Modeling ozone plumes observed downwind of New York City over the North Atlantic Ocean during the ICARTT field campaign

• Published in: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
• Main Authors: S.-H. Lee, S.-W. Kim, M. Trainer, G. J. Frost, S. A. McKeen, O. R. Cooper, F. Flocke, J. S. Holloway, J. A. Neuman, T. Ryerson, C. J. Senff, A. L. Swanson, A. M. Thompson
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Copernicus Publications 2011
• Subjects: Physics; QC1-999; Chemistry; QD1-999; North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-7375-2011; https://doaj.org/article/86ad1d34fed843e782c23621613071d9

Transport and chemical transformation of well-defined New York City (NYC) urban plumes over the North Atlantic Ocean were studied using aircraft measurements collected on 20–21 July 2004 during the ICARTT (International Consortium for Atmospheric Research on Transport and Transformation) field campaign and WRF-Chem (Weather Research and Forecasting-Chemistry) model simulations. The strong NYC urban plumes were characterized by carbon monoxide (CO) mixing ratios of 350–400 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) and ozone (O 3 ) levels of about 100 ppbv near New York City on 20 July in the WP-3D in-situ and DC-3 lidar aircraft measurements. On 21 July, the two aircraft captured strong urban plumes with about 350 ppbv CO and over 150 ppbv O 3 (~160 ppbv maximum) about 600 km downwind of NYC over the North Atlantic Ocean. The measured urban plumes extended vertically up to about 2 km near New York City, but shrank to 1–1.5 km over the stable marine boundary layer (MBL) over the North Atlantic Ocean. The WRF-Chem model reproduced ozone formation processes, chemical characteristics, and meteorology of the measured urban plumes near New York City (20 July) and in the far downwind region over the North Atlantic Ocean (21 July). The quasi-Lagrangian analysis of transport and chemical transformation of the simulated NYC urban plumes using WRF-Chem results showed that the pollutants can be efficiently transported in (isentropic) layers in the lower atmosphere (<2–3 km) over the North Atlantic Ocean while maintaining a dynamic vertical decoupling by cessation of turbulence in the stable MBL. The O 3 mixing ratio in the NYC urban plumes remained at 80–90 ppbv during nocturnal transport over the stable MBL, then grew to over 100 ppbv by daytime oxidation of nitrogen oxides (NO x = NO + NO 2 ) with mixing ratios on the order of 1 ppbv. Efficient transport of reactive nitrogen species (NO y ), specifically nitric acid (HNO 3 ), was confirmed through the comparison of the CO/NO y ratio in photochemically fresh and aged NYC ...