Characterization of soluble bromide measurements and a case study of BrO observations during ARCTAS

Authors

J Liao, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
L Gregory Huey, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
Eric Scheuer, University of New Hampshire - Main CampusFollow
Jack E. Dibb, University of New HampshireFollow
R E. Stickel, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
D Tanner, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
J A. Neuman, University of Colorado Boulder
J Nowak, NOAA
S Choi, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
Yuhang Wang, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
R J. Salawitch, University of Maryland at College Park
T Canty, University of Maryland at College Park
K Chance, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
T P. Kurosu, Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics
R Suleiman, University of New Hampshire - Main Campus
Andrew Weinheimer, National Center for Atmospheric Research
R E. Shetter, NOAA
A Fried, University of Colorado Boulder
William H. Brune, Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus
B Anderson, NASAFollow
X Zhang, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
G Chen, NASA
J H. Crawford, Georgia Institute of Technology
Arsineh Hecobian, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus
E D. Ingall, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main Campus

Abstract

A focus of the Arctic Research of the Composition of the Troposphere from Aircraft and Satellites (ARCTAS) mission was examination of bromine photochemistry in the spring time high latitude troposphere based on aircraft and satellite measurements of bromine oxide (BrO) and related species. The NASA DC-8 aircraft utilized a chemical ionization mass spectrometer (CIMS) to measure BrO and a mist chamber (MC) to measure soluble bromide. We have determined that the MC detection efficiency to molecular bromine (Br₂), hypobromous acid (HOBr), bromine oxide (BrO), and hydrogen bromide (HBr) as soluble bromide (Br⁻) was 0.9±0.1, 1.06+0.30/−0.35, 0.4±0.1, and 0.95±0.1, respectively. These efficiency factors were used to estimate soluble bromide levels along the DC-8 flight track of 17 April 2008 from photochemical calculations constrained to in situ BrO measured by CIMS. During this flight, the highest levels of soluble bromide and BrO were observed and atmospheric conditions were ideal for the space-borne observation of BrO. The good agreement (R² = 0.76; slope = 0.95; intercept = −3.4 pmol mol⁻¹) between modeled and observed soluble bromide, when BrO was above detection limit (>2 pmol mol⁻¹) under unpolluted conditions (NOmol⁻¹), indicates that the CIMS BrO measurements were consistent with the MC soluble bromide and that a well characterized MC can be used to derive mixing ratios of some reactive bromine compounds. Tropospheric BrO vertical column densities (BrO^VCD) derived from CIMS BrO observations compare well with BrO_TROP^VCD from OMI on 17 April 2008.

Department

Earth Sciences, Earth Systems Research Center

Publication Date

2-2-2012

Journal Title

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Publisher

Copernicus Publications

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.5194/acp-12-1327-2012

Document Type

Article

Recommended Citation

Liao, J., Huey, L. G., Scheuer, E., Dibb, J. E., Stickel, R. E., Tanner, D. J., Neuman, J. A., Nowak, J. B., Choi, S., Wang, Y., Salawitch, R. J., Canty, T., Chance, K., Kurosu, T., Suleiman, R., Weinheimer, A. J., Shetter, R. E., Fried, A., Brune, W., Anderson, B., Zhang, X., Chen, G., Crawford, J., Hecobian, A., and Ingall, E. D.: Characterization of soluble bromide measurements and a case study of BrO observations during ARCTAS, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 1327-1338, doi:10.5194/acp-12-1327-2012, 2012.

Rights

© Author(s) 2012. This work is distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.