Observations of Total Peroxy Nitrates and Aldehydes 4 Steady State Calculation of Peroxy Nitrates P
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Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., 6, 12929–12965, 2006 Atmospheric www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/6/12929/2006/ Chemistry ACPD © Author(s) 2006. This work is licensed and Physics 6, 12929–12965, 2006 under a Creative Commons License. Discussions Observations of total Observations of total peroxy nitrates and peroxy nitrates and aldehydes: measurement interpretation aldehydes and inference of OH radical P. A. Cleary et al. concentrations Title Page P. A. Cleary1,*, P. J. Wooldridge1, D. B. Millet2,**, R. C. Cohen2, M. McKay2,4, and Abstract Introduction 1,3,4 A. H. Goldstein Conclusions References 1Dept. of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA Tables Figures 2Dept. of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA 3Dept. of Earth and Planetary Science, Univ. of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA J I 4Environment Technologies Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA J I 94720, USA * now at: Department of Chemistry, University of Pennsylvania, 231 S. 34th St, Philadelphia, Back Close PA 19104, USA **now at: Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Full Screen / Esc 02138, USA Printer-friendly Version Received: 30 October 2006 – Accepted: 30 November 2006 – Published: 12 December 2006 Correspondence to: R. C. Cohen ([email protected]) Interactive Discussion EGU 12929 Abstract ACPD We describe measurements of total peroxy nitrates (ΣPNs), NO2,O3 and several alde- hydes at Granite Bay, California, during the Chemistry and Transport of the Sacramento 6, 12929–12965, 2006 Urban Plume (CATSUP) campaign, from 19 July–16 September 2001. We observed 5 a strong photochemically driven variation of ΣPNs during the day with the median of Observations of total 1.2 ppb at noon. Acetaldehyde, pentanal, hexanal and methacrolein had median abun- peroxy nitrates and dances in the daytime of 1.2 ppb, 0.093 ppb, 0.14 ppb, and 0.27 ppb, respectively. We aldehydes compare a steady state and a time dependent calculations of the dependence of ΣPNs P. A. Cleary et al. on aldehydes, OH, NO and NO2 showing that the steady state calculations of are be 10 accurate to ±30% between 10:00 a.m. and 06:00. We use the steady state calculation to investigate the composition of ΣPNs and the concentration of OH at Granite Bay. We find that PN molecules that have never been observed before make up an unreason- Title Page ably large fraction of the ΣPNs unless we assume that there exists a PAN source that Abstract Introduction is much larger than the acetaldehyde source. We calculate that OH at the site varied 6 −3 15 between 1 and 6×10 molecules cm at noon during the 8 weeks of the experiment. Conclusions References Tables Figures 1 Introduction J I Peroxyacyl nitrates (or peroxycarboxylic nitric anhydrides) are a class of atmospheric J I reactive nitrogen (NOy≡ NO + NO2 + peroxy nitrates + alkyl and multifunctional ni- trates + HONO + HNO3 + NO3 + 2 × N2O5) produced by photochemical reactions of Back Close 20 aldehydes and photolysis of ketones, such as acetone and methyl glyoxal (Blitz et al., 2004; Roberts et al., 2002; Romero et al., 2005). Peroxyacetyl nitrate, PAN, the most Full Screen / Esc abundant and widely studied peroxyacyl nitrate, is produced through the reaction of acetaldehyde with OH, (R1) producing peroxyacyl radical (CH3C(O)O2, or PA) followed Printer-friendly Version by the association of PA with NO2 (R2). Other sources of PA, such as methyl glyoxal Interactive Discussion 25 photolysis, may be important, especially where isoprene is the predominant reactive volatile organic compound (VOC) (Roberts et al., 2001). Loss of PAN occurs primarily EGU 12930 by the sequential processes of thermal decomposition to regenerate PA (R-2) followed by reaction of PA with NO (R3). ACPD acetaldehyde + OH(+O2) → PA + H2O (R1) 6, 12929–12965, 2006 PA + NO → PAN (R2) 2 Observations of total 5 PAN → PA + NO2 (R-2) peroxy nitrates and aldehydes PA + NO → products (R3) P. A. Cleary et al. PAN + OH → products (R4) The reaction of PAN with OH (R4) is slow Talukdar et al., 1995, however this sink of Title Page PNs may be important for other PN species, such as MPAN. Figure 1 summarizes the 10 processes represented by (R1)–(R4). The thermal decomposition of PAN (R-2) has a Abstract Introduction steep temperature dependence. PAN has a lifetime to thermal decomposition of hours Conclusions References or less in the lower troposphere (T>287 K) and of months in the mid- to high latitude free troposphere (Temp<263 K). PAN that is created in situ or transported to the upper Tables Figures troposphere from a source region near the surface can be transported globally Beine 15 et al., 1996; Singh and Hanst, 1981. When the air containing PAN warms, NO2 is re- J I leased; thus PAN serves as a vehicle for global scale redistribution of NOx (NOx≡ NO J I + NO2). Peroxyacyl nitrates are also a well known component of urban photochem- istry (Corsmeier et al., 2002b; Rappengluck et al., 2003; Singh, 1987; Stephens et Back Close al., 1956). PAN is often observed to be correlated with O3 (Corsmeier et al., 2002a; 20 Gaffney et al., 1999; Gaffney et al., 2002; Penkett and Brice, 1986; Rappengluck et al., Full Screen / Esc 2000; Rubio et al., 2004) and the ratios of different PANs have been used to assess the relative contributions of anthropogenic and biogenic sources of O3 (Roberts et al., Printer-friendly Version 2001; Williams et al., 1997). Interactive Discussion In addition to PAN, other peroxy nitrates are formed following OH-initiated hydro- 25 gen abstraction of larger aldehydes. Simultaneous measurements of the ambient EGU 12931 concentrations of the aldehyde – peroxyacyl nitrate pairs, propanal-peroxyproprionic nitric anhydride (PPN) (Roberts et al., 2001, 2003), acrolein-peroxyacrylic nitric an- ACPD hydride (APAN) (Roberts et al., 2003), and methacrolein-MPAN (Roberts et al., 2001, 6, 12929–12965, 2006 2003) have been described. The peroxyacyl nitrates derived from isobutanal: perox- 5 yisobutyric nitric anhydride (PiBN) (Roberts et al., 2002, 2003), n-butanal: peroxy-n- butyric nitric anhydride (PnBN) (Gaffney et al., 1999; Glavas and Moschonas, 2001) Observations of total and benzaldehyde: peroxybenzoic nitric anhydride (PBzN) (Atkinson and Lloyd, 1984) peroxy nitrates and have also been identified in the atmosphere. Many other PN compounds have been aldehydes observed in the laboratory (Hurst-Bowman et al., 2003; Noziere and Barnes, 1998; P. A. Cleary et al. 10 Sehested et al., 1998; Tyndall et al., 2001; Wallington et al., 1995) and based on these laboratory and field measurements, it is reasonable to assume that virtually every aldehyde observed in the atmosphere should have a corresponding peroxya- Title Page cyl nitrate. Glavas and Moshonas (Glavas and Moschonas, 2001) have argued that the relative ratios of peroxy nitrates can be deduced from the ratios of parent alde- Abstract Introduction 15 hydes. Roberts et al. (2001, 2003) use a sequential reaction model (Reactions 1–4 and their analogues as applied to each PN/aldehyde pair) to explain the correlations Conclusions References between the observed ratios of PPN/propanal, PAN/acetaldehyde, MPAN/methacrolein Tables Figures and APAN/acrolein (Roberts et al., 2001, 2003). In their analyses, Roberts et al. (2001, 2003) attribute the variability PN/aldehyde ratios to plume age and assume that the ob- J I 20 servations represent oxidation of an isolated plume downwind of a localized source of aldehydes. They show this model does a reasonable job at representing the correla- J I tions between different ratios of PN/aldehyde pairs. Back Close In this paper, we describe simultaneous measurements of total peroxy nitrates (ΣPNs), aldehydes, NO2 and O3 at the eastern edge of the suburbs of Sacramento, CA Full Screen / Esc 25 as a part of the CATSUP (Chemistry and Transport of the Sacramento Urban Plume) experiment. We take a different point of view from the papers of Roberts et al. (2001, Printer-friendly Version 2003) and assume that PNs in the urban boundary layer do not result from emission at a point source but rather are continually affected by emissions of their aldehyde pre- Interactive Discussion cursors. We compare time dependent and steady state calculations for PNs showing EGU 12932 that PNs are in approximate steady state with their source molecules. We then use the steady state calculation to investigate the partitioning of ΣPNs among a variety of ACPD individual peroxy nitrates and to investigate the concentration of OH at the Granite Bay 6, 12929–12965, 2006 site. Observations of total 5 2 Experimental peroxy nitrates and aldehydes Observations of NO2, ΣPNs, total alkyl nitrates (ΣANs), HNO3,O3, VOC, and mete- orological variables were collected from 19 July–16 September 2001 on the property P. A. Cleary et al. of Eureka Union School District in Granite Bay, CA (38 E 44.230 121 E 12.010, 277 m above sea level). This site is located 30 km north-east of Sacramento, CA, at the east- 10 ern edge of the suburban region and between two major highways: Interstate 80, 8 km Title Page to the north and Highway 50, 13 km to the south. The instruments were housed in a temperature-controlled trailer with inlets mounted on a rooftop tower 7 m above the Abstract Introduction ground, (1–2 m above the trailer).The site and instruments are described in detail in Conclusions References Cleary et al. (Cleary et al., 2005) and only a brief description is included here. 15 Briefly, wind patterns observed at the site were quite regular, at speeds of 2–2.4 m/s Tables Figures from the southwest (directly from Sacramento) during the afternoon (12:00–17:00 h) and from the southeast at 1.6 m/s (downslope from the Sierra Nevada) at night (20:00– J I 06:00 h).