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Summertime NOx measurements during the CHABLIS campaign: can source and sink estimates unravel observed diurnal cycles?

Item

Title (Dublin Core)

Summertime NOx measurements during the CHABLIS campaign: can source and sink estimates unravel observed diurnal cycles?

Description (Dublin Core)

NO<sub>x</sub> measurements were conducted at the Halley Research Station, coastal Antarctica, during the austral summer period 1 January–10 February 2005. A clear NO<sub>x</sub> diurnal cycle was observed with minimum concentrations close to instrumental detection limit (5 pptv) measured between 04:00–05:00 GMT. NO<sub>x</sub> concentrations peaked (24 pptv) between 19:00–20:00 GMT, approximately 5 h after local solar noon. An optimised box model of NO<sub>x</sub> concentrations based on production from in-snow nitrate photolysis and chemical loss derives a mean noon emission rate of 3.48 × 10<sup>8</sup> molec cm<sup>−2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>, assuming a 100 m boundary layer mixing height, and a relatively short NO<sub>x</sub> lifetime of ~6.4 h. This emission rate compares to directly measured values ranging from 2.1 to 12.6 × 10<sup>8</sup> molec cm<sup>−2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup> made on 3 days at the end of the study period. Calculations of the maximum rate of NO<sub>2</sub> loss via a variety of conventional HO<sub>x</sub> and halogen oxidation processes show that the lifetime of NO<sub>x</sub> is predominantly controlled by halogen processing, namely BrNO<sub>3</sub> and INO<sub>3</sub> gas-phase formation and their subsequent heterogeneous uptake. Furthermore the presence of halogen oxides is shown to significantly perturb NO<sub>x</sub> concentrations by decreasing the NO/NO<sub>2</sub> ratio. We conclude that in coastal Antarctica, the potential ozone production efficiency of NO<sub>x</sub> emitted from the snowpack is mitigated by the more rapid NO<sub>x</sub> loss due to halogen nitrate hydrolysis.

Creator (Dublin Core)

Bauguitte, S. J.-B.
Bloss, W. J.
Evans, M. J.
Salmon, R. A.
Anderson, P. S.
Jones, A. E.
Lee, J. D.
Saiz-Lopez, A.
Roscoe, H. K.
Wolff, E. W.
Plane, J. M. C.

Date (Dublin Core)

2018-01-15

Type (Dublin Core)

Text

Format (Dublin Core)

application/pdf

Identifier (Dublin Core)

10.5194/acp-12-989-2012
https://acp.copernicus.org/articles/12/989/2012/

Source (Dublin Core)

eISSN: 1680-7324

Language (Dublin Core)

eng
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