Lightning NO₂ simulation over the contiguous US and its effects on satellite NO₂ retrievals

Lightning is an important NO_x source representing ∼10 % of the global source of odd N and a much larger percentage in the upper troposphere. The poor understanding of spatial and temporal patterns of lightning contributes to a large uncertainty in understanding upper tropospheric chemistry. We implement a lightning parameterization using the product of convective available potential energy (CAPE) and convective precipitation rate (PR) coupled with the Kain–Fritsch convective scheme (KF/CAPE-PR) into the Weather Research and Forecasting-Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model. Compared to the cloud-top height (CTH) lightning parameterization combined with the Grell 3-D convective scheme (G3/CTH), we show that the switch of convective scheme improves the correlation of lightning flash density in the southeastern US from 0.30 to 0.67 when comparing against the Earth Networks Total Lightning Network; the switch of lightning parameterization contributes to the improvement of the correlation from 0.48 to 0.62 elsewhere in the US. The simulated NO₂ profiles using the KF/CAPE-PR parameterization exhibit better agreement with aircraft observations in the middle and upper troposphere. Using a lightning NO_x production rate of 500 mol NO flash−1, the a priori NO₂ profile generated by the simulation with the KF/CAPE-PR parameterization reduces the air mass factor for NO₂ retrievals by 16 % on average in the southeastern US in the late spring and early summer compared to simulations using the G3/CTH parameterization. This causes an average change in NO₂ vertical column density 4 times higher than the average uncertainty

The Berkeley High Resolution Tropospheric NO_2 product

We describe upgrades to the Berkeley High Resolution (BEHR) NO2 satellite retrieval product. BEHR v3.0B builds on the NASA version 3 standard Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI) tropospheric NO_2 product to provide a high spatial resolution product for a domain covering the continental United States and lower Canada that is consistent with daily variations in the 12km a priori NO_2 profiles. Other improvements to the BEHR v3.0 product include surface reflectance and elevation, and factors affecting the NO_2 a priori profiles such as lightning and anthropogenic emissions.- We describe the retrieval algorithm in detail and evaluate the impact of changes to the algorithm between v2.1C and v3.0B on the retrieved NO_2 vertical column densities (VCDs). Not surprisingly, we find that, on average, the changes to the a priori NO_2 profiles and the update to the new NASA slant column densities have the greatest impact on the retrieved VCDs. More significantly, we find that using daily a priori profiles results in greater average VCDs than using monthly profiles in regions and times with significant lightning activity. The BEHR product is available as four subproducts on the University of California DASH repository, using monthly a priori profiles at native OMI pixel resolution (https://doi.org/10.6078/D1N086) and regridded to 0.05° × 0.05° (https://doi.org/10.6078/D1RQ3G) and using daily a priori profiles at native OMI (https://doi.org/10.6078/D1WH41) and regridded (https://doi.org/10.6078/D12D5X) resolutions. The subproducts using monthly profiles are currently available from January 2005 to July 2017, and will be expanded to more recent years. The subproducts using daily profiles are currently available for years 2005–2010 and 2012–2014; 2011 and 2015 on will be added as the necessary input data are simulated for those years

Diagnosing oxidation in the free troposphere and in cities over North America using space-based observations

The oxidative capacity of the troposphere – primarily characterized by the burden of the most abundant and reactive of oxidants, the hydroxyl radical (OH) – determines the lifetime of many trace gases of importance to climate and human health, including air pollutants and the greenhouse gas methane. In the upper troposphere, there is large uncertainty in the oxidative capacity associated with the lightning NOx production, for which reported results range from 16-700 mol NO flash-1. I implemented a lightning parameterization which significantly improves the representation of lightning in one chemical transport and and showed that this parameterization should be more effective in any model. I combined the model simulations configured with this new lightning parameterization with the satellite observations of NO2 column to yield a better estimate of lightning NOx production over the continental US. In cities, urban OH controls the removal rate of primary pollutants and triggers the production of ozone. Interannual trends of OH in urban areas are not well documented or understood due to the short lifetime and high spatial heterogeneity of OH and of OH precursors. Here I synthesized a machine learning technique, satellite observations and simulations from a state-of-art chemical transport model to estimate OH trends between 2005 and 2014 in 49 North American cities. I described trends in the summertime OH with wide variation among different cities. The variation of OH is explained by the shift in chemical regime from one where additional NOx slows chemistry to one where additional NOx speeds chemistry over the years. The identification of chemical regime, in turn, sheds light on the effective policy for controlling ozone

Estimate of OH trends over one decade in North American cities.

The hydroxyl radical (OH) is the most important oxidant on global and local scales in the troposphere. Urban OH controls the removal rate of primary pollutants and triggers the production of ozone. Interannual trends of OH in urban areas are not well documented or understood due to the short lifetime and high spatial heterogeneity of OH. We utilize machine learning with observational inputs emphasizing satellite remote sensing observations to predict surface OH in 49 North American cities from 2005 to 2014. We observe changes in the summertime OH over one decade, with wide variation among different cities. In 2014, compared to the summertime OH in 2005, 3 cities show a significant increase of OH, whereas, in 27 cities, OH decreases in 2014. The year-to-year variation of OH is mapped to the decline of the NO2 column. We conclude that these cities in this analysis are either in the NOx-limited regime or at the transition from a NOx suppressed regime to a NOx-limited regime. The result emphasizes that, in the future, controlling NOx emissions will be most effective in regulating the ozone pollution in these cities

The effects of facemasks on airway inflammation and endothelial dysfunction in healthy young adults: a double-blind, randomized, controlled crossover study

Abstract Background Facemasks are increasingly worn during air pollution episodes in China, but their protective effects are poorly understood. We aimed to evaluate the filtration efficiencies of N95 facemasks and the cardiopulmonary benefits associated with wearing facemasks during episodes of pollution. Results We measured the filtration efficiencies of particles in ambient air of six types of N95 facemasks with a manikin headform. The most effective one was used in a double-blind, randomized, controlled crossover study, involving 15 healthy young adults, conducted during 2 days of severe pollution in Beijing, China. Subjects were asked to walk along a busy-traffic road for 2 h wearing authentic or sham N95 facemasks. Clinical tests were performed four times to determine changes in the levels of biomarkers of airway inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and oxidative stress within 24 h after exposure. The facemasks removed 48–75% of number concentrations of ambient air particles between 5.6 and 560 nm in diameter. After adjustments for multiple comparison, the exhaled nitric oxide level and the levels of interleukin-1α, interleukin-1β, and interleukin-6 in exhaled breath condensate increased significantly in all subjects; however, the increases in those wearing authentic facemasks were statistically significantly lower than in the sham group. No significant between-group difference was evident in the urinary creatinine-corrected malondialdehyde level. In arterial stiffness indicators, the ejection duration of subjects wearing authentic facemasks was higher after exposure compared to the sham group; no significant between-group difference was found in augmentation pressure or the augmentation index. Conclusions In young healthy adults, N95 facemasks partially reduced acute particle-associated airway inflammation, but neither systemic oxidative stress nor endothelial dysfunction improved significantly. The clinical significance of these findings long-term remains to be determined. Trial registration The trial registration number (TRN) for this study is ChiCTR1800016099, which was retrospectively registered on May 11, 2018

Formation dynamics of elastic droplets in a microfluidic T-junction

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