Chemistry that affects regional and global tropospheric ozone concentrations

• Main Author: Cavender, Aubrey E
• Other Authors: Shepson, Paul
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Purdue University 2008
• Subjects: Analytical chemistry|Atmospheric sciences; Arctic
• Online Access: https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/dissertations/AAI3342354

Ozone is known to be harmful to animals and vegetation, and global ozone concentrations have been increasing since the late 1800’s. There are various processes that occur in the natural environment that affect ozone concentrations, including isoprene emissions from plants and ozone depletion events that occur during springtime in the Arctic. There are many details about the chemistry that is involved in these processes that are not fully understood, and it is unclear at this time how rising global temperatures will affect this chemistry. Here the vertical extent of halogen catalyzed ozone depletion in the Arctic is investigated, and various methods of estimating halogen atom concentrations are presented, including a 0-D model aimed at using VOC data to elucidate halogen atom ratios during ozone depletion. In addition, a second 0-D model is presented that was used to study the fate of nitrogen during isoprene photo-oxidation experiments performed in a photochemical reaction chamber.