Impact of vegetative hydrocarbon emissions on ambient ozone levels and control program development

Conference · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1984

OSTI ID:5130373

Hunsaker, Jr, D B; Perardi, T; Umeda, T

Many plants emit measurable quantities of volatile organic compounds into the ambient air, and in recent years these emission rates have been determined experimentally for various plant species. In the San Francisco Bay Area the effects of vegetative hydrocarbon emissions on local ozone production were quantitatively assessed. Major subtasks were to prepare the best possible inventory of biogenic emissions, and to determine the amount of ozone attributable to the resulting inventory. A nine-county vegetative hydrocarbon emissions inventory was prepared using a vegetation distribution map prepared from Landsat data, and using vegetative hydrocarbon emission factors developed from results of a Delphi Survey of experts in the field. It was estimated that vegetative sources in the nine county Bay Area emit about 400 tons/day of hydrocarbons. The ozone producing ability of these emissions was assessed with the Livermore Regional Air Quality (LIRAQ) model, a deterministic grid-based photochemical computer model developed in and for the San Francisco Bay Area. Though the vegetative emissions inventory was relatively large and reactive, the effect on high hour ozone was modest, probably because of source location. 22 references, 1 figure, 4 tables.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab., TN (USA); Bay Area Air Quality Management District, San Francisco, CA (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-84OR21400
• OSTI ID: 5130373
• Report Number(s): CONF-840374-2; ON: DE84008515
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
DATA
DISTRIBUTION
EMISSION
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HYDROCARBONS
INFORMATION
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MATTER
NUMERICAL DATA
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OZONE
PACIFIC OCEAN
PLANTS
SAN FRANCISCO BAY
SEAS
SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION
SURFACE WATERS
VOLATILE MATTER