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Title: Ammonia and methane dairy emissions in the San Joaquin Valley of California from individual feedlot to regional scale

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JD023241· OSTI ID:1235313
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [6];  [6];  [8];  [3];  [3]
  1. Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States); Brown Univ., Providence, RI (United States)
  2. Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States); Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, Cambridge, MA (United States)
  3. Princeton Univ., Princeton, NJ (United States)
  4. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); Aerodyne Research, Inc., Billerica, MA (United States)
  5. Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States); Ramboll Environ US Corp., Novato, CA (United States)
  6. NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States)
  7. National Institute of Aerospace, Hampton, VA (United States)
  8. NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA (United States); Science Systems and Applications, Inc., Hampton, VA (United States)

Abstract Agricultural ammonia (NH 3 ) emissions are highly uncertain, with high spatiotemporal variability and a lack of widespread in situ measurements. Regional NH 3 emission estimates using mass balance or emission ratio approaches are uncertain due to variable NH 3 sources and sinks as well as unknown plume correlations with other dairy source tracers. We characterize the spatial distributions of NH 3 and methane (CH 4 ) dairy plumes using in situ surface and airborne measurements in the Tulare dairy feedlot region of the San Joaquin Valley, California, during the NASA Deriving Information on Surface conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality 2013 field campaign. Surface NH 3 and CH 4 mixing ratios exhibit large variability with maxima localized downwind of individual dairy feedlots. The geometric mean NH 3 :CH 4 enhancement ratio derived from surface measurements is 0.15 ± 0.03 ppmv ppmv −1 . Individual dairy feedlots with spatially distinct NH 3 and CH 4 source pathways led to statistically significant correlations between NH 3 and CH 4 in 68% of the 69 downwind plumes sampled. At longer sampling distances, the NH 3 :CH 4 enhancement ratio decreases 20–30%, suggesting the potential for NH 3 deposition as a loss term for plumes within a few kilometers downwind of feedlots. Aircraft boundary layer transect measurements directly above surface mobile measurements in the dairy region show comparable gradients and geometric mean enhancement ratios within measurement uncertainties, even when including NH 3 partitioning to submicron particles. Individual NH 3 and CH 4 plumes sampled at close proximity where losses are minimal are not necessarily correlated due to lack of mixing and distinct source pathways. Our analyses have important implications for constraining NH 3 sink and plume variability influences on regional NH 3 emission estimates and for improving NH 3 emission inventory spatial allocations.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-NM), Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1235313
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1402270
Report Number(s):
SAND-2015-5504J; 594840
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Vol. 120, Issue 18; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 23 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Revealing the Sources of Atmospheric Ammonia: a Review journal July 2018
Introduction of Water‐Vapor Broadening Parameters and Their Temperature‐Dependent Exponents Into the HITRAN Database: Part I—CO 2 , N 2 O, CO, CH 4 , O 2 , NH 3 , and H 2 S journal November 2019
Gas-phase broadband spectroscopy using active sources: progress, status, and applications [Invited] journal December 2016
The CU mobile Solar Occultation Flux instrument: structure functions and emission rates of NH 3 , NO 2 and C 2 H 6 journal January 2017
Evaluation of ambient ammonia measurements from a research aircraft using a closed-path QC-TILDAS operated with active continuous passivation journal January 2019