Tropospheric Nitrogen Oxide Measurements at Barrow, Alaska

Nitrogen oxides play a critical role in the chemistry of the atmosphere and indirectly influence global warming through the production of ozone. At Barrow, Alaska, the NOAA long-term surface ozone record indicates an increase of about 2% per year during the summer months. Since NOx (NO+NO2) concentr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Jaffe, D. A., Honrath, R. E.
Other Authors: ALASKA UNIV FAIRBANKS
Format: Text
Language:English
Published: 1992
Subjects:
Geography
Geology
Geochemistry and Mineralogy
Atmospheric Physics
*ATMOSPHERES
*CHEMISTRY
*NITROGEN OXIDES
*OZONE
*TROPOSPHERE
ALASKA
COLLECTION
GLOBAL
HIGH SENSITIVITY
MEASUREMENT
NETS
NITROGEN
OXIDES
PRODUCTION
RECORDS
SENSITIVITY
SITES
SULFUR
SUMMER
SUNLIGHT
SURFACES
TEST AND EVALUATION
SYMPOSIA
EMISSION
Component Reports
*Barrow
Global warming
Anthropogenic sources.
Fairbanks
Barrow
Alaska
Online Access:http://www.dtic.mil/docs/citations/ADP007363
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?&verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADP007363
Description
Summary:Nitrogen oxides play a critical role in the chemistry of the atmosphere and indirectly influence global warming through the production of ozone. At Barrow, Alaska, the NOAA long-term surface ozone record indicates an increase of about 2% per year during the summer months. Since NOx (NO+NO2) concentrations above about 30 ppt (parts per trillion) result in net ozone production in the presence of sunlight, we propose that the observed Barrow surface ozone increase is related to anthropogenic nitrogen oxide emissions. A high-sensitivity chemiluminescent instrument for measurements of nitrogen oxides has been built to test this hypothesis. Measurement campaigns have been conducted during summer 1988 and spring 1989, and are continuing during spring and summer 1990. Periods during which the NOy concentrations measured at the GMCC site were unaffected by local (Barrow) emissions were selected from the data record. Observations during these periods suggest that nitrogen oxide concentrations are, at times, very elevated at Barrow and sufficient to account for photochemical 03 production. Based on simultaneous collection of meteorological, sulfur, and NO, data, several sources of nitrogen oxides have been tentatively identified at Barrow. This article is from 'Proceedings of the International Conference on the Role of Polar Regions in Global Change Held in Fairbanks, Alaska on 11-15 June 1990. Volume 2', AD-A253 028, p730-734. See also Volume 1, AD-A253 027.

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