Large Scale Atmospheric Chemistry Simulations for 2001: An Analysis of Ozone and Other Species in Central Arizona
A key atmospheric gas is ozone. Ozone in the stratosphere is beneficial to the biosphere because it absorbs a significant fraction of the sun's shorter wavelength ultraviolet radiation. Ozone in the troposphere is a pollutant (respiratory irritant in humans and acts to damage crops, vegetation, and many materials). It affects the Earths energy balance by absorbing both incoming solar radiation and outgoing long wave radiation. An important part of the oxidizing capacity of the atmosphere involves ozone, through a photolysis pathway that leads to the hydroxyl radical (OH). Since reaction with OH is a major sink of many atmospheric species, its concentration controls the distributions of many radiatively important species. Ozone in the troposphere arises from both in-situ photochemical production and transport from the stratosphere. Within the troposphere, ozone is formed in-situ when carbon monoxide (CO), methane (CH4), and non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) react in the presence of nitrogen oxides (NO, = NO + NO2) and sunlight. The photochemistry of the stratosphere differs significantly from that in the troposphere. Within the stratosphere, ozone formation is initiated by the photolysis of 02. Stratospheric ozone may be destroyed via catalytic reactions with NO, H (hydrogen), OH, CI (chlorine) and Br (bromine), or photolysis. In the past, attempts to simulate the observed distributions of ozone (and other important gases) have focused on either the stratosphere or the troposphere. Stratospheric models either employed simplified parameterizations to represent tropospheric chemical and physical processes, or assumed the troposphere behaved as a boundary condition. Likewise, tropospheric models used simplified stratospheric chemistry and transport.
- Research Organization:
- Lawrence Livermore National Lab. (LLNL), Livermore, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- W-7405-ENG-48
- OSTI ID:
- 15004313
- Report Number(s):
- UCRL-JC-149257; TRN: US201015%%498
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: 83rd Annual Meeting of the American Meterological Soceity, Long Beach, CA, Feb 09 - Feb 13, 2003
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
BIOSPHERE
BOUNDARY CONDITIONS
BROMINE
CARBON MONOXIDE
CHEMISTRY
CHLORINE
ENERGY BALANCE
GASES
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN
HYDROXYL RADICALS
LONG WAVE RADIATION
METHANE
NITROGEN OXIDES
OZONE
PHOTOCHEMISTRY
PHOTOLYSIS
POLLUTANTS
SOLAR RADIATION
STRATOSPHERE
TROPOSPHERE
ULTRAVIOLET RADIATION
WAVELENGTHS