Measurements of N₂O₅, NO₂, and O₃ east of the San Francisco Bay

E. C. Wood (1) , T. H. Bertram (1) , P. J. Wooldridge (1) , R. C. Cohen (2, 3, 1)

1 Department of Chemistry [Berkeley]
2 Energy and Environment Technologies Division [LBNL Berkeley]
3 EPS - Department of Earth and Planetary Science [UC Berkeley]

We report in situ measurements of N₂O₅, NO₂, and O₃ in Contra Costa County, California during January 2004. Mixing ratios of N₂O₅, an intermediate compound in the atmosphere's nocturnal cleansing process, ranged up to 200pmol/mol at night. The highest N₂O₅ concentrations were correlated with low O₃ and high NO₂ concentrations. The calculated steady state lifetime for N₂O₅ ranged from 5 to 30min. The total HNO₃ produced by N₂O₅ hydrolysis over a 14h night was comparable to ambient NO₂ concentrations, and is estimated to be a factor of nine bigger than the HNO₃ produced during the day.

Domains: Ocean, Atmosphere

E. C. Wood, T. H. Bertram, P. J. Wooldridge, R. C. Cohen. Measurements of N₂O₅, NO₂, and O₃ east of the San Francisco Bay. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2005, 5 (2), pp.483-491. ⟨hal-00295615⟩