Nighttime chemistry in the Houston urban plume

Luria, Menachem; Valente, Ralph J.; Bairai, S. T.; Parkhurst, William J.; Tanner, Roger L.

doi:10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.04.054

Cited by 7 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…Reactions of NO 3 with saturated hydrocarbons are typically 2 orders of magnitude slower than with olefins [ Atkinson , 1994], and as mentioned above, hydrolysis of N 2 O 5 is expected to be rather slow in the presence of organic aerosol. Thus, while the near 100% conversion of NO x to NO z observed for the 21 July episode is in excellent agreement with the observations for the 26 July episode (this work), the mechanistic explanations offered by Luria et al [2008] appear to be inconsistent with the present analysis.…”

Section: Constrained Plume Modeling Analysissupporting

confidence: 78%

“… Luria et al [2008] found near 100% conversion of NO x to NO z overnight for the 21 July episode, but attributed it entirely to formation of HNO 3 via reaction of NO 3 radical with saturated hydrocarbons and hydrolysis of N 2 O 5 under humid conditions. Reactions of NO 3 with saturated hydrocarbons are typically 2 orders of magnitude slower than with olefins [ Atkinson , 1994], and as mentioned above, hydrolysis of N 2 O 5 is expected to be rather slow in the presence of organic aerosol.…”

Section: Constrained Plume Modeling Analysismentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The second and third flights were conducted at increasing downwind distances from Houston, with the last flight ending at early morning hours the next day. Luria et al [2008] presented an analysis for the 21 July episode. In this study, we focus on the 26 July episode.…”

Section: Field Experimentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Overnight atmospheric transport and chemical processing of photochemically aged Houston urban and petrochemical industrial plume

Zaveri¹,

Voss²,

Berkowitz³

et al. 2010

J. Geophys. Res.

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Overnight atmospheric transport and chemical evolution of photochemically aged Houston urban and petrochemical industrial plume were investigated in July 2005. We report here on the 26 July episode in which the aged plume was tagged 1.5 h before sunset with a pair of free‐floating controlled meteorological balloons, which guided quasi‐Lagrangian aircraft sampling in the plume as it was advected 300 km to the north over 8 h. The aged plume around sunset was well mixed within a 1600 m residual layer, and was characterized by enhanced levels of aerosol, O3, CO, olefins, acetaldehyde, total odd nitrogen compounds (NOy), and relatively small amounts (<1 ppbv) of NOx. The plume experienced appreciable shearing overnight due to the development of a low‐altitude nocturnal jet between 300 and 500 m above mean sea level (MSL). However, the plume above 600 m MSL remained largely undiluted even after 8 h of transport due to lack of turbulent mixing above the jet. About 40–60% of the NOx present in the aged plume around sunset was found to be depleted over this 8 h period. A constrained plume modeling analysis of the quasi‐Lagrangian aircraft observations suggested that by dawn this NOx was converted to nitric acid, organic nitrates, and peroxy acyl nitrates via reactions of NO3 radicals with enhanced levels of olefins and aldehydes in the plume. Sensitivity of NOx depletion to heterogeneous hydrolysis of N2O5 on aerosols was examined. These results have significant implications for the impacts of urban and industrial pollution on far downwind regions.

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Section: Constrained Plume Modeling Analysissupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Constrained Plume Modeling Analysismentioning

confidence: 98%

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Overnight atmospheric transport and chemical processing of photochemically aged Houston urban and petrochemical industrial plume

Zaveri¹,

Voss²,

Berkowitz³

et al. 2010

J. Geophys. Res.

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“…Air masses sampled aloft after sunset from aircraft differ from those sampled at surface level in that the emissions must either have been mixed to the nominal 400–1000 m cruising altitude of the P‐3 within a convective boundary layer during the previous day, or originate from buoyant sources (e.g., power plants). Recent nighttime aircraft measurements of NO x and total reactive nitrogen in Texas have demonstrated rapid overnight conversion of NO x emissions to oxidized, reactive nitrogen species [ Luria et al , 2008]. The analysis presented in the present paper examines the details of nighttime transformation in plumes containing large amounts of O 3 , NO x and HRVOCs and includes measurements of key nighttime intermediates, NO 3 and N 2 O 5 , and speciated VOCs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Budgets for nocturnal VOC oxidation by nitrate radicals aloft during the 2006 Texas Air Quality Study

et al. 2011

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[1] Industrial emissions in Houston, Texas, and along the U.S. Gulf Coast are a large source of highly reactive anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), principally alkenes, that affect air quality in that region. Nighttime oxidation by either O 3 or NO 3 removes these VOCs. This paper presents a regional analysis of nighttime P-3 flights during the 2006 Texas Air Quality Study (TexAQS) to quantify the loss rates and budgets for both NO 3 and highly reactive VOC. Mixing ratios and production rates of NO 3 were large, up to 400 parts per trillion by volume (pptv) and 1-2 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) per hour, respectively. Budgets for NO 3 show that it was lost primarily to reaction with VOCs, with the sum of anthropogenic VOCs (30-54%) and isoprene (10-50%) being the largest contributors. Indirect loss of NO 3 to N 2 O 5 hydrolysis was of lesser importance (14-28%) but was the least certain due to uncertainty in the aerosol uptake coefficient for N 2 O 5 . Reaction of NO 3 with peroxy radicals was a small but nonzero contribution to NO 3 loss but was also uncertain because there were no direct measurements of peroxy radicals. Net VOC oxidation rates were rapid (up to 2 ppbv VOC h −1 in industrial plumes) and were dominated by NO 3 , which was 3-5 times more important as an oxidant than O 3 . Plumes of high NO 3 reactivity (i.e., short steady state lifetimes, on the order of 1 min) identified the presence of concentrated emissions of highly reactive VOCs from the Houston Ship Channel (HSC), which, depending on the particular VOC, may be efficiently oxidized during overnight transport.

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“…While nighttime NO x chemistry has been studied in warm conditions (Atkinson et al, ; Brown et al, ; Brown & Stutz, ; McLaren et al, ), wintertime observations are far more limited (Brown et al, ; Riedel et al, ; Wagner et al, ). There has been significant work on nitrogen chemistry in power plant plumes in the summer both during the day (Hegg et al, ; Hewitt, ; Ryerson et al, ) and at night (Brown & Stutz, ; Luria et al, ; Zaveri et al, ), but lower temperatures and longer nights will affect the chemistry of power plant plumes in winter.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wintertime Overnight NO_x Removal in a Southeastern United States Coal‐fired Power Plant Plume: A Model for Understanding Winter NO_x Processing and its Implications

et al. 2018

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Nitric oxide (NO) is emitted in large quantities from coal‐burning power plants. During the day, the plumes from these sources are efficiently mixed into the boundary layer, while at night, they may remain concentrated due to limited vertical mixing during which they undergo horizontal fanning. At night, the degree to which NO is converted to HNO3 and therefore unable to participate in next‐day ozone (O3) formation depends on the mixing rate of the plume, the composition of power plant emissions, and the composition of the background atmosphere. In this study, we use observed plume intercepts from the Wintertime INvestigation of Transport, Emissions and Reactivity campaign to test sensitivity of overnight NOx removal to the N2O5 loss rate constant, plume mixing rate, background O3, and background levels of volatile organic compounds using a 2‐D box model of power plant plume transport and chemistry. The factor that exerted the greatest control over NOx removal was the loss rate constant of N2O5. At the lowest observed N2O5 loss rate constant, no other combination of conditions converts more than 10% of the initial NOx to HNO3. The other factors did not influence NOx removal to the same degree.

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Nighttime chemistry in the Houston urban plume

Cited by 7 publications

References 20 publications

Overnight atmospheric transport and chemical processing of photochemically aged Houston urban and petrochemical industrial plume

Overnight atmospheric transport and chemical processing of photochemically aged Houston urban and petrochemical industrial plume

Budgets for nocturnal VOC oxidation by nitrate radicals aloft during the 2006 Texas Air Quality Study

Wintertime Overnight NO_x Removal in a Southeastern United States Coal‐fired Power Plant Plume: A Model for Understanding Winter NO_x Processing and its Implications

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Nighttime chemistry in the Houston urban plume

Cited by 7 publications

References 20 publications

Overnight atmospheric transport and chemical processing of photochemically aged Houston urban and petrochemical industrial plume

Overnight atmospheric transport and chemical processing of photochemically aged Houston urban and petrochemical industrial plume

Budgets for nocturnal VOC oxidation by nitrate radicals aloft during the 2006 Texas Air Quality Study

Wintertime Overnight NOx Removal in a Southeastern United States Coal‐fired Power Plant Plume: A Model for Understanding Winter NOx Processing and its Implications

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Product

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Wintertime Overnight NO_x Removal in a Southeastern United States Coal‐fired Power Plant Plume: A Model for Understanding Winter NO_x Processing and its Implications