Measurements of OH and HO2 concentrations during the MCMA-2006 field campaign -- Part 2: Model comparison and radical budget.

Autor: Dusanter, S., Vimal, D., Stevens, P. S., Volkamer, R., Molina, L. T., Baker, A., Meinardi, S., Blake, D., Sheehy, P., Merten, A., Zhang, R., Zheng, J., Fortner, E. C., Junkermann, W., Dubey, M., Rahn, T., Eichinger, B., Lewandowski, P., Prueger, J., Holder, H.
Předmět:
Zdroj: Atmospheric Chemistry & Physics; 2009, Vol. 9 Issue 18, p6655-6675, 21p, 1 Diagram, 2 Charts, 7 Graphs
Abstrakt: Measurements of hydroxyl (OH) and hydroperoxy (HO2) radicals were made during the Mexico City Metropolitan Area (MCMA) field campaign as part of the MILAGRO (Megacity Initiative: Local and Global Research Observations) project during March 2006. These measurements provide a unique opportunity to test current models of atmospheric ROx (OH +HO2 + RO2) photochemistry under polluted conditions. A zero-dimensional box model based on the Regional Atmospheric Chemical Mechanism (RACM) was constrained by 10-min averages of 24 J -values and the concentrations of 97 chemical species. Several issues related to the ROx chemistry under polluted conditions are highlighted in this study: (i) Measured concentrations of both OH and HO2 were underpredicted during morning hours on a median campaign basis, suggesting a significant source of radicals is missing from current atmospheric models under polluted conditions, consistent with previous urban field campaigns. (ii) The model-predicted HO2/OH ratios underestimate the measurements for NO mixing ratios higher than 5 ppb, also consistent with previous urban field campaigns. This suggests that under high NOx conditions, the HO2 to OH propagation rate may be overestimated by the model or a process converting OH into HO2 may be missing from the chemical mechanism. On a daily basis (08:40 a.m.-06:40 p.m.), an analysis of the radical budget indicates that HONO photolysis, HCHO photolysis, O3-alkene reactions and dicarbonyls photolysis are the main radical sources. O3 photolysis contributes to less than 6% of the total radical production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
Databáze: Complementary Index