Influence of present and possible future aircraft emissions on the global ozone distribution

Conference · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1990

OSTI ID:6328628

Kinnison, D E; Wuebles, D J

This study has used the LLNL two-dimensional model of the global atmosphere in an evaluation of the effects on global ozone concentrations from current subsonic aircraft emissions and from the emissions of possible future high speed civil transports (HSCT). The authors have attempted to include more realistic representations of emissions as a function of altitude and latitude in these scenarios than were included in previous sensitivity analyses. Major findings from this study are: (1) Current aircraft emissions may be having an impact on upper tropospheric ozone, leading to increasing concentrations of ozone in the upper troposphere. (2) A matrix of HSCT scenarios evaluated over a wide range of mean flight altitudes and magnitudes of NO{sub x} emissions confirmed previous analyses showing that ozone destruction becomes larger as the emissions of NO{sub x} increase and as the altitude of injection increases. (3) Model calculations indicate that a major reduction in emissions would allow the stratosphere to recover to unperturbed conditions in about a decade. (4) Sensitivity studies indicate that water vapor emissions have a moderate effect on the change in total ozone, while carbon monoxide emissions had a negligible effect. (5) Injection of NO{sub x} as HNO{sub 3} had a moderate effect on the change in total ozone. (6) The calculated change in ozone for the HSCT scenarios was very sensitive to the background atmosphere, particularly to the levels of stratospheric chlorine and concentrations of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: EPA; NASA
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 6328628
• Report Number(s): UCRL-JC-104677; CONF-910143--2; ON: DE91005422; CNN: Agreement DW8993267601-0
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540110*
AIRCRAFT
ALKANES
ALTITUDE
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
CHLORINE
CORRELATIONS
DATA
DECOMPOSITION
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
ELEMENTS
EMISSION
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
FLUCTUATIONS
FLUIDS
GASES
GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS
HALOGENS
HYDROCARBONS
HYDROGEN COMPOUNDS
INFORMATION
INORGANIC ACIDS
LATITUDE EFFECT
LAYERS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
METHANE
NITRIC ACID
NITROGEN COMPOUNDS
NITROGEN OXIDES
NITROUS OXIDE
NONMETALS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
OZONE
OZONE LAYER
SENSITIVITY ANALYSIS
STRATOSPHERE
TIME DEPENDENCE
TROPOSPHERE
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS
VAPORS
VARIATIONS
WATER VAPOR