skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Investigating the Tropospheric Chemistry of Acetic Acid Using the Global 3‐D Chemistry Transport Model, STOCHEM‐CRI

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1029/2018JD028529· OSTI ID:1454283

Abstract Acetic acid (CH 3 COOH) is one of the most abundant carboxylic acids in the troposphere. In the study, the tropospheric chemistry of CH 3 COOH is investigated using the 3‐D global chemistry transport model, STOCHEM‐CRI. The highest mixing ratios of surface CH 3 COOH are found in the tropics by as much as 1.6 ppb in South America. The model predicts the seasonality of CH 3 COOH reasonably well and correlates with some surface and flight measurement sites, but the model drastically underpredicts levels in urban and midlatitudinal regions. The possible reasons for the underprediction are discussed. The simulations show that the lifetime and global burden of CH 3 COOH are 1.6–1.8 days and 0.45–0.61 Tg, respectively. The reactions of the peroxyacetyl radical (CH 3 CO 3 ) with the hydroperoxyl radical (HO 2 ) and other organic peroxy radicals (RO 2 ) are found to be the principal sources of tropospheric CH 3 COOH in the model, but the model‐measurement discrepancies suggest the possible unknown or underestimated sources which can contribute large fractions of the CH 3 COOH burden. The major sinks of CH 3 COOH in the troposphere are wet deposition, dry deposition, and OH loss. However, the reaction of CH 3 COOH with Criegee intermediates is proposed to be a potentially significant chemical loss process of tropospheric CH 3 COOH that has not been previously accounted for in global modeling studies. Inclusion of this loss process reduces the tropospheric CH 3 COOH level significantly which can give even larger discrepancies between model and measurement data, suggesting that the emissions inventory and the chemical production sources of CH 3 COOH are underpredicted even more so in current global models.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Lab. (SNL-CA), Livermore, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
Grant/Contract Number:
DE‐AC02‐05CH11231; AC04-94AL85000
OSTI ID:
1454283
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1454284; OSTI ID: 1459928
Report Number(s):
SAND2018-6899J
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Vol. 123 Journal Issue: 11; ISSN 2169-897X
Publisher:
American Geophysical Union (AGU)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 15 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

References (73)

Evaluation of the global oceanic isoprene source and its impacts on marine organic carbon aerosol journal January 2009
A study of global atmospheric budget and distribution of acetone using global atmospheric model STOCHEM-CRI journal July 2015
Atmospheric formic and acetic acids: An overview journal May 1999
Criegee intermediates and their impacts on the troposphere journal January 2018
Atmospheric concentrations of formic and acetic acid and related compounds in eastern and northern Austria journal January 1988
Short-chain oxygenated VOCs: Emission and uptake by plants and atmospheric sources, sinks, and concentrations journal April 2007
Compilation of Henry's law constants (version 4.0) for water as solvent journal January 2015
Computational Study on the Existence of Organic Peroxy Radical-Water Complexes (RO 2 ·H 2 O) journal February 2008
How is surface ozone in Europe linked to Asian and North American NOx emissions? journal October 2008
Global data set of biogenic VOC emissions calculated by the MEGAN model over the last 30 years journal January 2014
Global atmospheric budget of acetaldehyde: 3-D model analysis and constraints from in-situ and satellite observations journal January 2010
Considerations regarding sources for formic and acetic acids in the troposphere journal January 1986
Acidic gases (HCOOH, CH 3 COOH, HNO 3 , HCl, and SO 2 ) and related aerosol species at a high mountain Alpine site (4360 m elevation) in Europe journal January 2007
Measurements of formic and acetic acid levels in the vapour phase at Dayalbagh, Agra, India journal October 1996
Role of organic acids (formic, acetic, pyruvic and oxalic) in the formation of cloud condensation nuclei (CCN): a review journal May 2000
Importance of secondary sources in the atmospheric budgets of formic and acetic acids journal January 2011
C 1 −C 5 Organic Acid Emissions from an SI Engine:  Influence of Fuel and Air/Fuel Equivalence Ratio journal July 2001
Carboxylic acids in gas and particulate phase above the Atlantic Ocean journal June 2000
Distribution and fate of selected oxygenated organic species in the troposphere and lower stratosphere over the Atlantic journal February 2000
A model for studies of tropospheric ozone and nonmethane hydrocarbons: Model evaluation of ozone-related species journal January 2003
The composition of precipitation in remote areas of the world journal January 1982
A Common Representative Intermediates (CRI) mechanism for VOC degradation. Part 2: Gas phase mechanism reduction journal October 2008
Atmospheric evolution of organic aerosol: ATMOSPHERIC EVOLUTION OF ORGANIC AEROSOL journal November 2004
Formic acid and acetic acid: Emissions, atmospheric formation and dry deposition at two southern California locations journal December 1992
Organic acids in Southern California air: ambient concentrations, mobile source emissions, in situ formation and removal processes journal December 1989
Measurements of gas phase formic and acetic acids at the Mauna Loa Observatory, Hawaii during the Mauna Loa Observatory Photochemistry Experiment 1988 journal January 1992
Formic and acetic acid over the central Amazon region, Brazil: 1. Dry season journal January 1988
Effects of additional nonmethane volatile organic compounds, organic nitrates, and direct emissions of oxygenated organic species on global tropospheric chemistry journal January 2007
Mechanism of the OH-Initiated Oxidation of Hydroxyacetone over the Temperature Range 236−298 K journal June 2006
Photodegradation of secondary organic aerosol generated from limonene oxidation by ozone studied with chemical ionization mass spectrometry journal January 2009
A Common Representative Intermediates (CRI) mechanism for VOC degradation. Part 3: Development of a secondary organic aerosol module journal April 2009
Equilibrium constant of the HO 2 -H 2 O complex formation and kinetics of HO 2 + HO 2 -H 2 O: Implications for tropospheric chemistry journal January 2006
Determination of organic acids (C1-C10) in the atmosphere, motor exhausts, and engine oils journal November 1985
A global assessment of precipitation chemistry and deposition of sulfur, nitrogen, sea salt, base cations, organic acids, acidity and pH, and phosphorus journal August 2014
Global analysis of peroxy radicals and peroxy radical-water complexation using the STOCHEM-CRI global chemistry and transport model journal April 2015
Reassessing the photochemical production of methanol from peroxy radical self and cross reactions using the STOCHEM-CRI global chemistry and transport model journal December 2014
A Common Representative Intermediates (CRI) mechanism for VOC degradation. Part 1: Gas phase mechanism development journal October 2008
A modeling study of secondary organic aerosol formation from sesquiterpenes using the STOCHEM global chemistry and transport model: SOA FORMATION FROM SESQUITERPENES journal April 2017
Gaseous formic and acetic acids in the atmosphere of Yokohama, Japan journal April 1992
Link between isoprene and secondary organic aerosol (SOA): Pyruvic acid oxidation yields low volatility organic acids in clouds journal January 2006
Acid generation in the troposphere by gas-phase chemistry journal September 1983
Atmospheric formic and acetic acids in Venezuela journal May 1996
Carboxylic acids in the rural continental atmosphere over the eastern United States during the Shenandoah Cloud and Photochemistry Experiment journal January 1995
Rate Coefficients of C1 and C2 Criegee Intermediate Reactions with Formic and Acetic Acid Near the Collision Limit: Direct Kinetics Measurements and Atmospheric Implications journal March 2014
Temperature-Dependence of the Rates of Reaction of Trifluoroacetic Acid with Criegee Intermediates journal June 2017
Organic acids over equatorial Africa: Results from DECAFE 88 journal January 1992
Rethinking the global secondary organic aerosol (SOA) budget: stronger production, faster removal, shorter lifetime journal January 2016
An Estimation of the Levels of Stabilized Criegee Intermediates in the UK Urban and Rural Atmosphere Using the Steady-State Approximation and the Potential Effects of These Intermediates on Tropospheric Oxidation Cycles: AN ESTIMATION OF THE LEVELS OF STABILIZED CRIEGEE INTERMEDIATES IN THE UK journal June 2017
Carboxylic acids in the troposphere, occurrence, sources, and sinks: A review journal December 1996
Criegee Intermediate–Alcohol Reactions, A Potential Source of Functionalized Hydroperoxides in the Atmosphere journal December 2017
Organic photolysis reactions in tropospheric aerosols: effect on secondary organic aerosol formation and lifetime journal January 2015
Sources and sinks of formic, acetic, and pyruvic acids over central Amazonia: 2. Wet season journal January 1990
The second Hadley Centre coupled ocean-atmosphere GCM: model description, spinup and validation journal February 1997
Gaseous oxygenated hydrocarbons in the remote marine troposphere journal January 1990
Calibration and intercomparison of acetic acid measurements using proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) journal January 2012
Photochemistry of biogenic emissions over the Amazon forest journal January 1988
Permutation reactions of organic peroxy radicals in the troposphere journal January 1990
Photochemical Aging of Light-Absorbing Secondary Organic Aerosol Material journal March 2013
Atmospheric transformation of enols: A potential secondary source of carboxylic acids in the urban troposphere journal January 2007
Unimolecular decay strongly limits the atmospheric impact of Criegee intermediates journal January 2017
Carboxylic acids in clouds at a high-elevation forested site in central Virginia journal January 1995
Emission of formic and acetic acids from tropical Savanna soils journal September 1991
Biosphere/Atmosphere interactions: Integrated research in a European coniferous forest ecosystem journal January 1992
Global Budget and Distribution of Peroxyacetyl Nitrate (PAN) for Present and Preindustrial Scenarios journal March 2017
Atmospheric Wet Deposition in Remote Regions: Benchmarks for Environmental Change journal August 2015
Atmospheric Oxidation Pathways of Acetic Acid journal April 2006
Chemical characteristics and sources of organic acids in precipitation at a semi-urban site in Southwest China journal January 2011
Isoprene Forms Secondary Organic Aerosol through Cloud Processing:  Model Simulations journal June 2005
Formic acid and acetic acid in the western Sierra Nevada, California journal August 1993
Atmospheric concentrations of carboxylic acids and related compounds at a semiurban site journal January 1995
Photodegradation of Secondary Organic Aerosol Particles as a Source of Small, Oxygenated Volatile Organic Compounds journal September 2016
Atmospheric geochemistry of formic and acetic acids at a mid-latitude temperate site journal January 1988
Criegee Intermediate Reactions with Carboxylic Acids: A Potential Source of Secondary Organic Aerosol in the Atmosphere journal June 2018

Similar Records

Investigating the Atmospheric Sources and Sinks of Perfluorooctanoic Acid Using a Global Chemistry Transport Model
Journal Article · Sun Apr 19 00:00:00 EDT 2020 · Atmosphere (Basel) · OSTI ID:1454283

The Reaction of Criegee Intermediate CH2OO with Water Dimer: Primary Products and Atmospheric Impact
Journal Article · Fri Aug 04 00:00:00 EDT 2017 · Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics. PCCP · OSTI ID:1454283

Description and evaluation of tropospheric chemistry and aerosols in the Community Earth System Model (CESM1.2)
Journal Article · Thu Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2015 · Geoscientific Model Development (Online) · OSTI ID:1454283