PMEL Publications Abstract
FY 2004
Nighttime removal of NOx in the summer marine boundary layer
Brown, S.S., J.E. Dibb, H. Stark, M. Aldener, M. Vozella, S. Whitlow, E.J. Williams, B.M. Lerner, R. Jakoubek, A.M. Middlebrook, J.A. DeGouw, C. Warneke, P.D. Goldan, W.C. Kuster, W.M. Angevine, D.T. Sueper, P.K. Quinn, T.S. Bates, J.F. Meagher, F.C. Fehsenfeld, and A.R. Ravishankara
Geophys. Res. Lett., 31, L07108, doi: 10.1029/2004GL019412 (2004)
The nitrate radical, NO
, and dinitrogen pentoxide, N
O
, are two important components of nitrogen oxides that occur predominantly at night in the lower troposphere. Because a large fraction of NO
reacts to form NO
and N
O
during the course of a night, their fate is an important determining factor to the overall fate of NO
(=NO and NO
). As a comprehensive test of nocturnal nitrogen oxide chemistry, concentrations of O
, NO, NO
, NO
, N
O
, HNO
and a host of other relevant compounds, aerosol abundance and composition, and meteorological conditions were measured in the marine boundary layer from the NOAA research vessel Ronald H. Brown off the East Coast of the United States as part of the New England Air Quality Study (NEAQS) during the summer of 2002. The results confirm the prominent role of NO
and N
O
in converting NO
to HNO
at night with an efficiency on par with daytime photochemical conversion. The findings demonstrate the large role of nighttime chemistry in determining the NO
budget and consequent production of ozone.