, which advances current methods to infer emissions from satellite observations, provides observationally constrained NOx estimates, including in regions of the world where emissions are highly uncertain, and can improve simulations of air pollutants relevant for health and policy.
Simone T. Andersen, Beth S. Nelson, Katie A. Read, Shalini Punjabi, Luis Neves, Matthew J. Rowlinson, James Hopkins, Tomás Sherwen, Lisa K. Whalley, James D. Lee, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15747–15765, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15747-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15747-2022, 2022
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The cycling of NO and NO2 is important to understand to be able to predict O3 concentrations in the atmosphere. We have used long-term measurements from the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory together with model outputs to investigate the cycling of nitrogen oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) in very clean marine air. This study shows that we understand the processes occurring in very clean air, but with small amounts of pollution in the air, known chemistry cannot explain what is observed.
Vanessa Selimovic, Damien Ketcherside, Sreelekha Chaliyakunnel, Catherine Wielgasz, Wade Permar, Hélène Angot, Dylan B. Millet, Alan Fried, Detlev Helmig, and Lu Hu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14037–14058, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14037-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14037-2022, 2022
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Arctic warming has led to an increase in plants that emit gases in response to stress, but how these gases affect regional chemistry is largely unknown due to lack of observational data. Here we present the most comprehensive gas-phase measurements for this area to date and compare them to predictions from a global transport model. We report 78 gas-phase species and investigate their importance to atmospheric chemistry in the area, with broader implications for similar plant types.
Detlev Helmig, Alex Guenther, Jacques Hueber, Ryan Daly, Wei Wang, Jeong-Hoo Park, Anssi Liikanen, and Arnaud P. Praplan
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 5439–5454, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5439-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-5439-2022, 2022
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This research demonstrates a new method for determination of the chemical reactivity of volatile organic compounds that are emitted from the leaves and needles of trees. These measurements allow elucidating if and how much of these emissions and their associated reactivity are captured and quantified by currently applicable chemical analysis methods.
Albane Barbero, Roberto Grilli, Markus M. Frey, Camille Blouzon, Detlev Helmig, Nicolas Caillon, and Joël Savarino
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 12025–12054, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12025-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-12025-2022, 2022
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The high reactivity of the summer Antarctic boundary layer results in part from the emissions of nitrogen oxides produced during photo-denitrification of the snowpack, but its underlying mechanisms are not yet fully understood. The results of this study suggest that more NO2 is produced from the snowpack early in the photolytic season, possibly due to stronger UV irradiance caused by a smaller solar zenith angle near the solstice.
Sebastian Diez, Stuart E. Lacy, Thomas J. Bannan, Michael Flynn, Tom Gardiner, David Harrison, Nicholas Marsden, Nicholas A. Martin, Katie Read, and Pete M. Edwards
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4091–4105, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4091-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4091-2022, 2022
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Regardless of the cost of the measuring instrument, there are no perfect measurements. For this reason, we compare the quality of the information provided by cheap devices when they are used to measure air pollutants and we try to emphasise that before judging the potential usefulness of the devices, the user must specify his own needs. Since commonly used performance indices/metrics can be misleading in qualifying this, we propose complementary visual analysis to the more commonly used metrics.
Marios Panagi, Roberto Sommariva, Zoë L. Fleming, Paul S. Monks, Gongda Lu, Eloise A. Marais, James R. Hopkins, Alastair C. Lewis, Qiang Zhang, James D. Lee, Freya A. Squires, Lisa K. Whalley, Eloise J. Slater, Dwayne E. Heard, Robert Woodward-Massey, Chunxiang Ye, and Joshua D. Vande Hey
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-379, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-379, 2022
Revised manuscript not accepted
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A dispersion model and a box model were combined to investigate the evolution of VOCs in Beijing once they are emitted from anthropogenic sources. It was determined that during the winter time the VOC concentrations in Beijing are driven predominantly by sources within Beijing and by a combination of transport and chemistry during the summer. Furthermore, the results in the paper highlight the need for a season specific policy.
Hannah Walker, Daniel Stone, Trevor Ingham, Sina Hackenberg, Danny Cryer, Shalini Punjabi, Katie Read, James Lee, Lisa Whalley, Dominick V. Spracklen, Lucy J. Carpenter, Steve R. Arnold, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 5535–5557, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5535-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-5535-2022, 2022
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Glyoxal is a ubiquitous reactive organic compound in the atmosphere, which may form organic aerosol and impact the atmosphere's oxidising capacity. There are limited measurements of glyoxal's abundance in the remote marine atmosphere. We made new measurements of glyoxal using a highly sensitive technique over two 4-week periods in the tropical Atlantic atmosphere. We show that daytime measurements are mostly consistent with our chemical understanding but a potential missing source at night.
Lu Shen, Daniel J. Jacob, Mauricio Santillana, Kelvin Bates, Jiawei Zhuang, and Wei Chen
Geosci. Model Dev., 15, 1677–1687, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1677-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-15-1677-2022, 2022
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The high computational cost of chemical integration is a long-standing limitation in global atmospheric chemistry models. Here we present an adaptive and efficient algorithm that can reduce the computational time of atmospheric chemistry by 50 % and maintain the error below 2 % for important species, inspired by machine learning clustering techniques and traditional asymptotic analysis ideas.
Kelvin H. Bates, Guy J. P. Burke, James D. Cope, and Tran B. Nguyen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 1467–1482, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1467-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-1467-2022, 2022
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The main nighttime sink of α-pinene, a hydrocarbon abundantly emitted by plants, is reaction with NO3 to form nitrooxy peroxy radicals (nRO2). Using uniquely designed chamber experiments, we show that this reaction is a major source of organic aerosol when nRO2 reacts with other nRO2 and forms a nitrooxy hydroperoxide when nRO2 reacts with HO2. Under ambient conditions these pathways are key loss processes of atmospheric reactive nitrogen in areas with mixed biogenic and anthropogenic influence.
Kelvin H. Bates, Daniel J. Jacob, Ke Li, Peter D. Ivatt, Mat J. Evans, Yingying Yan, and Jintai Lin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18351–18374, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18351-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18351-2021, 2021
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Simple aromatic compounds (benzene, toluene, xylene) have complex gas-phase chemistry that is inconsistently represented in atmospheric models. We compile recent experimental and theoretical insights to develop a new mechanism for gas-phase aromatic oxidation that is sufficiently compact for use in multiscale models. We compare our new mechanism to chamber experiments and other mechanisms, and implement it in a global model to quantify the impacts of aromatic oxidation on tropospheric chemistry.
Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa J. Kramer, Francis D. Pope, Chris Reed, James D. Lee, Lucy J. Carpenter, Lloyd D. J. Hollis, Stephen M. Ball, and William J. Bloss
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18213–18225, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18213-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18213-2021, 2021
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Nitrous acid (HONO) is a key source of atmospheric oxidants. We evaluate if the ocean surface is a source of HONO for the marine boundary layer, using measurements from two contrasting coastal locations. We observed no evidence for a night-time ocean surface source, in contrast to previous work. This points to significant geographical variation in the predominant HONO formation mechanisms in marine environments, reflecting possible variability in the sea-surface microlayer composition.
Adam R. Vaughan, James D. Lee, Stefan Metzger, David Durden, Alastair C. Lewis, Marvin D. Shaw, Will S. Drysdale, Ruth M. Purvis, Brian Davison, and C. Nicholas Hewitt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15283–15298, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15283-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15283-2021, 2021
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Validating emissions estimates of atmospheric pollutants is a vital pathway towards reducing urban concentrations of air pollution and ensuring effective legislative controls are implemented. The work presented here highlights a strategy capable of quantifying and spatially disaggregating NOx emissions over challenging urban terrain. This work shows great scope as a tool for emission inventory validation and independent generation of high-resolution surface emissions on a city-wide scale.
Hélène Angot, Connor Davel, Christine Wiedinmyer, Gabrielle Pétron, Jashan Chopra, Jacques Hueber, Brendan Blanchard, Ilann Bourgeois, Isaac Vimont, Stephen A. Montzka, Ben R. Miller, James W. Elkins, and Detlev Helmig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 15153–15170, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15153-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-15153-2021, 2021
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After a multidecadal global decline in atmospheric abundance of ethane and propane (precursors of tropospheric ozone and aerosols), previous work showed a reversal of this trend in 2009–2015 in the Northern Hemisphere due to the growth in oil and natural gas production in North America. Here we show a temporary pause in the growth of atmospheric ethane and propane in 2015–2018 and highlight the critical need for additional top-down studies to further constrain ethane and propane emissions.
Xuan Wang, Daniel J. Jacob, William Downs, Shuting Zhai, Lei Zhu, Viral Shah, Christopher D. Holmes, Tomás Sherwen, Becky Alexander, Mathew J. Evans, Sebastian D. Eastham, J. Andrew Neuman, Patrick R. Veres, Theodore K. Koenig, Rainer Volkamer, L. Gregory Huey, Thomas J. Bannan, Carl J. Percival, Ben H. Lee, and Joel A. Thornton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13973–13996, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13973-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13973-2021, 2021
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Halogen radicals have a broad range of implications for tropospheric chemistry, air quality, and climate. We present a new mechanistic description and comprehensive simulation of tropospheric halogens in a global 3-D model and compare the model results with surface and aircraft measurements. We find that halogen chemistry decreases the global tropospheric burden of ozone by 11 %, NOx by 6 %, and OH by 4 %.
Rebecca L. Wagner, Naomi J. Farren, Jack Davison, Stuart Young, James R. Hopkins, Alastair C. Lewis, David C. Carslaw, and Marvin D. Shaw
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6083–6100, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6083-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6083-2021, 2021
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We describe the use of a selected-ion flow-tube mass spectrometer (SIFT-MS) in a mobile laboratory to provide on-road, high spatial and temporal measurements of CO2, CH4, multiple volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and other trace gases. Results are presented that highlight the potential of this platform for developing characterisation methods of different emissions sources in complex urban areas.
Beth S. Nelson, Gareth J. Stewart, Will S. Drysdale, Mike J. Newland, Adam R. Vaughan, Rachel E. Dunmore, Pete M. Edwards, Alastair C. Lewis, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, W. Joe Acton, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Leigh R. Crilley, Mohammed S. Alam, Ülkü A. Şahin, David C. S. Beddows, William J. Bloss, Eloise Slater, Lisa K. Whalley, Dwayne E. Heard, James M. Cash, Ben Langford, Eiko Nemitz, Roberto Sommariva, Sam Cox, Shivani, Ranu Gadi, Bhola R. Gurjar, James R. Hopkins, Andrew R. Rickard, and James D. Lee
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 13609–13630, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13609-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-13609-2021, 2021
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Ozone production at an urban site in Delhi is sensitive to volatile organic compound (VOC) concentrations, particularly those of the aromatic, monoterpene, and alkene VOC classes. The change in ozone production by varying atmospheric pollutants according to their sources, as defined in an emissions inventory, is investigated. The study suggests that reducing road transport emissions alone does not reduce reactive VOCs in the atmosphere enough to perturb an increase in ozone production.
Esther Borrás, Luis A. Tortajada-Genaro, Milagro Ródenas, Teresa Vera, Thomas Speak, Paul Seakins, Marvin D. Shaw, Alastair C. Lewis, and Amalia Muñoz
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 4989–4999, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4989-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-4989-2021, 2021
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This work presents promising results in the characterization of specific atmospheric pollutants (oxygenated VOCs) present at very low but highly relevant concentrations.
We carried out this research at EUPHORE facilities within the framework of the EUROCHAMP project. A new analytical method, with high robustness and precision, also clean in the use of solvents, low cost, and easily adaptable for use in mobile laboratories for air quality monitoring, is presented.
Eleni Dovrou, Kelvin H. Bates, Jean C. Rivera-Rios, Joshua L. Cox, Joshua D. Shutter, and Frank N. Keutsch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 8999–9008, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8999-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-8999-2021, 2021
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We examined the mechanism and products of oxidation of dissolved sulfur dioxide with the main isomers of isoprene hydroxyl hydroperoxides, via laboratory and model analysis. Two chemical mechanism pathways are proposed and the results provide an improved understanding of the broader atmospheric chemistry and role of multifunctional organic hydroperoxides, which should be the dominant VOC oxidation products under low-NO conditions, highlighting their significant contribution to sulfate formation.
Qian Shu, Benjamin Murphy, Jonathan E. Pleim, Donna Schwede, Barron H. Henderson, Havala O.T. Pye, Keith Wyat Appel, Tanvir R. Khan, and Judith A. Perlinger
Geosci. Model Dev. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2021-129, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-2021-129, 2021
Preprint withdrawn
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We have bridged the gap between dry deposition measurement and modeling by rigorous use of box and regional transport models and field measurements, but more efforts are needed. This study highlights that deviation among deposition schemes is most pronounced for small and large particles. This study better links model predictions to available real-world observations and incrementally reduces uncertainties in the magnitude of loss processes important for the lifecycle of air pollutants.
Simone T. Andersen, Lucy J. Carpenter, Beth S. Nelson, Luis Neves, Katie A. Read, Chris Reed, Martyn Ward, Matthew J. Rowlinson, and James D. Lee
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 3071–3085, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3071-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-3071-2021, 2021
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NOx has been measured in remote marine air via chemiluminescence detection using two different methods for NO2 to NO photolytic conversion: (a) internal diodes and a reaction chamber made of Teflon-like barium-doped material, which causes a NO2 artefact, and (b) external diodes and a quartz photolysis cell. Once corrections are made for the artefact of (a), the two converters are shown to give comparable NO2 mixing ratios, giving confidence in the quantitative measurement of NOx at low levels.
Steven J. Campbell, Kate Wolfer, Battist Utinger, Joe Westwood, Zhi-Hui Zhang, Nicolas Bukowiecki, Sarah S. Steimer, Tuan V. Vu, Jingsha Xu, Nicholas Straw, Steven Thomson, Atallah Elzein, Yele Sun, Di Liu, Linjie Li, Pingqing Fu, Alastair C. Lewis, Roy M. Harrison, William J. Bloss, Miranda Loh, Mark R. Miller, Zongbo Shi, and Markus Kalberer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 5549–5573, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5549-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-5549-2021, 2021
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In this study, we quantify PM2.5 oxidative potential (OP), a metric widely suggested as a potential measure of particle toxicity, in Beijing in summer and winter using four acellular assays. We correlate PM2.5 OP with a comprehensive range of atmospheric and particle composition measurements, demonstrating inter-assay differences and seasonal variation of PM2.5 OP. Using multivariate statistical analysis, we highlight specific particle chemical components and sources that influence OP.
Stuart K. Grange, James D. Lee, Will S. Drysdale, Alastair C. Lewis, Christoph Hueglin, Lukas Emmenegger, and David C. Carslaw
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 4169–4185, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4169-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-4169-2021, 2021
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The changes in mobility across Europe due to the COVID-19 lockdowns had consequences for air quality. We compare what was experienced to estimates of "what would have been" without the lockdowns. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2), an important vehicle-sourced pollutant, decreased by a third. However, ozone (O3) increased in response to lower NO2. Because NO2 is decreasing over time, increases in O3 can be expected in European urban areas and will require management to avoid future negative outcomes.
Shona E. Wilde, Pamela A. Dominutti, Grant Allen, Stephen J. Andrews, Prudence Bateson, Stephane J.-B. Bauguitte, Ralph R. Burton, Ioana Colfescu, James France, James R. Hopkins, Langwen Huang, Anna E. Jones, Tom Lachlan-Cope, James D. Lee, Alastair C. Lewis, Stephen D. Mobbs, Alexandra Weiss, Stuart Young, and Ruth M. Purvis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3741–3762, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3741-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3741-2021, 2021
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We use airborne measurements to evaluate the speciation of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from offshore oil and gas (O&G) installations in the North Sea. The composition of emissions varied across regions associated with either gas, condensate or oil extraction, demonstrating that VOC emissions are not uniform across the whole O&G sector. We compare our results to VOC source profiles in the UK emissions inventory, showing these emissions are not currently fully characterized.
Christoph A. Keller, Mathew J. Evans, K. Emma Knowland, Christa A. Hasenkopf, Sruti Modekurty, Robert A. Lucchesi, Tomohiro Oda, Bruno B. Franca, Felipe C. Mandarino, M. Valeria Díaz Suárez, Robert G. Ryan, Luke H. Fakes, and Steven Pawson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 3555–3592, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3555-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-3555-2021, 2021
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This study combines surface observations and model simulations to quantify the impact of COVID-19 restrictions on air quality across the world. The presented methodology removes the confounding impacts of meteorology on air pollution. Our results indicate that surface concentrations of nitrogen dioxide, an important air pollutant emitted during the combustion of fossil fuels, declined by up to 60 % following the implementation of COVID-19 containment measures.
Lisa K. Whalley, Eloise J. Slater, Robert Woodward-Massey, Chunxiang Ye, James D. Lee, Freya Squires, James R. Hopkins, Rachel E. Dunmore, Marvin Shaw, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Alastair C. Lewis, Archit Mehra, Stephen D. Worrall, Asan Bacak, Thomas J. Bannan, Hugh Coe, Carl J. Percival, Bin Ouyang, Roderic L. Jones, Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa J. Kramer, William J. Bloss, Tuan Vu, Simone Kotthaus, Sue Grimmond, Yele Sun, Weiqi Xu, Siyao Yue, Lujie Ren, W. Joe F. Acton, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Xinming Wang, Pingqing Fu, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 2125–2147, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2125-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-2125-2021, 2021
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To understand how emission controls will impact ozone, an understanding of the sources and sinks of OH and the chemical cycling between peroxy radicals is needed. This paper presents measurements of OH, HO2 and total RO2 taken in central Beijing. The radical observations are compared to a detailed chemistry model, which shows that under low NO conditions, there is a missing OH source. Under high NOx conditions, the model under-predicts RO2 and impacts our ability to model ozone.
Mike J. Newland, Daniel J. Bryant, Rachel E. Dunmore, Thomas J. Bannan, W. Joe F. Acton, Ben Langford, James R. Hopkins, Freya A. Squires, William Dixon, William S. Drysdale, Peter D. Ivatt, Mathew J. Evans, Peter M. Edwards, Lisa K. Whalley, Dwayne E. Heard, Eloise J. Slater, Robert Woodward-Massey, Chunxiang Ye, Archit Mehra, Stephen D. Worrall, Asan Bacak, Hugh Coe, Carl J. Percival, C. Nicholas Hewitt, James D. Lee, Tianqu Cui, Jason D. Surratt, Xinming Wang, Alastair C. Lewis, Andrew R. Rickard, and Jacqueline F. Hamilton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 1613–1625, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1613-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-1613-2021, 2021
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We report the formation of secondary pollutants in the urban megacity of Beijing that are typically associated with remote regions such as rainforests. This is caused by extremely low levels of nitric oxide (NO), typically expected to be high in urban areas, observed in the afternoon. This work has significant implications for how we understand atmospheric chemistry in the urban environment and thus for how to implement effective policies to improve urban air quality.
David C. Loades, Mingxi Yang, Thomas G. Bell, Adam R. Vaughan, Ryan J. Pound, Stefan Metzger, James D. Lee, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 6915–6931, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6915-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-6915-2020, 2020
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The loss of ozone to the sea surface was measured from the south coast of the UK and was found to be more rapid than previous observations over the open ocean. This is likely a consequence of different chemistry and biology in coastal environments. Strong winds appeared to speed up the loss of ozone. A better understanding of what influences ozone loss over the sea will lead to better model estimates of total ozone in the troposphere.
Hélène Angot, Katelyn McErlean, Lu Hu, Dylan B. Millet, Jacques Hueber, Kaixin Cui, Jacob Moss, Catherine Wielgasz, Tyler Milligan, Damien Ketcherside, M. Syndonia Bret-Harte, and Detlev Helmig
Biogeosciences, 17, 6219–6236, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-6219-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-6219-2020, 2020
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We report biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) ambient levels and emission rates from key vegetation species in the Alaskan arctic tundra, providing a new data set to further constrain isoprene chemistry under low NOx conditions in models. We add to the growing body of evidence that climate-induced changes in the vegetation composition will significantly affect the BVOC emission potential of the tundra, with implications for atmospheric oxidation processes and climate feedbacks.
Eloise J. Slater, Lisa K. Whalley, Robert Woodward-Massey, Chunxiang Ye, James D. Lee, Freya Squires, James R. Hopkins, Rachel E. Dunmore, Marvin Shaw, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Alastair C. Lewis, Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa Kramer, William Bloss, Tuan Vu, Yele Sun, Weiqi Xu, Siyao Yue, Lujie Ren, W. Joe F. Acton, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Xinming Wang, Pingqing Fu, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14847–14871, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14847-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14847-2020, 2020
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The paper details atmospheric chemistry in a megacity (Beijing), focussing on radicals which mediate the formation of secondary pollutants such as ozone and particles. Highly polluted conditions were experienced, including the highest ever levels of nitric oxide (NO), with simultaneous radical measurements. Radical concentrations were large during "haze" events, demonstrating active photochemistry. Modelling showed that our understanding of the chemistry at high NOx levels is incomplete.
Douglas Morrison, Ian Crawford, Nicholas Marsden, Michael Flynn, Katie Read, Luis Neves, Virginia Foot, Paul Kaye, Warren Stanley, Hugh Coe, David Topping, and Martin Gallagher
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14473–14490, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14473-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14473-2020, 2020
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We provide conservative estimates of the concentrations of bacteria within transatlantic dust clouds, originating from the African continent. We observe significant seasonal differences in the overall concentrations of particles but no seasonal variation in the ratio between bacteria and dust. With bacteria contributing to ice formation at warmer temperatures than dust, our observations should improve the accuracy of climate models.
Atallah Elzein, Gareth J. Stewart, Stefan J. Swift, Beth S. Nelson, Leigh R. Crilley, Mohammed S. Alam, Ernesto Reyes-Villegas, Ranu Gadi, Roy M. Harrison, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, and Alastair C. Lewis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 14303–14319, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14303-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-14303-2020, 2020
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We collected high-frequency air particle samples (PM2.5) in Beijing (China) and Delhi (India) and measured the concentration of PAHs in daytime and night-time. PAHs were higher in Delhi than in Beijing, and the five-ring PAHs contribute the most to the total PAH concentration. We compared the emission sources and identified the major sectors that could be subject to mitigation measures. The adverse health effects from inhalation exposure to PAHs in Delhi are 2.2 times higher than in Beijing.
Swaleha Inamdar, Liselotte Tinel, Rosie Chance, Lucy J. Carpenter, Prabhakaran Sabu, Racheal Chacko, Sarat C. Tripathy, Anvita U. Kerkar, Alok K. Sinha, Parli Venkateswaran Bhaskar, Amit Sarkar, Rajdeep Roy, Tomás Sherwen, Carlos Cuevas, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Kirpa Ram, and Anoop S. Mahajan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 12093–12114, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12093-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-12093-2020, 2020
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Iodine chemistry is generating a lot of interest because of its impacts on the oxidising capacity of the marine boundary and depletion of ozone. However, one of the challenges has been predicting the right levels of iodine in the models, which depend on parameterisations for emissions from the sea surface. This paper discusses the different parameterisations available and compares them with observations, showing that our current knowledge is still insufficient, especially on a regional scale.
Amy E. Christiansen, Annmarie G. Carlton, and Barron H. Henderson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11607–11624, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11607-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11607-2020, 2020
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We quantify differences in surface-level fine particle mass (PM2.5) chemical composition in relation to satellite-derived cloud flags and find significant differences between clear-sky and cloud days. The work suggests that future analysis in this area is warranted.
Wei Wang, Laurens Ganzeveld, Samuel Rossabi, Jacques Hueber, and Detlev Helmig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 11287–11304, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11287-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-11287-2020, 2020
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Trees exchange with the atmosphere nitrogen oxides and ozone, affecting the tropospheric composition and consequently air quality and ecosystem health. We examined the leaf-level gas exchanges for four typical tree species (pine, maple, oak, aspen) found in northern Michigan, US. The leaves largely absorb the gases, showing little evidence of emission. We measured the uptake rates that can be used to improve model studies of the source and sink processes controlling these gases in forests.
Matthew J. Rowlinson, Alexandru Rap, Douglas S. Hamilton, Richard J. Pope, Stijn Hantson, Steve R. Arnold, Jed O. Kaplan, Almut Arneth, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Piers M. Forster, and Lars Nieradzik
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 10937–10951, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10937-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-10937-2020, 2020
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Tropospheric ozone is an important greenhouse gas which contributes to anthropogenic climate change; however, the effect of human emissions is uncertain because pre-industrial ozone concentrations are not well understood. We use revised inventories of pre-industrial natural emissions to estimate the human contribution to changes in tropospheric ozone. We find that tropospheric ozone radiative forcing is up to 34 % lower when using improved pre-industrial biomass burning and vegetation emissions.
Dean Howard, Yannick Agnan, Detlev Helmig, Yu Yang, and Daniel Obrist
Biogeosciences, 17, 4025–4042, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4025-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-17-4025-2020, 2020
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The Arctic tundra represents a vast store of carbon that may be broken down by microbial activity into greenhouse gases such as CO2 and CH4. Though microbes are less active in winter, the long duration of the cold season makes this period very important for carbon cycling. We show that, under conditions of warmer winter air temperatures and greater snowfall, deeper soils can remain warm enough to sustain significantly enhanced CH4 emission. This could have large implications for future climates.
Peter D. Ivatt and Mathew J. Evans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 8063–8082, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8063-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-8063-2020, 2020
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We investigate the potential of using a decision tree algorithm to identify and correct the tropospheric ozone bias in a chemical transport model. We train the algorithm on 2010–2015 ground and column observation data and test the algorithm on the 2016–2017 data using the ground data as well as independent flight data. We find the algorithm is successfully able to identify and correct the bias, improving the model performance.
Katherine R. Travis, Colette L. Heald, Hannah M. Allen, Eric C. Apel, Stephen R. Arnold, Donald R. Blake, William H. Brune, Xin Chen, Róisín Commane, John D. Crounse, Bruce C. Daube, Glenn S. Diskin, James W. Elkins, Mathew J. Evans, Samuel R. Hall, Eric J. Hintsa, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Prasad S. Kasibhatla, Michelle J. Kim, Gan Luo, Kathryn McKain, Dylan B. Millet, Fred L. Moore, Jeffrey Peischl, Thomas B. Ryerson, Tomás Sherwen, Alexander B. Thames, Kirk Ullmann, Xuan Wang, Paul O. Wennberg, Glenn M. Wolfe, and Fangqun Yu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 7753–7781, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7753-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7753-2020, 2020
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Atmospheric models overestimate the rate of removal of trace gases by the hydroxyl radical (OH). This is a concern for studies of the climate and air quality impacts of human activities. Here, we evaluate the performance of a commonly used model of atmospheric chemistry against data from the NASA Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom) over the remote oceans where models have received little validation. The model is generally successful, suggesting that biases in OH may be a concern over land.
Daniel J. Bryant, William J. Dixon, James R. Hopkins, Rachel E. Dunmore, Kelly L. Pereira, Marvin Shaw, Freya A. Squires, Thomas J. Bannan, Archit Mehra, Stephen D. Worrall, Asan Bacak, Hugh Coe, Carl J. Percival, Lisa K. Whalley, Dwayne E. Heard, Eloise J. Slater, Bin Ouyang, Tianqu Cui, Jason D. Surratt, Di Liu, Zongbo Shi, Roy Harrison, Yele Sun, Weiqi Xu, Alastair C. Lewis, James D. Lee, Andrew R. Rickard, and Jacqueline F. Hamilton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 7531–7552, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7531-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7531-2020, 2020
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Using the chemical composition of offline filter samples, we report that a large share of oxidized organic aerosol in Beijing during summer is due to isoprene secondary organic aerosol (iSOA). iSOA organosulfates showed a strong correlation with the product of ozone and particulate sulfate. This highlights the role of both photochemistry and the availability of particulate sulfate in heterogeneous reactions and further demonstrates that iSOA formation is controlled by anthropogenic emissions.
Jiayue Huang, Lyatt Jaeglé, Qianjie Chen, Becky Alexander, Tomás Sherwen, Mat J. Evans, Nicolas Theys, and Sungyeon Choi
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 7335–7358, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7335-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-7335-2020, 2020
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Large-scale enhancements of tropospheric BrO and the depletion of surface ozone are often observed in the springtime Arctic. Here, we use a chemical transport model to examine the role of sea salt aerosol from blowing snow in explaining these phenomena. We find that our simulation can account for the spatiotemporal variability of satellite observations of BrO. However, the model has difficulty in producing the magnitude of observed ozone depletion events.
Manuela van Pinxteren, Khanneh Wadinga Fomba, Nadja Triesch, Christian Stolle, Oliver Wurl, Enno Bahlmann, Xianda Gong, Jens Voigtländer, Heike Wex, Tiera-Brandy Robinson, Stefan Barthel, Sebastian Zeppenfeld, Erik Hans Hoffmann, Marie Roveretto, Chunlin Li, Benoit Grosselin, Veronique Daële, Fabian Senf, Dominik van Pinxteren, Malena Manzi, Nicolás Zabalegui, Sanja Frka, Blaženka Gašparović, Ryan Pereira, Tao Li, Liang Wen, Jiarong Li, Chao Zhu, Hui Chen, Jianmin Chen, Björn Fiedler, Wolf von Tümpling, Katie Alana Read, Shalini Punjabi, Alastair Charles Lewis, James Roland Hopkins, Lucy Jane Carpenter, Ilka Peeken, Tim Rixen, Detlef Schulz-Bull, María Eugenia Monge, Abdelwahid Mellouki, Christian George, Frank Stratmann, and Hartmut Herrmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 6921–6951, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-6921-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-6921-2020, 2020
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An introduction to a comprehensive field campaign performed at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory regarding ocean–atmosphere interactions is given. Chemical, physical, biological and meteorological techniques were applied, and measurements of bulk water, the sea surface microlayer, cloud water and ambient aerosol particles took place. Oceanic compounds were found to be transferred to atmospheric aerosol and to the cloud level; however, sea spray contributions to CCN and INPs were limited.
Ryan J. Pound, Tomás Sherwen, Detlev Helmig, Lucy J. Carpenter, and Mat J. Evans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 4227–4239, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4227-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-4227-2020, 2020
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Ozone is an important pollutant with impacts on health and the environment. Ozone is lost to plants, land and the oceans. Loss to the ocean is slow compared to all other types of land cover and has not received as much attention. We build on previous work to more accurately model ozone loss to the ocean. We find changes in the concentration of ozone over the oceans, notably the Southern Ocean, which improves model performance.
Becky Alexander, Tomás Sherwen, Christopher D. Holmes, Jenny A. Fisher, Qianjie Chen, Mat J. Evans, and Prasad Kasibhatla
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 3859–3877, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3859-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-3859-2020, 2020
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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.
Leigh R. Crilley, Ajit Singh, Louisa J. Kramer, Marvin D. Shaw, Mohammed S. Alam, Joshua S. Apte, William J. Bloss, Lea Hildebrandt Ruiz, Pingqing Fu, Weiqi Fu, Shahzad Gani, Michael Gatari, Evgenia Ilyinskaya, Alastair C. Lewis, David Ng'ang'a, Yele Sun, Rachel C. W. Whitty, Siyao Yue, Stuart Young, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 13, 1181–1193, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1181-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-13-1181-2020, 2020
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There is considerable interest in using low-cost optical particle counters (OPCs) for particle mass measurements; however, there is no agreed upon method with respect to calibration. Here we exploit a number of datasets globally to demonstrate that particle composition and relative humidity are the key factors affecting measured concentrations from a low-cost OPC, and we present a simple correction methodology that corrects for this influence.
Michal T. Filus, Elliot L. Atlas, Maria A. Navarro, Elena Meneguz, David Thomson, Matthew J. Ashfold, Lucy J. Carpenter, Stephen J. Andrews, and Neil R. P. Harris
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 20, 1163–1181, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1163-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-20-1163-2020, 2020
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The effectiveness of transport of short-lived halocarbons to the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere remains an important unknown in quantifying the supply of ozone-depleting substances to the stratosphere. In early 2014, a major field campaign in Guam in the western Pacific, involving UK and US research aircraft, sampled the tropical troposphere and lower stratosphere. The resulting measurements of CH3I, CHBr3 and CH2Br2 are compared here with calculations from a Lagrangian model.
Detlev Helmig, Daniel Liptzin, Jacques Hueber, and Joel Savarino
The Cryosphere, 14, 199–209, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-199-2020, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-14-199-2020, 2020
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We present 15 months of trace gas observations from air withdrawn within the snowpack and from above the snow at Concordia Station in Antarctica. The data show occasional positive spikes, indicative of pollution from the station generator. The pollution signal can be seen in snowpack air shortly after it is observed above the snow surface, and lasting for up to several days, much longer than above the surface.
Sophie L. Haslett, Jonathan W. Taylor, Mathew Evans, Eleanor Morris, Bernhard Vogel, Alima Dajuma, Joel Brito, Anneke M. Batenburg, Stephan Borrmann, Johannes Schneider, Christiane Schulz, Cyrielle Denjean, Thierry Bourrianne, Peter Knippertz, Régis Dupuy, Alfons Schwarzenböck, Daniel Sauer, Cyrille Flamant, James Dorsey, Ian Crawford, and Hugh Coe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 15217–15234, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15217-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-15217-2019, 2019
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Three aircraft datasets from the DACCIWA campaign in summer 2016 are used here to show there is a background mass of pollution present in the lower atmosphere in southern West Africa. We suggest that this likely comes from biomass burning in central and southern Africa, which has been carried into the region over the Atlantic Ocean. This would have a negative health impact on populations living near the coast and may alter the impact of growing city emissions on cloud formation and the monsoon.
Leigh R. Crilley, Louisa J. Kramer, Bin Ouyang, Jun Duan, Wenqian Zhang, Shengrui Tong, Maofa Ge, Ke Tang, Min Qin, Pinhua Xie, Marvin D. Shaw, Alastair C. Lewis, Archit Mehra, Thomas J. Bannan, Stephen D. Worrall, Michael Priestley, Asan Bacak, Hugh Coe, James Allan, Carl J. Percival, Olalekan A. M. Popoola, Roderic L. Jones, and William J. Bloss
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 6449–6463, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6449-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-6449-2019, 2019
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Nitrous acid (HONO) is key species for understanding tropospheric chemistry, yet accurate and precise measurements are challenging. Here we report an inter–comparison exercise of a number of instruments that measured HONO in a highly polluted location (Beijing). All instruments agreed on the temporal trends yet displayed divergence in absolute concentrations. The cause of this divergence was unclear, but it may in part be due to spatial variability in instrument location.
Martin Jiskra, Jeroen E. Sonke, Yannick Agnan, Detlev Helmig, and Daniel Obrist
Biogeosciences, 16, 4051–4064, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4051-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-16-4051-2019, 2019
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The tundra plays a pivotal role in Arctic mercury cycling by storing atmospheric mercury deposition and shuttling it to the Arctic Ocean. We used the isotopic fingerprint of mercury to investigate the processes controlling atmospheric mercury deposition. We found that the uptake of atmospheric mercury by vegetation was the major deposition source. Direct deposition to snow or soils only played a minor role. These results improve our understanding of Arctic mercury cycling.
Tomás Sherwen, Rosie J. Chance, Liselotte Tinel, Daniel Ellis, Mat J. Evans, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 11, 1239–1262, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-1239-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-11-1239-2019, 2019
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Iodine plays an important role in the Earth system, as a nutrient to the biosphere and by changing the concentrations of climate and air-quality species. However, there are uncertainties on the magnitude of iodine’s role, and a key uncertainty is our understanding of iodide in the global sea-surface. Here we take a data-driven approach using a machine learning algorithm to convert a sparse set of sea-surface iodide observations into a spatially and temporally resolved dataset for use in models.
Suvarna Fadnavis, Rolf Müller, Gayatry Kalita, Matthew Rowlinson, Alexandru Rap, Jui-Lin Frank Li, Blaž Gasparini, and Anton Laakso
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 9989–10008, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9989-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-9989-2019, 2019
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This paper highlights the impact of Asian anthropogenic emission changes in SO2 on sulfate loading in the Asian upper troposphere–lower stratosphere from a global chemistry–climate model and satellite remote sensing. Estimated seasonal mean direct radiative forcing at the top of the atmosphere induced by the increase in Indian SO2 is −0.2–−1.5 W m2 over India. Chinese SO2 emission reduction leads to a positive radiative forcing of ~0.6–6 W m2 over China. It will likely decrease Indian rainfall.
Leon King, Ieuan J. Roberts, Liselotte Tinel, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Ocean Sci. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/os-2019-87, https://doi.org/10.5194/os-2019-87, 2019
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Recent studies suggest that the sea surface microlayer is ubiquitously enriched in surfactants, even at high wind speeds, which exert a control on air-sea gas exchange. These conclusions are partly based on voltammetry measurements of
surfactant activity(SA). Here, we show that the response of SA-voltammetry varies widely for different surfactants, becomes saturated above total surfactant concentrations of 1–2 mg L-1, and shows a poor correlation in natural waters with surface film pressure.
Atallah Elzein, Rachel E. Dunmore, Martyn W. Ward, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, and Alastair C. Lewis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8741–8758, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8741-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8741-2019, 2019
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This article investigates the chemical composition of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in Beijing, China, in winter 2016. It includes the identification and quantification of 35 polycyclic aromatic compounds. The results include their distribution between daytime and night-time. They were correlated with the gas-phase concentrations of atmospheric oxidants. Major emission sources were identified, and the cancer risk associated with particle inhalation in Beijing was estimated.
Matthew J. Rowlinson, Alexandru Rap, Stephen R. Arnold, Richard J. Pope, Martyn P. Chipperfield, Joe McNorton, Piers Forster, Hamish Gordon, Kirsty J. Pringle, Wuhu Feng, Brian J. Kerridge, Barry L. Latter, and Richard Siddans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 8669–8686, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8669-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-8669-2019, 2019
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Wildfires and meteorology have a substantial effect on atmospheric concentrations of greenhouse gases such as methane and ozone. During the 1997 El Niño event, unusually large fire emissions indirectly increased global methane through carbon monoxide emission, which decreased the oxidation capacity of the atmosphere. There were also large regional changes to tropospheric ozone concentrations, but contrasting effects of fire and meteorology resulted in a small change to global radiative forcing.
Zongbo Shi, Tuan Vu, Simone Kotthaus, Roy M. Harrison, Sue Grimmond, Siyao Yue, Tong Zhu, James Lee, Yiqun Han, Matthias Demuzere, Rachel E. Dunmore, Lujie Ren, Di Liu, Yuanlin Wang, Oliver Wild, James Allan, W. Joe Acton, Janet Barlow, Benjamin Barratt, David Beddows, William J. Bloss, Giulia Calzolai, David Carruthers, David C. Carslaw, Queenie Chan, Lia Chatzidiakou, Yang Chen, Leigh Crilley, Hugh Coe, Tie Dai, Ruth Doherty, Fengkui Duan, Pingqing Fu, Baozhu Ge, Maofa Ge, Daobo Guan, Jacqueline F. Hamilton, Kebin He, Mathew Heal, Dwayne Heard, C. Nicholas Hewitt, Michael Hollaway, Min Hu, Dongsheng Ji, Xujiang Jiang, Rod Jones, Markus Kalberer, Frank J. Kelly, Louisa Kramer, Ben Langford, Chun Lin, Alastair C. Lewis, Jie Li, Weijun Li, Huan Liu, Junfeng Liu, Miranda Loh, Keding Lu, Franco Lucarelli, Graham Mann, Gordon McFiggans, Mark R. Miller, Graham Mills, Paul Monk, Eiko Nemitz, Fionna O'Connor, Bin Ouyang, Paul I. Palmer, Carl Percival, Olalekan Popoola, Claire Reeves, Andrew R. Rickard, Longyi Shao, Guangyu Shi, Dominick Spracklen, David Stevenson, Yele Sun, Zhiwei Sun, Shu Tao, Shengrui Tong, Qingqing Wang, Wenhua Wang, Xinming Wang, Xuejun Wang, Zifang Wang, Lianfang Wei, Lisa Whalley, Xuefang Wu, Zhijun Wu, Pinhua Xie, Fumo Yang, Qiang Zhang, Yanli Zhang, Yuanhang Zhang, and Mei Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 7519–7546, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7519-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-7519-2019, 2019
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APHH-Beijing is a collaborative international research programme to study the sources, processes and health effects of air pollution in Beijing. This introduction to the special issue provides an overview of (i) the APHH-Beijing programme, (ii) the measurement and modelling activities performed as part of it and (iii) the air quality and meteorological conditions during joint intensive field campaigns as a core activity within APHH-Beijing.
Lei Zhu, Daniel J. Jacob, Sebastian D. Eastham, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Xuan Wang, Tomás Sherwen, Mat J. Evans, Qianjie Chen, Becky Alexander, Theodore K. Koenig, Rainer Volkamer, L. Gregory Huey, Michael Le Breton, Thomas J. Bannan, and Carl J. Percival
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 6497–6507, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6497-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-6497-2019, 2019
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We quantify the effect of sea salt aerosol on tropospheric bromine chemistry with a new mechanistic description of the halogen chemistry in a global atmospheric chemistry model. For the first time, we are able to reproduce the observed levels of bromide activation from the sea salt aerosol in a manner consistent with bromine oxide radical measured from various platforms. Sea salt aerosol plays a far more complex role in global tropospheric chemistry than previously recognized.
Christoph A. Keller and Mat J. Evans
Geosci. Model Dev., 12, 1209–1225, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1209-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-12-1209-2019, 2019
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Computer simulations of atmospheric chemistry are a central tool to study the impact of air pollutants on the environment. These models are highly complex and require a lot of computing resources. In this study we show that machine learning can be used to predict air pollution with an accuracy that is comparable to the traditional, computationally expensive method. Such a machine-learning-based model has the potential to be orders of magnitude faster.
Xuan Wang, Daniel J. Jacob, Sebastian D. Eastham, Melissa P. Sulprizio, Lei Zhu, Qianjie Chen, Becky Alexander, Tomás Sherwen, Mathew J. Evans, Ben H. Lee, Jessica D. Haskins, Felipe D. Lopez-Hilfiker, Joel A. Thornton, Gregory L. Huey, and Hong Liao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 3981–4003, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3981-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3981-2019, 2019
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Chlorine radicals have a broad range of implications for tropospheric chemistry, air quality, and climate. We present a comprehensive simulation of tropospheric chlorine in a global 3-D model, which includes explicit accounting of chloride mobilization from sea salt aerosol. We find the chlorine chemistry contributes 1.0 % of the global oxidation of methane and decreases global burdens of tropospheric ozone by 7 % and OH by 3 % through the associated bromine radical chemistry.
Alba Badia, Claire E. Reeves, Alex R. Baker, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Rainer Volkamer, Theodore K. Koenig, Eric C. Apel, Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Lucy J. Carpenter, Stephen J. Andrews, Tomás Sherwen, and Roland von Glasow
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 3161–3189, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3161-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-3161-2019, 2019
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The oceans have an impact on the composition and reactivity of the troposphere through the emission of gases and particles. Thus, a quantitative understanding of the marine atmosphere is crucial to examine the oxidative capacity and climate forcing. This study investigates the impact of halogens in the tropical troposphere and explores the sensitivity of this to uncertainties in the fluxes and their chemical processing. Our modelled tropospheric Ox loss due to halogens ranges from 20 % to 60 %.
Kate R. Smith, Peter M. Edwards, Peter D. Ivatt, James D. Lee, Freya Squires, Chengliang Dai, Richard E. Peltier, Mat J. Evans, Yele Sun, and Alastair C. Lewis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 1325–1336, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1325-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-1325-2019, 2019
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Clusters of low-cost, low-power atmospheric gas sensors were built into a sensor instrument to monitor NO2 and O3 in Beijing, alongside reference instruments, aiming to improve the reliability of sensor measurements. Clustering identical sensors and using the median sensor signal was used to minimize drift over short and medium timescales. Three different machine learning techniques were used for all the sensor data in an attempt to correct for cross-interferences, which worked to some degree.
Federica Pacifico, Claire Delon, Corinne Jambert, Pierre Durand, Eleanor Morris, Mat J. Evans, Fabienne Lohou, Solène Derrien, Venance H. E. Donnou, Arnaud V. Houeto, Irene Reinares Martínez, and Pierre-Etienne Brilouet
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 19, 2299–2325, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2299-2019, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-2299-2019, 2019
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Biogenic fluxes from soil at a local and regional scale are crucial to study air pollution and climate. Here we present field measurements of soil fluxes of nitric oxide (NO) and ammonia (NH3) observed over four different land cover types, i.e. bare soil, grassland, maize field, and forest, at an inland rural site in Benin, West Africa, during the DACCIWA field campaign in
June and July 2016.
Lu Hu, Christoph A. Keller, Michael S. Long, Tomás Sherwen, Benjamin Auer, Arlindo Da Silva, Jon E. Nielsen, Steven Pawson, Matthew A. Thompson, Atanas L. Trayanov, Katherine R. Travis, Stuart K. Grange, Mat J. Evans, and Daniel J. Jacob
Geosci. Model Dev., 11, 4603–4620, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4603-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-11-4603-2018, 2018
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We present a full-year online global simulation of tropospheric chemistry at 12.5 km resolution. To the best of our knowledge, such a resolution in a state-of-the-science global simulation of tropospheric chemistry is unprecedented. This simulation will serve as the Nature Run for observing system simulation experiments to support the future geostationary satellite constellation for tropospheric chemistry, and can also be used for various air quality applications.
Shaojie Song, Hélène Angot, Noelle E. Selin, Hubert Gallée, Francesca Sprovieri, Nicola Pirrone, Detlev Helmig, Joël Savarino, Olivier Magand, and Aurélien Dommergue
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 15825–15840, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15825-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-15825-2018, 2018
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Mercury is a trace metal with adverse health effects on human and wildlife. Its unique property makes it undergo long-range transport, and even remote Antarctica receives significant inputs. This paper presents the first model that aims to understand mercury behavior over the Antarctic Plateau. We find that mercury is quickly cycled between snow and air in the sunlit period, likely driven by bromine chemistry, and that several uncertain processes contribute to its behavior in the dark period.
Liang Feng, Paul I. Palmer, Robyn Butler, Stephen J. Andrews, Elliot L. Atlas, Lucy J. Carpenter, Valeria Donets, Neil R. P. Harris, Ross J. Salawitch, Laura L. Pan, and Sue M. Schauffler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 14787–14798, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14787-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-14787-2018, 2018
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We infer surface fluxes of bromoform (CHBr3) and dibromoform (CH2Br2) from CAST and CONTRAST aircraft observations over the western Pacific, using a tagged version of the GEOS-Chem global 3-D atmospheric chemistry model and a Maximum A Posteriori inverse model. Using the aircraft data, we estimate the regional fluxes about 20–40 % smaller than the prior inventories by Ordóñez et al. (2012). We find no evidence to support a robust linear relationship between CHBr3 and CH2Br2 oceanic emissions.
Qianjie Chen, Tomás Sherwen, Mathew Evans, and Becky Alexander
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 13617–13637, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13617-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13617-2018, 2018
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Uncertainty in the natural tropospheric sulfur cycle represents the largest source of uncertainty in radiative forcing estimates of sulfate aerosol. This study investigates the natural sulfur cycle in the marine troposphere using the GEOS-Chem model. We found that BrO is important for DMS oxidation and multiphase chemistry is important for MSA production and loss, which have implications for the yield of SO2 and MSA from DMS oxidation and the radiative effect of DMS-derived sulfate aerosol.
Robyn Butler, Paul I. Palmer, Liang Feng, Stephen J. Andrews, Elliot L. Atlas, Lucy J. Carpenter, Valeria Donets, Neil R. P. Harris, Stephen A. Montzka, Laura L. Pan, Ross J. Salawitch, and Sue M. Schauffler
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 13135–13153, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13135-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-13135-2018, 2018
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Natural sources of short-lived bromoform and dibromomethane are important for determining the inorganic bromine budget in the stratosphere that drives ozone loss. Two new modelling techniques describe how different geographical source regions influence their atmospheric variability over the western Pacific. We find that it is driven primarily by open ocean sources, and we use atmospheric observations to help estimate their contributions to the upper tropospheric inorganic bromine budget.
Prasad Kasibhatla, Tomás Sherwen, Mathew J. Evans, Lucy J. Carpenter, Chris Reed, Becky Alexander, Qianjie Chen, Melissa P. Sulprizio, James D. Lee, Katie A. Read, William Bloss, Leigh R. Crilley, William C. Keene, Alexander A. P. Pszenny, and Alma Hodzic
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 11185–11203, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11185-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-11185-2018, 2018
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Recent measurements of NOx and HONO suggest that photolysis of particulate nitrate in sea-salt aerosols is important in terms of marine boundary layer oxidant chemistry. We present the first global-scale assessment of the significance of this new chemical pathway for NOx, O3, and OH in the marine boundary layer. We also present a preliminary assessment of the potential impact of photolysis of particulate nitrate associated with other aerosol types on continental boundary layer chemistry.
Yannick Agnan, Thomas A. Douglas, Detlev Helmig, Jacques Hueber, and Daniel Obrist
The Cryosphere, 12, 1939–1956, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1939-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/tc-12-1939-2018, 2018
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In this study, we investigated mercury dynamics in an interior arctic tundra at Toolik Field Station (200 km from the Arctic Ocean) during two full snow seasons. We continuously measured atmospheric, snow gas phase, and soil pores mercury concentrations. We observed consistent concentration declines from the atmosphere to snowpack to soils, indicating that soils are continuous sinks of mercury. We suggest that interior arctic snowpacks may be negligible sources of mercury.
Stuart K. Grange, David C. Carslaw, Alastair C. Lewis, Eirini Boleti, and Christoph Hueglin
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 6223–6239, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6223-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6223-2018, 2018
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Weather (meteorology) has a strong effect on air quality; if not accounted for, there is uncertainty surrounding what drives features in air quality time series. We present a machine learning approach to account for meteorology using PM10 data in Switzerland. With the exception of one site, all Swiss normalised PM10 trends were found to significantly decrease, which validates air quality management efforts. The machine learning models were interpreted to investigate interesting processes.
Mike J. Newland, Andrew R. Rickard, Tomás Sherwen, Mathew J. Evans, Luc Vereecken, Amalia Muñoz, Milagros Ródenas, and William J. Bloss
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 6095–6120, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6095-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-6095-2018, 2018
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Stabilised Criegee intermediates (SCIs) are formed in the reaction of alkenes with ozone, both of which are ubiquitous throughout the troposphere. We determine the fate and global distribution of SCI from monoterpene ozonolysis. One major fate of SCI is reaction with H2O, but for a fraction of SCIs, unimolecular reactions dominate. Concentrations of SCIs are high enough regionally to play a key role in the conversion of sulfur dioxide to aerosol, affecting air quality and climate.
Richard Newton, Geraint Vaughan, Eric Hintsa, Michal T. Filus, Laura L. Pan, Shawn Honomichl, Elliot Atlas, Stephen J. Andrews, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 5157–5171, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5157-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-5157-2018, 2018
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We consider the ozone measurements from aircraft during the CAST/CONTRAST/ATTREX campaigns of 2014. Low concentrations of ozone were found in the layer of 10–15 km altitude, which is indicative of uplift of ozone-poor air from near the sea surface to 10–15 km altitude. Chemicals that have origins in the sea were found in greater abundance when ozone concentrations were low compared to when ozone concentrations were high. The lowest ozone concentrations were found in the Southern Hemisphere.
James D. Lee, Stephen D. Mobbs, Axel Wellpott, Grant Allen, Stephane J.-B. Bauguitte, Ralph R. Burton, Richard Camilli, Hugh Coe, Rebecca E. Fisher, James L. France, Martin Gallagher, James R. Hopkins, Mathias Lanoiselle, Alastair C. Lewis, David Lowry, Euan G. Nisbet, Ruth M. Purvis, Sebastian O'Shea, John A. Pyle, and Thomas B. Ryerson
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 1725–1739, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1725-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-1725-2018, 2018
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This work describes measurements, made from an aircraft platform, of the emission of methane and other organic gases from an uncontrolled leak from an oil platform in the North Sea (Total Elgin). The measurements made helped the platform operators to devise a strategy for repairing the leak and serve as a methodology for assessing future similar incidents.
Jacob T. Shaw, Richard T. Lidster, Danny R. Cryer, Noelia Ramirez, Fiona C. Whiting, Graham A. Boustead, Lisa K. Whalley, Trevor Ingham, Andrew R. Rickard, Rachel E. Dunmore, Dwayne E. Heard, Ally C. Lewis, Lucy J. Carpenter, Jacqui F. Hamilton, and Terry J. Dillon
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 4039–4054, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4039-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-4039-2018, 2018
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The lifetime of a chemical in the atmosphere is largely governed by the rate of its reaction with the hydroxyl radical (OH). Measurements of rates for many of the thousands of identified volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have yet to be determined experimentally. We have developed a new technique for the rapid determination of gas-phase rate coefficients for the simultaneous reactions between multiple VOCs and OH. The method is tasted across a range of scenarios and is used to derive new values.
Daniel Stone, Tomás Sherwen, Mathew J. Evans, Stewart Vaughan, Trevor Ingham, Lisa K. Whalley, Peter M. Edwards, Katie A. Read, James D. Lee, Sarah J. Moller, Lucy J. Carpenter, Alastair C. Lewis, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 3541–3561, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-3541-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-3541-2018, 2018
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Halogen chemistry in the troposphere impacts oxidising capacity, but model studies assessing the nature of these impacts can vary according to the model framework used. In this work we present simulations of OH and HO2 radicals using both box and global model frameworks, and compare to observations made at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory. We highlight, and rationalise, differences between the model frameworks.
Lisa K. Whalley, Daniel Stone, Rachel Dunmore, Jacqueline Hamilton, James R. Hopkins, James D. Lee, Alastair C. Lewis, Paul Williams, Jörg Kleffmann, Sebastian Laufs, Robert Woodward-Massey, and Dwayne E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 18, 2547–2571, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2547-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-18-2547-2018, 2018
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This paper presents the first radical observations made in London and subsequent model comparisons. This work highlights that there are uncertainties in the degradation mechanism of complex biogenic and diesel-related VOC species under low-NOx conditions and under high-NOx conditions there is a missing source of RO2 radicals. The impact of these model uncertainties on in situ ozone production as a function of NOx is discussed.
Leigh R. Crilley, Marvin Shaw, Ryan Pound, Louisa J. Kramer, Robin Price, Stuart Young, Alastair C. Lewis, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 11, 709–720, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-709-2018, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-11-709-2018, 2018
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The affordability and small size of low-cost particle sensors make them attractive for air pollution experiments that require multiple instruments, or take place in hard-to-access locations or low-income countries. For any sensor to be useful, its accuracy and precision need to be known. We evaluate the Alphasense OPC-N2 for monitoring airborne particles at typical UK urban background sites. The devices were found to be accurate provided they are correctly calibrated.
Theodore K. Koenig, Rainer Volkamer, Sunil Baidar, Barbara Dix, Siyuan Wang, Daniel C. Anderson, Ross J. Salawitch, Pamela A. Wales, Carlos A. Cuevas, Rafael P. Fernandez, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Mathew J. Evans, Tomás Sherwen, Daniel J. Jacob, Johan Schmidt, Douglas Kinnison, Jean-François Lamarque, Eric C. Apel, James C. Bresch, Teresa Campos, Frank M. Flocke, Samuel R. Hall, Shawn B. Honomichl, Rebecca Hornbrook, Jørgen B. Jensen, Richard Lueb, Denise D. Montzka, Laura L. Pan, J. Michael Reeves, Sue M. Schauffler, Kirk Ullmann, Andrew J. Weinheimer, Elliot L. Atlas, Valeria Donets, Maria A. Navarro, Daniel Riemer, Nicola J. Blake, Dexian Chen, L. Gregory Huey, David J. Tanner, Thomas F. Hanisco, and Glenn M. Wolfe
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 15245–15270, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-15245-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-15245-2017, 2017
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Tropospheric inorganic bromine (BrO and Bry) shows a C-shaped profile over the tropical western Pacific Ocean, and supports previous speculation that marine convection is a source for inorganic bromine from sea salt to the upper troposphere. The Bry profile in the tropical tropopause layer (TTL) is complex, suggesting that the total Bry budget in the TTL is not closed without considering aerosol bromide. The implications for atmospheric composition and bromine sources are discussed.
Yaoxian Huang, Shiliang Wu, Louisa J. Kramer, Detlev Helmig, and Richard E. Honrath
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14661–14674, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14661-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14661-2017, 2017
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A global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) was employed to simulate surface ozone and its precursors at Summit, Greenland in the Arctic and compare them with 2-year in situ surface observations. The model performed well in simulating certain species (such as carbon monoxide and propane), but some significant discrepancies were identified for other species (e.g., nitrogen oxides, ethane, PAN, and ozone). We further investigated the exact causes for model–data biases.
Ben Newsome and Mat Evans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 14333–14352, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14333-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-14333-2017, 2017
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We explore the uncertainty in the predictions of a chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) from uncertainty in 60 inorganic rate constants and photolysis rates. We find uncertainty in the global mean ozone burden of 10 %, in global mean OH of 16 %, methane lifetimes of 16 %, and tropospheric ozone radiative forcings of 13 %. Reductions in the uncertainty of rate constants of these simple reactions would reduce uncertainty in our understanding of atmospheric composition.
Peter M. Edwards and Mathew J. Evans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 13669–13680, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-13669-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-13669-2017, 2017
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Understanding tropospheric ozone chemistry has been at the centre of the field of atmospheric chemistry for the last 30 years. However, our conceptual approach to diagnosing ozone production in global models has not advanced in this time. Our work presents a new and powerful approach for diagnosing tropospheric ozone production, providing a significant enhancement in our ability to understand the processes controlling ozone and how we can validate our assessment of these processes.
Peter Knippertz, Andreas H. Fink, Adrien Deroubaix, Eleanor Morris, Flore Tocquer, Mat J. Evans, Cyrille Flamant, Marco Gaetani, Christophe Lavaysse, Celine Mari, John H. Marsham, Rémi Meynadier, Abalo Affo-Dogo, Titike Bahaga, Fabien Brosse, Konrad Deetz, Ridha Guebsi, Issaou Latifou, Marlon Maranan, Philip D. Rosenberg, and Andreas Schlueter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 10893–10918, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10893-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-10893-2017, 2017
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In June–July 2016 DACCIWA (Dynamics–Aerosol–Chemistry–Cloud Interactions in West Africa), a large, EU-funded European–African project, organised an international field campaign in densely populated southern West Africa, including measurements from ground sites, research aircraft, weather balloons and urban sites. This paper gives an overview of the atmospheric evolution during this period focusing on meteorological (precipitation, cloudiness, winds) and composition (gases, particles) aspects.
Mike J. Newland, Patricia Martinerie, Emmanuel Witrant, Detlev Helmig, David R. Worton, Chris Hogan, William T. Sturges, and Claire E. Reeves
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 8269–8283, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8269-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-8269-2017, 2017
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We report increasing levels of alkyl nitrates in the Northern Hemisphere atmosphere between 1960 and the mid-1990s. These increases are symptomatic of large-scale changes to the chemical composition of the atmosphere, particularly with regards to the amounts of short-lived, reactive species. The observed increases are likely driven by increasing levels of nitrogen oxides. These changes have direct implications for the lifetimes of climate-relevant species in the atmosphere, such as methane.
Katie A. Read, Luis M. Neves, Lucy J. Carpenter, Alastair C. Lewis, Zoe L. Fleming, and John Kentisbeer
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5393–5406, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5393-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5393-2017, 2017
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This paper presents 4 years of total gaseous mercury data obtained from measurements made at the Cape Verde Atmospheric Observatory, a subtropical site in the Atlantic Ocean. The data show a clear decreasing trend in the overall concentrations but in air from sub-Saharan Africa the trend is less significant and the data more variable. We attribute this result to an influence from artisanal small-scale gold mining in this region, a source for which there is uncertain information.
Oleg Travnikov, Hélène Angot, Paulo Artaxo, Mariantonia Bencardino, Johannes Bieser, Francesco D'Amore, Ashu Dastoor, Francesco De Simone, María del Carmen Diéguez, Aurélien Dommergue, Ralf Ebinghaus, Xin Bin Feng, Christian N. Gencarelli, Ian M. Hedgecock, Olivier Magand, Lynwill Martin, Volker Matthias, Nikolay Mashyanov, Nicola Pirrone, Ramesh Ramachandran, Katie Alana Read, Andrei Ryjkov, Noelle E. Selin, Fabrizio Sena, Shaojie Song, Francesca Sprovieri, Dennis Wip, Ingvar Wängberg, and Xin Yang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 5271–5295, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5271-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-5271-2017, 2017
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The study provides a complex analysis of processes governing Hg fate in the atmosphere involving both measurement data and simulation results of chemical transport models. Evaluation of the model simulations and numerical experiments against observations allows explaining spatial and temporal variations of Hg concentration in the near-surface atmospheric layer and shows possibility of multiple pathways of Hg oxidation occurring concurrently in various parts of the atmosphere.
Chris Reed, Mathew J. Evans, Leigh R. Crilley, William J. Bloss, Tomás Sherwen, Katie A. Read, James D. Lee, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 4081–4092, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4081-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-4081-2017, 2017
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The source of ozone-depleting compounds in the remote troposphere has been thought to be long-range transport of secondary pollutants such as organic nitrates. Processing of organic nitrates to nitric acid and subsequent deposition on surfaces in the atmosphere was thought to remove these nitrates from the ozone–NOx–HOx cycle. We found through observation of NOx in the remote tropical troposphere at the Cape Verde Observatory that surface nitrates can be released back into the atmosphere.
Tomás Sherwen, Mat J. Evans, Lucy J. Carpenter, Johan A. Schmidt, and Loretta J. Mickley
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 17, 1557–1569, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-1557-2017, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-17-1557-2017, 2017
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We model pre-industrial to present day changes using the GEOS-Chem global chemical transport model with halogens (Cl, Br, I). The model better captures pre-industrial O3 observations with halogens included. Halogens buffer the tropospheric forcing of O3 (RFTO3) from pre-industrial to present day, reducing RFTO3 by 0.087 Wm−2. This reduction is greater than that from halogens on stratospheric O3 (−0.05 Wm−2). This suggests that models that do not include halogens will overestimate RFTO3by ~ 25%.
Tomás Sherwen, Johan A. Schmidt, Mat J. Evans, Lucy J. Carpenter, Katja Großmann, Sebastian D. Eastham, Daniel J. Jacob, Barbara Dix, Theodore K. Koenig, Roman Sinreich, Ivan Ortega, Rainer Volkamer, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Cristina Prados-Roman, Anoop S. Mahajan, and Carlos Ordóñez
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 12239–12271, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12239-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-12239-2016, 2016
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We present a simulation of tropospheric Cl, Br, I chemistry within the GEOS-Chem CTM. We find a decrease in tropospheric ozone burden of 18.6 % and a 8.2 % decrease in global mean OH concentrations. Cl oxidation of some VOCs range from 15 to 27 % of the total loss. Bromine plays a small role in oxidising oVOCs. Surface ozone, ozone sondes, and methane lifetime are in general improved by the inclusion of halogens. We argue that simulated bromine and chlorine represent a lower limit.
Giulia Ruggeri, Fabian A. Bernhard, Barron H. Henderson, and Satoshi Takahama
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 8729–8747, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8729-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8729-2016, 2016
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Functional groups provide an intermediate level of chemical resolution between full molecular speciation and elemental composition for describing complex mixtures and can be a useful metric in model–measurement comparison of reaction kinetics and secondary organic aerosol formation. We introduce tools to facilitate such comparisons and demonstrate its application in study of the photooxidation of two precursor volatile organic compounds and the gas–particle partitioning of their products.
Dene R. Bowdalo, Mathew J. Evans, and Eric D. Sofen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 8295–8308, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8295-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8295-2016, 2016
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We introduce a new methodology for the assessment of atmospheric models with observations. We apply a spectral analysis methodology to hourly ozone observations and the equivalent model output. The spectrally transformed observational data show significant peaks on daily and annual timescales. Comparison between the amplitude and phase of these peaks introduces a new comparison methodology between model and measurements. We find the model shows significant biases on an annual timescale.
Hélène Angot, Olivier Magand, Detlev Helmig, Philippe Ricaud, Boris Quennehen, Hubert Gallée, Massimo Del Guasta, Francesca Sprovieri, Nicola Pirrone, Joël Savarino, and Aurélien Dommergue
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 8249–8264, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8249-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8249-2016, 2016
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While the Arctic has been extensively monitored, there is still much to be learned from the Antarctic continent regarding the processes that govern the budget of atmospheric mercury species. We report here the first year-round measurements of gaseous elemental mercury (Hg(0)) in the atmosphere and in snowpack interstitial air on the East Antarctic ice sheet. The striking reactivity observed on the Antarctic plateau most likely influences the cycle of atmospheric mercury on a continental scale.
Michel Legrand, Susanne Preunkert, Joël Savarino, Markus M. Frey, Alexandre Kukui, Detlev Helmig, Bruno Jourdain, Anna E. Jones, Rolf Weller, Neil Brough, and Hubert Gallée
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 8053–8069, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8053-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-8053-2016, 2016
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Surface ozone, the most abundant atmospheric oxidant, has been measured since 2004 at the coastal East Antarctic site of Dumont d’Urville, and since 2007 at the Concordia station located on the high East Antarctic plateau. Long-term changes, seasonal and diurnal cycles, as well as inter-annual summer variability observed at these two East Antarctic sites are discussed. Influences like sea ice extent and outflow from inland Antarctica are discussed.
Alicia Gressent, Bastien Sauvage, Daniel Cariolle, Mathew Evans, Maud Leriche, Céline Mari, and Valérie Thouret
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5867–5889, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5867-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-5867-2016, 2016
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In chemical transport models, NOx emitted by lightning (LNOx) is instantaneously diluted into the grid. A plume-in-grid parameterization to account for the sub-grid chemistry of LNOx is presented. This approach was implemented into the GEOS-Chem model and leads to a relative increase of NOx and O3 (18 % and 2 %, respectively, in July) on a large scale downwind of lightning emissions and a relative decrease (25 % and 8 %, respectively, over central Africa in July) over the regions of emissions.
Chris Reed, Mathew J. Evans, Piero Di Carlo, James D. Lee, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4707–4724, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4707-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4707-2016, 2016
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The self-cleaning capacity of the atmosphere in places like Antarctica can be measured by quantifying very low amounts of combustion products that exist in a well-known ratio. When this ratio deviates from 1 it points to the existence of unknown compounds. Several unknown compounds have been theorized to exist but never measured. We have found the method for measuring the ratio of combustion products suffers a bias in remote places, which when taken into account disproves any unknown compounds.
Frank A. F. Winiberg, Terry J. Dillon, Stephanie C. Orr, Christoph B. M Groß, Iustinian Bejan, Charlotte A. Brumby, Matthew J. Evans, Shona C. Smith, Dwayne E. Heard, and Paul W. Seakins
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 4023–4042, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4023-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-4023-2016, 2016
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OH radicals are important intermediates in the atmosphere, and the high concentrations observed in tropical regions are yet to be fully explained. Radical-radical reactions such as the title reaction can contribute to OH formation. This is the most fully comprehensive study of the CH3C(O)O2 + HO2 reaction with direct observation of products in all reaction channels. The implications of the new measurements on OH, PAN and NOx concentrations are considered via global models.
E. D. Sofen, D. Bowdalo, M. J. Evans, F. Apadula, P. Bonasoni, M. Cupeiro, R. Ellul, I. E. Galbally, R. Girgzdiene, S. Luppo, M. Mimouni, A. C. Nahas, M. Saliba, and K. Tørseth
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 8, 41–59, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-41-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-8-41-2016, 2016
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We have brought together all publicly available surface ozone observations from online databases from 1971–2015, with 2200 sites representing regional background conditions appropriate for the evaluation of chemical transport and chemistry-climate models for projects such as the Chemistry-Climate Model Initiative. Gridded data sets of ozone metrics (mean, percentiles, MDA8, SOMO35, etc.) are available from the British Atmospheric Data Centre.
E. D. Sofen, D. Bowdalo, and M. J. Evans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 1445–1457, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1445-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1445-2016, 2016
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We explore the global representativeness of a global surface ozone data set from a range of perspectives (area, biomes, chemical regimes, model uncertainty, model trends). We conclude that the current network fails to provide sufficient constraints for important regions/regimes, leading to uncertainty for a range of atmospheric composition challenges. We suggest 20 new locations for making surface ozone observations, which would significantly enhance our observational capability.
T. Sherwen, M. J. Evans, L. J. Carpenter, S. J. Andrews, R. T. Lidster, B. Dix, T. K. Koenig, R. Sinreich, I. Ortega, R. Volkamer, A. Saiz-Lopez, C. Prados-Roman, A. S. Mahajan, and C. Ordóñez
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 1161–1186, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1161-2016, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-16-1161-2016, 2016
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Using a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) with additional iodine emissions, chemistry, and deposition we show that iodine is responsible for ~ 9 % of global ozone loss but has negligible impacts on global OH. Uncertainties are large in the chemistry and emissions and future research is needed in both. Measurements of iodine species (especially HOI) would be useful. We believe iodine chemistry should be considered in future chemistry-climate and in air quality modelling.
E. D. Sofen, M. J. Evans, and A. C. Lewis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 13627–13632, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-13627-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-13627-2015, 2015
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As an air pollutant, O3 is monitored photometrically to assess compliance with air quality legislation. A recent study found a 1.8% reduction in its absorption cross section, which would lead to an equivalent increase in observed O3 concentrations. We estimate this would increase the number of sites out of compliance with air quality regulations in the EU and US by 20%. We draw attention to how small changes in gas metrology impacts attainment and compliance with legal air quality standards.
R. E. Dunmore, J. R. Hopkins, R. T. Lidster, J. D. Lee, M. J. Evans, A. R. Rickard, A. C. Lewis, and J. F. Hamilton
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 9983–9996, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9983-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-9983-2015, 2015
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Technological shifts between fuel sources have had unexpected impacts on atmospheric composition and these significant changes can go undetected if source-specific monitoring infrastructure is not in place. We present chemically comprehensive, continuous measurements of organic compounds in a developed megacity (London), that show diesel-related hydrocarbons can dominate reactive carbon and ozone formation potential, highlighting a serious underestimation of this source in emission inventories.
H. M. Walker, D. Stone, T. Ingham, S. Vaughan, M. Cain, R. L. Jones, O. J. Kennedy, M. McLeod, B. Ouyang, J. Pyle, S. Bauguitte, B. Bandy, G. Forster, M. J. Evans, J. F. Hamilton, J. R. Hopkins, J. D. Lee, A. C. Lewis, R. T. Lidster, S. Punjabi, W. T. Morgan, and D. E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 8179–8200, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-8179-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-8179-2015, 2015
L. J. Kramer, D. Helmig, J. F. Burkhart, A. Stohl, S. Oltmans, and R. E. Honrath
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 6827–6849, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6827-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6827-2015, 2015
L. K. Emmons, S. R. Arnold, S. A. Monks, V. Huijnen, S. Tilmes, K. S. Law, J. L. Thomas, J.-C. Raut, I. Bouarar, S. Turquety, Y. Long, B. Duncan, S. Steenrod, S. Strode, J. Flemming, J. Mao, J. Langner, A. M. Thompson, D. Tarasick, E. C. Apel, D. R. Blake, R. C. Cohen, J. Dibb, G. S. Diskin, A. Fried, S. R. Hall, L. G. Huey, A. J. Weinheimer, A. Wisthaler, T. Mikoviny, J. Nowak, J. Peischl, J. M. Roberts, T. Ryerson, C. Warneke, and D. Helmig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 6721–6744, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6721-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6721-2015, 2015
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Eleven 3-D tropospheric chemistry models have been compared and evaluated with observations in the Arctic during the International Polar Year (IPY 2008). Large differences are seen among the models, particularly related to the model chemistry of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and reactive nitrogen (NOx, PAN, HNO3) partitioning. Consistency among the models in the underestimation of CO, ethane and propane indicates the emission inventory is too low for these compounds.
S. Preunkert, M. Legrand, M. M. Frey, A. Kukui, J. Savarino, H. Gallée, M. King, B. Jourdain, W. Vicars, and D. Helmig
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 6689–6705, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6689-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-6689-2015, 2015
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During two austral summers HCHO was investigated in air, snow, and interstitial air at the Concordia site located on the East Antarctic Plateau. Snow emission fluxes were estimated to be around 1 to 2 and 3 to 5 x 10^12 molecules m-2 s-1 at night and at noon, respectively. Shading experiments suggest that the photochemical HCHO production in the snowpack at Concordia remains negligible. The mean HCHO level of 130pptv observed at 1m above the surface is quite well reproduced by 1-D simulations.
K. M. Seltzer, W. Vizuete, and B. H. Henderson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 5973–5986, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5973-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5973-2015, 2015
K. Dzepina, C. Mazzoleni, P. Fialho, S. China, B. Zhang, R. C. Owen, D. Helmig, J. Hueber, S. Kumar, J. A. Perlinger, L. J. Kramer, M. P. Dziobak, M. T. Ampadu, S. Olsen, D. J. Wuebbles, and L. R. Mazzoleni
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 5047–5068, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5047-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-5047-2015, 2015
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Aerosol was sampled at the Pico Mountain Observatory located at 2.2km amsl on Pico Island of the North Atlantic Azores archipelago. Two aerosol samples characterized by ultrahigh resolution mass spectrometry had biomass burning and marine emissions origins, as corroborated by collocated gas- and particle-phase measurements, air masses analyses and satellites. The paper presents the first molecular characterization of aged and processed aerosol intercepted at a remote lower free troposphere
L. K. Whalley, D. Stone, I. J. George, S. Mertes, D. van Pinxteren, A. Tilgner, H. Herrmann, M. J. Evans, and D. E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 3289–3301, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-3289-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-3289-2015, 2015
W. Tang, D. S. Cohan, A. Pour-Biazar, L. N. Lamsal, A. T. White, X. Xiao, W. Zhou, B. H. Henderson, and B. F. Lash
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 1601–1619, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1601-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-1601-2015, 2015
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A joint application of multiple satellite-derived model inputs to improve Texas O3 SIP modeling is demonstrated in this study. The GOES-retrieved clouds are applied to correct the modeled photolysis rates, and the DKF inversion approach is incorporated into the CAMx-DDM model to adjust NOx emissions using OMI NO2. Using both GOES-derived photolysis rates and OMI-constrained NOx emissions together improves O3 simulations and makes O3 more sensitive to NOx emissions in the O3 non-attainment areas.
R. Ahmadov, S. McKeen, M. Trainer, R. Banta, A. Brewer, S. Brown, P. M. Edwards, J. A. de Gouw, G. J. Frost, J. Gilman, D. Helmig, B. Johnson, A. Karion, A. Koss, A. Langford, B. Lerner, J. Olson, S. Oltmans, J. Peischl, G. Pétron, Y. Pichugina, J. M. Roberts, T. Ryerson, R. Schnell, C. Senff, C. Sweeney, C. Thompson, P. R. Veres, C. Warneke, R. Wild, E. J. Williams, B. Yuan, and R. Zamora
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 411–429, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-411-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-411-2015, 2015
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High 2013 wintertime O3 pollution events associated with oil/gas production within the Uinta Basin are studied using a 3D model. It's able quantitatively to reproduce these events using emission estimates of O3 precursors based on ambient measurements (top-down approach), but unable to reproduce them using a recent bottom-up emission inventory for the oil/gas industry. The role of various physical and meteorological processes, chemical species and pathways contributing to high O3 are quantified.
S. J. Lawson, P. W. Selleck, I. E. Galbally, M. D. Keywood, M. J. Harvey, C. Lerot, D. Helmig, and Z. Ristovski
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 15, 223–240, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-223-2015, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-15-223-2015, 2015
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Glyoxal and methylglyoxal are short-lived organic trace gases and important precursors of secondary organic aerosol. Measurements over oceans are sparse. We present the first in situ glyoxal and methylglyoxal observations over remote temperate oceans, alongside observations of precursor gases. Precursor gases cannot explain observed mixing ratios, highlighting an unknown source. We show a large discrepancy between calculated vertical column densities of glyoxal and those retrieved by satellite.
T. B. Nguyen, J. D. Crounse, R. H. Schwantes, A. P. Teng, K. H. Bates, X. Zhang, J. M. St. Clair, W. H. Brune, G. S. Tyndall, F. N. Keutsch, J. H. Seinfeld, and P. O. Wennberg
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 13531–13549, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-13531-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-13531-2014, 2014
S. J. Oltmans, A. Karion, R. C. Schnell, G. Pétron, C. Sweeney, S. Wolter, D. Neff, S. A. Montzka, B. R. Miller, D. Helmig, B. J. Johnson, and J. Hueber
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-14-20117-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acpd-14-20117-2014, 2014
Revised manuscript not accepted
P. Boylan, D. Helmig, and J.-H. Park
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 7, 1231–1244, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1231-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-7-1231-2014, 2014
T. B. Nguyen, M. M. Coggon, K. H. Bates, X. Zhang, R. H. Schwantes, K. A. Schilling, C. L. Loza, R. C. Flagan, P. O. Wennberg, and J. H. Seinfeld
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 3497–3510, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3497-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-3497-2014, 2014
B. Zhang, R. C. Owen, J. A. Perlinger, A. Kumar, S. Wu, M. Val Martin, L. Kramer, D. Helmig, and R. E. Honrath
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 2267–2287, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2267-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-2267-2014, 2014
D. Helmig, V. Petrenko, P. Martinerie, E. Witrant, T. Röckmann, A. Zuiderweg, R. Holzinger, J. Hueber, C. Thompson, J. W. C. White, W. Sturges, A. Baker, T. Blunier, D. Etheridge, M. Rubino, and P. Tans
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1463–1483, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1463-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1463-2014, 2014
D. Stone, M. J. Evans, H. Walker, T. Ingham, S. Vaughan, B. Ouyang, O. J. Kennedy, M. W. McLeod, R. L. Jones, J. Hopkins, S. Punjabi, R. Lidster, J. F. Hamilton, J. D. Lee, A. C. Lewis, L. J. Carpenter, G. Forster, D. E. Oram, C. E. Reeves, S. Bauguitte, W. Morgan, H. Coe, E. Aruffo, C. Dari-Salisburgo, F. Giammaria, P. Di Carlo, and D. E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 14, 1299–1321, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1299-2014, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-14-1299-2014, 2014
A. Kumar, S. Wu, M. F. Weise, R. Honrath, R. C. Owen, D. Helmig, L. Kramer, M. Val Martin, and Q. Li
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 12537–12547, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12537-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-12537-2013, 2013
P. M. Edwards, M. J. Evans, K. L. Furneaux, J. Hopkins, T. Ingham, C. Jones, J. D. Lee, A. C. Lewis, S. J. Moller, D. Stone, L. K. Whalley, and D. E. Heard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 9497–9514, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9497-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-9497-2013, 2013
P. M. Edwards, C. J. Young, K. Aikin, J. deGouw, W. P. Dubé, F. Geiger, J. Gilman, D. Helmig, J. S. Holloway, J. Kercher, B. Lerner, R. Martin, R. McLaren, D. D. Parrish, J. Peischl, J. M. Roberts, T. B. Ryerson, J. Thornton, C. Warneke, E. J. Williams, and S. S. Brown
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 8955–8971, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8955-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-8955-2013, 2013
P. I. Palmer, M. Parrington, J. D. Lee, A. C. Lewis, A. R. Rickard, P. F. Bernath, T. J. Duck, D. L. Waugh, D. W. Tarasick, S. Andrews, E. Aruffo, L. J. Bailey, E. Barrett, S. J.-B. Bauguitte, K. R. Curry, P. Di Carlo, L. Chisholm, L. Dan, G. Forster, J. E. Franklin, M. D. Gibson, D. Griffin, D. Helmig, J. R. Hopkins, J. T. Hopper, M. E. Jenkin, D. Kindred, J. Kliever, M. Le Breton, S. Matthiesen, M. Maurice, S. Moller, D. P. Moore, D. E. Oram, S. J. O'Shea, R. C. Owen, C. M. L. S. Pagniello, S. Pawson, C. J. Percival, J. R. Pierce, S. Punjabi, R. M. Purvis, J. J. Remedios, K. M. Rotermund, K. M. Sakamoto, A. M. da Silva, K. B. Strawbridge, K. Strong, J. Taylor, R. Trigwell, K. A. Tereszchuk, K. A. Walker, D. Weaver, C. Whaley, and J. C. Young
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 6239–6261, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-6239-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-6239-2013, 2013
L. Hu, D. B. Millet, S. Y. Kim, K. C. Wells, T. J. Griffis, E. V. Fischer, D. Helmig, J. Hueber, and A. J. Curtis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 3379–3392, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3379-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3379-2013, 2013
J. R. Pierce, M. J. Evans, C. E. Scott, S. D. D'Andrea, D. K. Farmer, E. Swietlicki, and D. V. Spracklen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 3163–3176, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3163-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-3163-2013, 2013
A. C. Lewis, M. J. Evans, J. R. Hopkins, S. Punjabi, K. A. Read, R. M. Purvis, S. J. Andrews, S. J. Moller, L. J. Carpenter, J. D. Lee, A. R. Rickard, P. I. Palmer, and M. Parrington
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 851–867, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-851-2013, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-851-2013, 2013
Related subject area
Subject: Gases | Research Activity: Atmospheric Modelling and Data Analysis | Altitude Range: Troposphere | Science Focus: Chemistry (chemical composition and reactions)
Estimating the variability in NOx emissions from Wuhan with TROPOMI NO2 data during 2018 to 2023
Enhanced understanding of atmospheric blocking modulation on ozone dynamics within a high-resolution Earth system model
Natural emissions of VOC and NOx over Africa constrained by TROPOMI HCHO and NO2 data using the MAGRITTEv1.1 model
Anthropogenic emission controls reduce summertime ozone–temperature sensitivity in the United States
Investigating the response of China's surface ozone concentration to the future changes of multiple factors
Assessing the relative impacts of satellite ozone and its precursor observations to improve global tropospheric ozone analysis using multiple chemical reanalysis systems
Evaluating present-day and future impacts of agricultural ammonia emissions on atmospheric chemistry and climate
Air-pollution-satellite-based CO2 emission inversion: system evaluation, sensitivity analysis, and future research direction
Insights into ozone pollution control in urban areas by decoupling meteorological factors based on machine learning
Quantification of regional net CO2 flux errors in the Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) v10 model intercomparison project (MIP) ensemble using airborne measurements
Reactive nitrogen in and around the northeastern and mid-Atlantic US: sources, sinks, and connections with ozone
Preindustrial-to-present-day changes in atmospheric carbon monoxide: agreement and gaps between ice archives and global model reconstructions
Investigating processes influencing simulation of local Arctic wintertime anthropogenic pollution in Fairbanks, Alaska, during ALPACA-2022
Urban ozone formation and sensitivities to volatile chemical products, cooking emissions, and NOx upwind of and within two Los Angeles Basin cities
Causes of growing middle-to-upper tropospheric ozone over the northwest Pacific region
Impact of introducing electric vehicles on ground-level O3 and PM2.5 in the Greater Tokyo Area: yearly trends and the importance of changes in the urban heat island effect
A CO2–Δ14CO2 inversion setup for estimating European fossil CO2 emissions
Maximum ozone concentrations in the southwestern US and Texas: implications of the growing predominance of the background contribution
Derivation of atmospheric reaction mechanisms for volatile organic compounds by the SAPRC mechanism generation system (MechGen)
Seasonal, regional, and vertical characteristics of high-carbon-monoxide plumes along with their associated ozone anomalies, as seen by IAGOS between 2002 and 2019
The potential of drone observations to improve air quality predictions by 4D-Var
Process analysis of elevated concentrations of organic acids at Whiteface Mountain, New York
Sensitivity of climate-chemistry model simulated atmospheric composition to lightning-produced NOx parameterizations based on lightning frequency
Ozone source attribution in polluted European areas during summer 2017 as simulated with MECO(n)
Surface ozone trend variability across the United States and the impact of heatwaves (1990–2023)
Opinion: Challenges and needs of tropospheric chemical mechanism development
Decrease of the European NOx anthropogenic emissions between 2005 and 2019 as seen from the OMI and TROPOMI NO2 satellite observations
Tracking daily NOx emissions from an urban agglomeration based on TROPOMI NO2 and a local ensemble transform Kalman filter
The atmospheric oxidizing capacity in China – Part 2: Sensitivity to emissions of primary pollutants
Role of chemical production and depositional losses on formaldehyde in the Community Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Multiphase Mechanism (CRACMM)
Review of source analyses of ambient volatile organic compounds considering reactive losses: methods of reducing loss effects, impacts of losses, and sources
Interpreting summertime hourly variation of NO2 columns with implications for geostationary satellite applications
An investigation into atmospheric nitrous acid (HONO) processes in South Korea
Performance evaluation of UKESM1 for surface ozone across the pan-tropics
Constraining light dependency in modeled emissions through comparison to observed biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) concentrations in a southeastern US forest
A global re-analysis of regionally resolved emissions and atmospheric mole fractions of SF6 for the period 2005–2021
Monoterpene oxidation pathways initiated by acyl peroxy radical addition
Tropospheric ozone precursors: global and regional distributions, trends, and variability
Sensitivity of climate effects of hydrogen to leakage size, location, and chemical background
The contribution of transport emissions to ozone mixing ratios and methane lifetime in 2015 and 2050 in the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs)
Local and transboundary contributions to nitrogen loadings across East Asia using CMAQ-ISAM and GEMS-informed emissions inventory during the winter-spring transition
Ether and ester formation from peroxy radical recombination: a qualitative reaction channel analysis
ACEIC: a comprehensive anthropogenic chlorine emission inventory for China
Impact of methane and other precursor emission reductions on surface ozone in Europe: scenario analysis using the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP) Meteorological Synthesizing Centre – West (MSC-W) model
High-resolution mapping of on-road vehicle emissions with real-time traffic datasets based on big data
Chemistry-climate feedback of atmospheric methane in a methane emission flux driven chemistry-climate model
Verifying national inventory-based combustion emissions of CO2 across the UK and mainland Europe using satellite observations of atmospheric CO and CO2
Revisiting the high tropospheric ozone over Southern Africa: overestimated biomass burning and underestimated anthropogenic emissions
Source contribution to ozone pollution during June 2021 in Arizona: Insights from WRF-Chem tagged O3 and CO
An improved estimate of inorganic iodine emissions from the ocean using a coupled surface microlayer box model
Qianqian Zhang, K. Folkert Boersma, Chiel van der Laan, Alba Mols, Bin Zhao, Shengyue Li, and Yuepeng Pan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3313–3326, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3313-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3313-2025, 2025
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Accurate NOx emission estimates are required to better understand air pollution. This study investigates and demonstrates the ability of the superposition column model in combination with TROPOMI tropospheric NO2 column data to estimate city-scale NOx emissions and lifetimes and their variabilities. The results of this work nevertheless confirm the strength of the superposition column model in estimating urban NOx emissions with reasonable accuracy.
Wenbin Kou, Yang Gao, Dan Tong, Xiaojie Guo, Xiadong An, Wenyu Liu, Mengshi Cui, Xiuwen Guo, Shaoqing Zhang, Huiwang Gao, and Lixin Wu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3029–3048, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3029-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3029-2025, 2025
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Unlike traditional numerical studies, we apply a high-resolution Earth system model, improving simulations of surface ozone and large-scale circulations such as atmospheric blocking. Besides local heat waves, we quantify the impact of atmospheric blocking on downstream ozone concentrations, which is closely associated with the blocking position. We identify three major pathways of Rossby wave propagation, stressing the critical role of large-scale circulation in regional air quality.
Beata Opacka, Trissevgeni Stavrakou, Jean-François Müller, Isabelle De Smedt, Jos van Geffen, Eloise A. Marais, Rebekah P. Horner, Dylan B. Millet, Kelly C. Wells, and Alex B. Guenther
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2863–2894, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2863-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2863-2025, 2025
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Vegetation releases biogenic volatile organic compounds, while soils and lightning contribute to the natural emissions of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. These gases interact in complex ways. Using satellite data and models, we developed a new method to simultaneously optimize these natural emissions over Africa in 2019. Our approach resulted in an increase in natural emissions, supported by independent data indicating that current estimates are underestimated.
Shuai Li, Haolin Wang, and Xiao Lu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2725–2743, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2725-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2725-2025, 2025
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Summertime ozone–temperature sensitivity has decreased by 50 % from 3.0 ppbv per K in 1990 to 1.5 ppb per K in 2021 in the US. GEOS-Chem simulations show that anthropogenic nitrogen oxide emission reduction is the dominant driver of ozone–temperature sensitivity decline by influencing both temperature direct and temperature indirect processes. Reduced ozone–temperature sensitivity has decreased ozone enhancement from low to high temperatures by an average of 6.8 ppbv across the US.
Jinya Yang, Yutong Wang, Lei Zhang, and Yu Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2649–2666, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2649-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2649-2025, 2025
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We develop a modeling framework to predict future ozone concentrations (till the 2060s) in China following an IPCC scenario. We evaluate the contributions of climatic, anthropogenic, and biogenic factors by season and region. We find persistent emission controls will alter the nonlinear response of ozone to its precursors and dominate the declining ozone level. The outcomes highlight the importance of human actions, even with a climate penalty on air quality.
Takashi Sekiya, Emanuele Emili, Kazuyuki Miyazaki, Antje Inness, Zhen Qu, R. Bradley Pierce, Dylan Jones, Helen Worden, William Y. Y. Cheng, Vincent Huijnen, and Gerbrand Koren
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2243–2268, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2243-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2243-2025, 2025
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Five global chemical reanalysis datasets were used to assess the relative impacts of assimilating satellite ozone and its precursor measurements on tropospheric ozone analyses for 2010. The multiple reanalysis system comparison allows an evaluation of the dependency of the impacts on different reanalysis systems. The results suggested the importance of satellite ozone and its precursor measurements for improving ozone analysis in the whole troposphere, with varying magnitudes among the systems.
Maureen Beaudor, Didier Hauglustaine, Juliette Lathière, Martin Van Damme, Lieven Clarisse, and Nicolas Vuichard
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 2017–2046, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2017-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-2017-2025, 2025
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Agriculture is the biggest ammonia (NH3) source, impacting air quality, climate, and ecosystems. Because of food demand, NH3 emissions are projected to rise by 2100. Using a global model, we analyzed the impact of present and future NH3 emissions generated from a land model. Our results show improved ammonia patterns compared to a reference inventory. Future scenarios predict up to 70 % increase in global NH3 burden, with significant changes in radiative forcing that can greatly elevate N2O.
Hui Li, Jiaxin Qiu, and Bo Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1949–1963, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1949-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1949-2025, 2025
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We conduct a sensitivity analysis with 31 tests on various factors including prior emissions, model resolution, satellite constraint, and other system configurations to assess the vulnerability of emission estimates across temporal, sectoral, and regional dimensions. This reveals the robustness of emissions estimated by this air-pollution-satellite-based CO2 emission inversion system, with relative change between tests and base inversion below 4.0 % for national annual NOx and CO2 emissions.
Yuqing Qiu, Xin Li, Wenxuan Chai, Yi Liu, Mengdi Song, Xudong Tian, Qiaoli Zou, Wenjun Lou, Wangyao Zhang, Juan Li, and Yuanhang Zhang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1749–1763, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1749-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1749-2025, 2025
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The chemical reactions of ozone (O3) formation are related to meteorology and local emissions. Here, a random forest approach was used to eliminate the effects of meteorological factors (dispersion or transport) on O3 and its precursors. Variations in the sensitivity of O3 formation and the apportionment of emission sources were revealed after meteorological normalization. Our results suggest that meteorological variations should be considered when diagnosing O3 formation.
Jeongmin Yun, Junjie Liu, Brendan Byrne, Brad Weir, Lesley E. Ott, Kathryn McKain, Bianca C. Baier, Luciana V. Gatti, and Sebastien C. Biraud
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1725–1748, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1725-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1725-2025, 2025
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This study quantifies errors in regional net surface–atmosphere CO2 flux estimates from an inverse model ensemble using airborne CO2 measurements. Our results show that flux error estimates based on observations significantly exceed those computed from the ensemble spread of flux estimates in regions with high fossil fuel emissions. This finding suggests the presence of systematic biases in the inversion estimates, associated with errors in the fossil fuel emissions common to all models.
Min Huang, Gregory R. Carmichael, Kevin W. Bowman, Isabelle De Smedt, Andreas Colliander, Michael H. Cosh, Sujay V. Kumar, Alex B. Guenther, Scott J. Janz, Ryan M. Stauffer, Anne M. Thompson, Niko M. Fedkin, Robert J. Swap, John D. Bolten, and Alicia T. Joseph
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1449–1476, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1449-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1449-2025, 2025
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We use model simulations along with multiplatform, multidisciplinary observations and a range of analysis methods to estimate and understand the distributions, temporal changes, and impacts of reactive nitrogen and ozone over the most populous US region that has undergone significant environmental changes. Deposition, biogenic emissions, and extra-regional sources have been playing increasingly important roles in controlling pollutant budgets in this area as local anthropogenic emissions drop.
Xavier Faïn, Sophie Szopa, Vaishali Naïk, Patricia Martinerie, David M. Etheridge, Rachael H. Rhodes, Cathy M. Trudinger, Vasilii V. Petrenko, Kévin Fourteau, and Philip Place
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1105–1119, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1105-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1105-2025, 2025
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Carbon monoxide (CO) plays a crucial role in the atmosphere's oxidizing capacity. In this study, we analyse how historical (1850–2014) [CO] outputs from state-of-the-art global chemistry–climate models over Greenland and Antarctica are able to capture both absolute values and trends recorded in multi-site ice archives. A disparity in [CO] growth rates emerges in the Northern Hemisphere between models and observations from 1920–1975 CE, possibly linked to uncertainties in CO emission factors.
Natalie Brett, Kathy S. Law, Steve R. Arnold, Javier G. Fochesatto, Jean-Christophe Raut, Tatsuo Onishi, Robert Gilliam, Kathleen Fahey, Deanna Huff, George Pouliot, Brice Barret, Elsa Dieudonné, Roman Pohorsky, Julia Schmale, Andrea Baccarini, Slimane Bekki, Gianluca Pappaccogli, Federico Scoto, Stefano Decesari, Antonio Donateo, Meeta Cesler-Maloney, William Simpson, Patrice Medina, Barbara D'Anna, Brice Temime-Roussel, Joel Savarino, Sarah Albertin, Jingqiu Mao, Becky Alexander, Allison Moon, Peter F. DeCarlo, Vanessa Selimovic, Robert Yokelson, and Ellis S. Robinson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1063–1104, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1063-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1063-2025, 2025
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Processes influencing dispersion of local anthropogenic pollution in Arctic wintertime are investigated with Lagrangian dispersion modelling. Simulated power plant plume rise that considers temperature inversion layers improves results compared to observations (interior Alaska). Modelled surface concentrations are improved by representation of vertical mixing and emission estimates. Large increases in diesel vehicle emissions at temperatures reaching −35°C are required to reproduce observed NOx.
Chelsea E. Stockwell, Matthew M. Coggon, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Colin Harkins, Bert Verreyken, Congmeng Lyu, Qindan Zhu, Lu Xu, Jessica B. Gilman, Aaron Lamplugh, Jeff Peischl, Michael A. Robinson, Patrick R. Veres, Meng Li, Andrew W. Rollins, Kristen Zuraski, Sunil Baidar, Shang Liu, Toshihiro Kuwayama, Steven S. Brown, Brian C. McDonald, and Carsten Warneke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1121–1143, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1121-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1121-2025, 2025
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In urban areas, emissions from everyday products like paints, cleaners, and personal care products, along with non-traditional sources such as cooking, are increasingly important and impact air quality. This study uses a box model to evaluate how these emissions impact ozone in the Los Angeles Basin and quantifies the impact of gaseous cooking emissions. Accurate representation of these and other anthropogenic sources in inventories is crucial for informing effective air quality policies.
Xiaodan Ma, Jianping Huang, Michaela I. Hegglin, Patrick Jöckel, and Tianliang Zhao
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 943–958, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-943-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-943-2025, 2025
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Our research explored changes in ozone levels in the northwest Pacific region over 30 years, revealing a significant increase in the middle-to-upper troposphere, especially during spring and summer. This rise is influenced by both stratospheric and tropospheric sources, which affect climate and air quality in East Asia. This work underscores the need for continued study to understand underlying mechanisms.
Hiroo Hata, Norifumi Mizushima, and Tomohiko Ihara
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1037–1061, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1037-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1037-2025, 2025
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The introduction of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) is expected to reduce the primary air pollutants from vehicular exhaust and evaporative emissions while reducing the anthropogenic heat produced by vehicles, ultimately mitigating the urban heat island (UHI) effect. This study revealed the impact of introducing BEVs on the decrease in the UHI effect and the impact of BEVs on the formation of tropospheric ozone and fine particulate matter in the Greater Tokyo Area of Japan.
Carlos Gómez-Ortiz, Guillaume Monteil, Sourish Basu, and Marko Scholze
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 397–424, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-397-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-397-2025, 2025
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In this paper, we test new implementations of our inverse modeling tool to estimate the weekly and regional CO2 emissions from fossil fuels in Europe. We use synthetic atmospheric observations of CO2 and radiocarbon (14CO2) to trace emissions to their sources, while separating the natural and fossil CO2. Our tool accurately estimates fossil CO2 emissions in densely monitored regions like western/central Europe. This approach aids in developing strategies for reducing CO2 emissions.
David D. Parrish, Ian C. Faloona, and Richard G. Derwent
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 263–289, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-263-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-263-2025, 2025
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Observation-based estimates of contributions to maximum ozone (O3) concentrations show that background O3 can exceed the air quality standard of 70 ppb in the southwestern US, precluding standard attainment. Over the past 4 decades, US anthropogenic O3 has decreased by a factor of ~ 6.3, while wildfire contributions have increased, so that the background now dominates maximum concentrations, even in Los Angeles, and the occurrence of maximum O3 has shifted from the eastern to the western US.
William P. L. Carter, Jia Jiang, John J. Orlando, and Kelley C. Barsanti
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 199–242, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-199-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-199-2025, 2025
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This paper describes the scientific basis for gas-phase atmospheric chemical mechanisms derived using the SAPRC mechanism generation system, MechGen. It can derive mechanisms for most organic compounds with C, H, O, or N atoms, including initial reactions of organics with OH, O3, NO3, and O3P or by photolysis, as well as the reactions of the various types of intermediates that are formed. The paper includes a description of areas of uncertainty where additional research and updates are needed.
Thibaut Lebourgeois, Bastien Sauvage, Pawel Wolff, Béatrice Josse, Virginie Marécal, Yasmine Bennouna, Romain Blot, Damien Boulanger, Hannah Clark, Jean-Marc Cousin, Philippe Nedelec, and Valérie Thouret
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13975–14004, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13975-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13975-2024, 2024
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Our study examines intense-carbon-monoxide (CO) pollution events measured by commercial aircraft from the In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System (IAGOS) research infrastructure. We combine these measurements with the SOFT-IO model to trace the origin of the observed CO. A comprehensive analysis of the geographical origin, source type, seasonal variation, and ozone levels of these pollution events is provided.
Hassnae Erraji, Philipp Franke, Astrid Lampert, Tobias Schuldt, Ralf Tillmann, Andreas Wahner, and Anne Caroline Lange
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13913–13934, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13913-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13913-2024, 2024
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Four-dimensional variational data assimilation allows for the simultaneous optimisation of initial values and emission rates by using trace-gas profiles from drone observations in a regional air quality model. Assimilated profiles positively impact the representation of air pollutants in the model by improving their vertical distribution and ground-level concentrations. This case study highlights the potential of drone data to enhance air quality analyses including local emission evaluation.
Christopher Lawrence, Mary Barth, John Orlando, Paul Casson, Richard Brandt, Daniel Kelting, Elizabeth Yerger, and Sara Lance
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13693–13713, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13693-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13693-2024, 2024
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This work uses chemical transport and box modeling to study the gas- and aqueous-phase production of organic acid concentrations measured in cloud water at the summit of Whiteface Mountain on 1 July 2018. Isoprene was the major source of formic, acetic, and oxalic acid. Gas-phase chemistry greatly underestimated formic and acetic acid, indicating missing sources, while cloud chemistry was a key source of oxalic acid. More studies of organic acids are required to better constrain their sources.
Francisco J. Pérez-Invernón, Francisco J. Gordillo-Vázquez, Heidi Huntrieser, Patrick Jöckel, and Eric J. Bucsela
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3348, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3348, 2024
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Lightning plays a significant role in tropospheric chemistry by producing substantial amounts of nitrogen oxides. According to recent estimates, thunderstorms that produce a higher lightning frequency rate also produce less nitrogen oxide per flash. We implemented the dependency of nitrogen oxide production per flash on lightning flash frequency in a chemical atmospheric model.
Markus Kilian, Volker Grewe, Patrick Jöckel, Astrid Kerkweg, Mariano Mertens, Andreas Zahn, and Helmut Ziereis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13503–13523, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13503-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13503-2024, 2024
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Anthropogenic emissions are a major source of precursors of tropospheric ozone. As ozone formation is highly non-linear, we apply a global–regional chemistry–climate model with a source attribution method (tagging) to quantify the contribution of anthropogenic emissions to ozone. Our analysis shows that the contribution of European anthropogenic emissions largely increases during large ozone periods, indicating that emissions from these sectors drive ozone values.
Kai-Lan Chang, Brian C. McDonald, and Owen R. Cooper
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3674, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3674, 2024
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Exposure to high levels of ozone can be harmful to human health. This study shows consistent and robust evidence of decreasing ozone extremes across much of the United States over 1990–2023, previously attributed to ozone precursor emission controls. Nevertheless, we also show that the increasing heatwave frequencies are likely to contribute to additional ozone exceedances, slowing the progress of decreasing the frequency of ozone exceedances.
Barbara Ervens, Andrew Rickard, Bernard Aumont, William P. L. Carter, Max McGillen, Abdelwahid Mellouki, John Orlando, Bénédicte Picquet-Varrault, Paul Seakins, William R. Stockwell, Luc Vereecken, and Timothy J. Wallington
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 13317–13339, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13317-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-13317-2024, 2024
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Chemical mechanisms describe the chemical processes in atmospheric models that are used to describe the changes in the atmospheric composition. Therefore, accurate chemical mechanisms are necessary to predict the evolution of air pollution and climate change. The article describes all steps that are needed to build chemical mechanisms and discusses the advances and needs of experimental and theoretical research activities needed to build reliable chemical mechanisms.
Audrey Fortems-Cheiney, Grégoire Broquet, Robin Plauchu, Elise Potier, Antoine Berchet, Isabelle Pison, Adrien Martinez, Rimal Abeed, Gaelle Dufour, Adriana Coman, Dilek Savas, Guillaume Siour, Henk Eskes, Hugo A. C. Denier van der Gon, and Stijn N. C. Dellaert
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3679, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3679, 2024
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This study assesses the potential of the OMI and TROPOMI satellite observations to inform about the evolution of NOx anthropogenic emissions between year 2005 and year 2019 at the regional to national scales in Europe. Both the OMI and TROPOMI inversions show decreases in European NOx anthropogenic emission budgets between 2005 and 2019, but with different magnitudes.
Yawen Kong, Bo Zheng, and Yuxi Liu
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2996, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2996, 2024
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Current high-resolution satellite remote sensing technologies provide a unique opportunity to derive timely, high-resolution emission data. We developed an emission inversion system to assimilate satellite NO2 data to obtain daily, kilometer-scale NOx emission inventories. Our results enhance inventory accuracy, allowing us to capture the effects of pollution control policies on daily emissions (e.g., during COVID-19 lockdown) and improve fine-scale air quality modeling.
Jianing Dai, Guy P. Brasseur, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Maria Kanakidou, Kun Qu, Yijuan Zhang, Hongliang Zhang, and Tao Wang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12943–12962, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12943-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12943-2024, 2024
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This paper employs a regional chemical transport model to quantify the sensitivity of air pollutants and photochemical parameters to specified emission reductions in China for representative winter and summer conditions. The study provides insights into further air quality control in China with reduced primary emissions.
T. Nash Skipper, Emma L. D'Ambro, Forwood C. Wiser, V. Faye McNeill, Rebecca H. Schwantes, Barron H. Henderson, Ivan R. Piletic, Colleen B. Baublitz, Jesse O. Bash, Andrew R. Whitehill, Lukas C. Valin, Asher P. Mouat, Jennifer Kaiser, Glenn M. Wolfe, Jason M. St. Clair, Thomas F. Hanisco, Alan Fried, Bryan K. Place, and Havala O.T. Pye
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12903–12924, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12903-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12903-2024, 2024
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We develop the Community Regional Atmospheric Chemistry Multiphase Mechanism (CRACMM) version 2 to improve predictions of formaldehyde in ambient air compared to satellite-, aircraft-, and ground-based observations. With the updated chemistry, we estimate the cancer risk from inhalation exposure to ambient formaldehyde across the contiguous USA and predict that 40 % of this risk is controllable through reductions in anthropogenic emissions of nitrogen oxides and reactive organic carbon.
Baoshuang Liu, Yao Gu, Yutong Wu, Qili Dai, Shaojie Song, Yinchang Feng, and Philip K. Hopke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12861–12879, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12861-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12861-2024, 2024
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Reactive loss of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a long-term issue yet to be resolved in VOC source analyses. We assess common methods of, and existing issues in, reducing losses, impacts of losses, and sources in current source analyses. We offer a potential supporting role for solving issues of VOC conversion. Source analyses of consumed VOCs that reacted to produce ozone and secondary organic aerosols can play an important role in the effective control of secondary pollution in air.
Deepangsu Chatterjee, Randall V. Martin, Chi Li, Dandan Zhang, Haihui Zhu, Daven K. Henze, James H. Crawford, Ronald C. Cohen, Lok N. Lamsal, and Alexander M. Cede
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12687–12706, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12687-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12687-2024, 2024
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We investigate the hourly variation of NO2 columns and surface concentrations by applying the GEOS-Chem model to interpret aircraft and ground-based measurements over the US and Pandora sun photometer measurements over the US, Europe, and Asia. Corrections to the Pandora columns and finer model resolution improve the modeled representation of the summertime hourly variation of total NO2 columns to explain the weaker hourly variation in NO2 columns than at the surface.
Kiyeon Kim, Kyung Man Han, Chul Han Song, Hyojun Lee, Ross Beardsley, Jinhyeok Yu, Greg Yarwood, Bonyoung Koo, Jasper Madalipay, Jung-Hun Woo, and Seogju Cho
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12575–12593, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12575-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12575-2024, 2024
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We incorporated each HONO process into the current CMAQ modeling framework to enhance the accuracy of HONO mixing ratio predictions. These results expand our understanding of HONO photochemistry and identify crucial sources of HONO that impact the total HONO budget in Seoul, South Korea. Through this investigation, we contribute to resolving discrepancies in understanding chemical transport models, with implications for better air quality management and environmental protection in the region.
Flossie Brown, Gerd Folberth, Stephen Sitch, Paulo Artaxo, Marijn Bauters, Pascal Boeckx, Alexander W. Cheesman, Matteo Detto, Ninong Komala, Luciana Rizzo, Nestor Rojas, Ines dos Santos Vieira, Steven Turnock, Hans Verbeeck, and Alfonso Zambrano
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12537–12555, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12537-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12537-2024, 2024
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Ozone is a pollutant that is detrimental to human and plant health. Ozone monitoring sites in the tropics are limited, so models are often used to understand ozone exposure. We use measurements from the tropics to evaluate ozone from the UK Earth system model, UKESM1. UKESM1 is able to capture the pattern of ozone in the tropics, except in southeast Asia, although it systematically overestimates it at all sites. This work highlights that UKESM1 can capture seasonal and hourly variability.
Namrata Shanmukh Panji, Deborah F. McGlynn, Laura E. R. Barry, Todd M. Scanlon, Manuel T. Lerdau, Sally E. Pusede, and Gabriel Isaacman-VanWertz
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12495–12507, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12495-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12495-2024, 2024
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Climate change will bring about changes in parameters that are currently used in global-scale models to calculate biogenic emissions. This study seeks to understand the factors driving these models by comparing long-term datasets of biogenic compounds to modeled emissions. We note that the light-dependent fractions currently used in models do not accurately represent regional observations. We provide evidence for the time-dependent variation in this parameter for future modifications to models.
Martin Vojta, Andreas Plach, Saurabh Annadate, Sunyoung Park, Gawon Lee, Pallav Purohit, Florian Lindl, Xin Lan, Jens Mühle, Rona L. Thompson, and Andreas Stohl
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12465–12493, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12465-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12465-2024, 2024
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We constrain the global emissions of the very potent greenhouse gas sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) between 2005 and 2021. We show that SF6 emissions are decreasing in the USA and in the EU, while they are substantially growing in China, leading overall to an increasing global emission trend. The national reports for the USA, EU, and China all underestimated their SF6 emissions. However, stringent mitigation measures can successfully reduce SF6 emissions, as can be seen in the EU emission trend.
Dominika Pasik, Thomas Golin Almeida, Emelda Ahongshangbam, Siddharth Iyer, and Nanna Myllys
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3464, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3464, 2024
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We used quantum chemistry methods to investigate the oxidation mechanisms of acyl peroxy radicals (APRs) with various monoterpenes. Our findings reveal unique oxidation pathways for different monoterpenes, leading to either chain-terminating products or highly reactive intermediates that can contribute to particle formation in the atmosphere. This research highlights APRs as potentially significant but underexplored atmospheric oxidants, which may influence future approaches to modeling climate.
Yasin Elshorbany, Jerald R. Ziemke, Sarah Strode, Hervé Petetin, Kazuyuki Miyazaki, Isabelle De Smedt, Kenneth Pickering, Rodrigo J. Seguel, Helen Worden, Tamara Emmerichs, Domenico Taraborrelli, Maria Cazorla, Suvarna Fadnavis, Rebecca R. Buchholz, Benjamin Gaubert, Néstor Y. Rojas, Thiago Nogueira, Thérèse Salameh, and Min Huang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12225–12257, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12225-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12225-2024, 2024
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We investigated tropospheric ozone spatial variability and trends from 2005 to 2019 and related those to ozone precursors on global and regional scales. We also investigate the spatiotemporal characteristics of the ozone formation regime in relation to ozone chemical sources and sinks. Our analysis is based on remote sensing products of the tropospheric column of ozone and its precursors, nitrogen dioxide, formaldehyde, and total column CO, as well as ozonesonde data and model simulations.
Ragnhild Bieltvedt Skeie, Marit Sandstad, Srinath Krishnan, Gunnar Myhre, and Maria Sand
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3079, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3079, 2024
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Hydrogen leakages can alter the amount of climate gases in the atmosphere and hence have a climate impact. In this study we investigate, using an atmospheric chemistry model, how this indirect climate effect differs for different amounts of leakages, where the hydrogen leaks and if this effect changes in the future. The effect is largest for emissions far from areas where hydrogen is removed from the atmosphere by the soil, but these are not relevant locations for a future hydrogen economy.
Mariano Mertens, Sabine Brinkop, Phoebe Graf, Volker Grewe, Johannes Hendricks, Patrick Jöckel, Anna Lanteri, Sigrun Matthes, Vanessa S. Rieger, Mattia Righi, and Robin N. Thor
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 12079–12106, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12079-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-12079-2024, 2024
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We quantified the contributions of land transport, shipping, and aviation emissions to tropospheric ozone; its radiative forcing; and the reductions of the methane lifetime using chemistry-climate model simulations. The contributions were analysed for the conditions of 2015 and for three projections for the year 2050. The results highlight the challenges of mitigating ozone formed by emissions of the transport sector, caused by the non-linearitiy of the ozone chemistry and the long lifetime.
Jincheol Park, Yunsoo Choi, and Sagun Kayastha
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3312, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3312, 2024
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We investigated NOx emissions’ contributions to nitrogen loadings across five regions of East Asia during the 2022 winter-spring transition through chemical transport modeling informed by satellite data. As seasons progress, local contributions within each region to its NOy budget decreased from 32 %–43 % to 23 %–30 %, while transboundary contributions increased from 16 %–33 % to 27 %–37 %, driven by a shift in synoptic settings that allowed pollutants to spread more broadly across the regions.
Lauri Franzon, Marie Camredon, Richard Valorso, Bernard Aumont, and Theo Kurtén
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11679–11699, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11679-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11679-2024, 2024
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In this article we investigate the formation of large, sticky molecules from various organic compounds entering the atmosphere as primary emissions and the degree to which these processes may contribute to organic aerosol particle mass. More specifically, we qualitatively investigate a recently discovered chemical reaction channel for one of the most important short-lived radical compounds, peroxy radicals, and discover which of these reactions are most atmospherically important.
Siting Li, Yiming Liu, Yuqi Zhu, Yinbao Jin, Yingying Hong, Ao Shen, Yifei Xu, Haofan Wang, Haichao Wang, Xiao Lu, Shaojia Fan, and Qi Fan
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11521–11544, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11521-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11521-2024, 2024
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This study establishes an inventory of anthropogenic chlorine emissions in China in 2019 with expanded species (HCl, Cl-, Cl2, HOCl) and sources (41 specific sources). The inventory is validated by a modeling study against the observations. This study enhances the understanding of anthropogenic chlorine emissions in the atmosphere, identifies key sources, and provides scientific support for pollution control and climate change.
Willem E. van Caspel, Zbigniew Klimont, Chris Heyes, and Hilde Fagerli
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11545–11563, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11545-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11545-2024, 2024
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Methane in the atmosphere contributes to the production of ozone gas – an air pollutant and greenhouse gas. Our results highlight that simultaneous reductions in methane emissions help avoid offsetting the air pollution benefits already achieved by the already-approved precursor emission reductions by 2050 in the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme region, while also playing an important role in bringing air pollution further down towards World Health Organization guideline limits.
Yujia Wang, Hongbin Wang, Bo Zhang, Peng Liu, Xinfeng Wang, Shuchun Si, Likun Xue, Qingzhu Zhang, and Qiao Wang
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2791, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2791, 2024
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This study established a bottom-up approach that employs real-time traffic flows and interpolation to obtain a spatially continuous on-road vehicle emission mapping for the main urban area of Jinan. The diurnal variation, spatial distribution, and emission hotspots were analyzed with clustering and hotspot analysis, showing unique fine-scale variation characteristics of on-road vehicle emissions. Future scenario analysis demonstrates remarkable benefits of electrification on emission reduction.
Laura Stecher, Franziska Winterstein, Patrick Jöckel, Michael Ponater, Mariano Mertens, and Martin Dameris
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2938, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2938, 2024
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Methane, the second most important anthropogenic greenhouse gas, is chemically decomposed in the atmosphere. The chemical sink of atmospheric methane is not constant, but depends on the temperature and on the abundance of its reaction partners. In this study, we use a global chemistry-climate model to assess the feedback of atmospheric methane induced by changes of the chemical sink in a warming climate, and its implications for the chemical composition and the surface air temperature change.
Tia R. Scarpelli, Paul I. Palmer, Mark Lunt, Ingrid Super, and Arjan Droste
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 10773–10791, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10773-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-10773-2024, 2024
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Under the Paris Agreement, countries must track their anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions. This study describes a method to determine self-consistent estimates for combustion emissions and natural fluxes of CO2 from atmospheric data. We report consistent estimates inferred using this approach from satellite data and ground-based data over Europe, suggesting that satellite data can be used to determine national anthropogenic CO2 emissions for countries where ground-based CO2 data are absent.
Yufen Wang, Ke Li, Xi Chen, Zhenjiang Yang, Minglong Tang, Pascoal M. D. Campos, Yang Yang, Xu Yue, and Hong Liao
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2576, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2576, 2024
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The impact of biomass burning and anthropogenic emissions on high tropospheric ozone was not well studied in Southern Africa. We combined the model simulation with recent observations at the surface and from space to quantify tropospheric ozone and its main drivers in Southern Africa. Our work focuses on the impact of emissions from different sources at different spatial scales, contributing to a comprehensive understanding of air pollution drivers and their uncertainties in Southern Africa.
Yafang Guo, Mohammad Amin Mirrezaei, Armin Sorooshian, and Avelino F. Arellano
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2617, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-2617, 2024
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We assess the contributions of fire and anthropogenic emissions to O3 levels in Phoenix Arizona during a period of intense heat and drought conditions. We find that fire exacerbates O3 pollution and that interactions between weather, climate, and air chemistry are important to consider. This has implications to activities related to formulating emission reduction strategies in areas that are currently under-studied yet becoming relevant due to reports of increasing global aridity.
Ryan J. Pound, Lucy V. Brown, Mat J. Evans, and Lucy J. Carpenter
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9899–9921, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9899-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9899-2024, 2024
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Iodine-mediated loss of ozone to the ocean surface and the subsequent emission of iodine species has a large effect on the troposphere. Here we combine recent experimental insights to develop a box model of the process, which we then parameterize and incorporate into the GEOS-Chem transport model. We find that these new insights have a small impact on the total emission of iodine but significantly change its distribution.
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McDuffie, E. E., Smith, S. J., O'Rourke, P., Tibrewal, K., Venkataraman, C., Marais, E. A., Zheng, B., Crippa, M., Brauer, M., and Martin, R. V.: A global anthropogenic emission inventory of atmospheric pollutants from sector- and fuel-specific sources (1970–2017): an application of the Community Emissions Data System (CEDS), Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 12, 3413–3442, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-12-3413-2020, 2020. a, b
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Naik, V., Voulgarakis, A., Fiore, A. M., Horowitz, L. W., Lamarque, J.-F., Lin, M., Prather, M. J., Young, P. J., Bergmann, D., Cameron-Smith, P. J., Cionni, I., Collins, W. J., Dalsøren, S. B., Doherty, R., Eyring, V., Faluvegi, G., Folberth, G. A., Josse, B., Lee, Y. H., MacKenzie, I. A., Nagashima, T., van Noije, T. P. C., Plummer, D. A., Righi, M., Rumbold, S. T., Skeie, R., Shindell, D. T., Stevenson, D. S., Strode, S., Sudo, K., Szopa, S., and Zeng, G.: Preindustrial to present-day changes in tropospheric hydroxyl radical and methane lifetime from the Atmospheric Chemistry and Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP), Atmos. Chem. Phys., 13, 5277–5298, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-13-5277-2013, 2013. a, b
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Short summary
Ethane and propane are volatile organic compounds emitted from human activities which help to form ozone, a pollutant and greenhouse gas, and also affect the chemistry of the lower atmosphere. Atmospheric models tend to do a poor job of reproducing the abundance of these compounds in the atmosphere. By using regional estimates of their emissions, rather than globally consistent estimates, we can significantly improve the simulation of ethane in the model and make some improvement for propane.
Ethane and propane are volatile organic compounds emitted from human activities which help to...
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