Identification

Title

Nitrous acid (HONO) during polar spring in Barrow, Alaska: A net source of OH radicals?

Abstract

HONO was measured by a LOPAP instrument (LOng Path Absorption Photometer) for one month during the OASIS spring 2009 campaign in Barrow, Alaska. HONO concentrations between ≤ 0.4 pptv (DL) and ∼500 pptv were measured. The very high concentrations observed on several days were caused by local direct emissions and were highly correlated with the NOx and CO data. When only "clean days" were considered, average HONO concentrations varied between ≤ 0.4 - 10 pptv. Average HONO/NOx and HONO/NOy ratios of ∼6% and ∼1% were observed, respectively, in good agreement with other remote LOPAP measurement data, but lower than measured in most other polar regions by other methods. The strong correlation between sharp peaks of OH and HONO during daytime, which was not observed for any other measured radical precursor, suggested that HONO photolysis was a major source of OH radicals in Barrow. This was supported by calculated net OH radical production by HONO and O₃ photolysis for which the contribution of O₃ (2%) could be neglected compared to that of HONO (98%). A net extra HONO/OH source necessary to explain elevated HONO levels during daytime of up to 90 pptv/h was determined, which was highly correlated with the actinic flux. Accordingly, a photochemical HONO source is proposed here, in good agreement with recent studies. From the higher correlation of the net HONO source with JNO₂ and [NO₂] compared to Jα(₁D) and [NO³-], photosensitized conversion of NO2 on humic acid containing snow surfaces may be a more likely source of HONO in the polar atmosphere of Barrow than nitrate photolysis.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7xs5w3f

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2011-12-23T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact