Impact of clouds and aerosols on ozone production in Southeast Texas

Abstract

A radiative transfer model and photochemical box model are used to examine the effects of clouds and aerosols on actinic flux and photolysis rates, and the impacts of changes in photolysis rates on ozone production and destruction rates in a polluted urban environment like Houston, Texas. During the TexAQS-II Radical and Aerosol Measurement Project the combined cloud and aerosol effects reduced j(NO2) photolysis frequencies by nominally 17%, while aerosols reduced j(NO2) by 3% on six clear sky days. Reductions in actinic flux due to attenuation by clouds and aerosols correspond to reduced net ozone formation rates with a nearly one-to-one relationship. The overall reduction in the net ozone production rate due to reductions in photolysis rates by clouds and aerosols was approximately 8 ppbv h−1.

Department

Earth Sciences, Earth Systems Research Center

Publication Date

10-2010

Journal Title

Atmospheric Environment

Publisher

Elsevier

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1016/j.atmosenv.2009.09.005

Document Type

Article

Rights

Copyright © 2009 Elsevier Ltd. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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