Modelling chemistry in the nocturnal boundary layer above tropical rainforest and a generalised effective nocturnal ozone deposition velocity for sub-ppbv NOx conditions

Measurements of atmospheric composition have been made over a remote rainforest landscape. A box model has previously been demonstrated to model the observed daytime chemistry well. However the box model is unable to explain the nocturnal measurements of relatively high [NO] and [O3], but relatively low observed [NO2]. It is shown that a one-dimensional (1-D) column model with simple O3 -NOx chemistry and a simple representation of vertical transport is able to explain the observed nocturnal concentrations and predict the likely vertical profiles of these species in the nocturnal boundary layer (NBL). Concentrations of tracers carried over from the end of the night can affect the atmospheric chemistry of the following day. To ascertain the anomaly introduced by using the box model to represent the NBL, vertically-averaged NBL concentrations at the end of the night are compared between the 1-D model and the box model. It is found that, under low to medium [NOx] conditions (NOx <1 ppbv), a simple parametrisation can be used to modify the box model deposition velocity of ozone, in order to achieve good agreement between the box and 1-D models for these end-of-night concentrations of NOx and O3. This parametrisation would could also be used in global climate-chemistry models with limited vertical resolution near the surface. Box-model results for the following day differ significantly if this effective nocturnal deposition velocity for ozone is implemented; for instance, there is a 9% increase in the following day’s peak ozone concentration. However under medium to high [NOx] conditions (NOx > 1 ppbv), the effect on the chemistry due to the vertical distribution of the species means no box model can adequately represent chemistry in the NBL without modifying reaction rate constants

Volatile organic compound emissions in relation to plant carbon fixation and the terrestrial carbon budget

A substantial amount of carbon is emitted by terrestrial vegetation as biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOC), which contributes to the oxidative capacity of the atmosphere, to particle production and to the carbon cycle. With regard to the carbon budget of the terrestrial biosphere, a release of these carbon compounds is regarded as a loss of photosynthetically fixed carbon. The significance of this loss for the regional and global carbon cycles is controversial. We estimate the amount of VOC carbon emitted in relation to the CO2 taken up, based on our own enclosure and micrometeorological flux measurements of VOC emissions and CO2 exchange within the Mediterranean area and the tropical rainforest in Amazonia and on literature data. While VOC flux estimates are small in relation to net primary productivity and gross primary productivity, the amount of carbon lost as VOC emissions can be highly significant relative to net ecosystem productivity. In fact, VOC losses are of the same order of magnitude as net biome productivity. Although we must assume that large amounts of these reemissions are recycled within the biosphere, a substantial part can be assumed to be lost into longer-lived oxidation products that are lost from the terrestrial biosphere by transport. However, our current knowledge does not allow a reliable estimation of this carbon loss

Abstracts of the 6th FECS Conference 1998 Lectures

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