Large upper tropospheric ozone enhancements above midlatitude North America during summer: In situ evidence from the IONS and MOZAIC ozone measurement network

Owen R. Cooper, University of Colorado Boulder
A. Stohl, Norsk institutt for luftforskning
M. Trainer, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
A. M. Thompson, Pennsylvania State University
J. C. Witte, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
S. J. Oltmans, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
G. Morris, Valparaiso University
K. E. Pickering, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
J. H. Crawford, NASA Langley Research Center
G. Chen, NASA Langley Research Center
R. C. Cohen, University of California, Berkeley
T. H. Bertram, University of California, Berkeley
P. Wooldridge, University of California, Berkeley
A. Perring, University of California, Berkeley
W. H. Brune, Pennsylvania State University
J. Merrill, University of Rhode Island
J. L. Moody, University of Virginia
D. Tarasick, Environment and Climate Change Canada
P. Nédélec, CNRS Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique
G. Forbes, Environment and Climate Change Canada
M. J. Newchurch, The University of Alabama in Huntsville
F. J. Schmidlin, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
B. J. Johnson, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
S. Turquety, Institut Pierre-Simon Laplace
S. L. Baughcum, Boeing Corporation
X. Ren, Pennsylvania State University
F. J. Fehsenfeld, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
J. F. Meagher, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
N. Spichtinger, Technische Universität München
C. C. Brown, NASA Langley Research Center
S. A. McKeen, University of Colorado Boulder
I. S. McDermid, Jet Propulsion Laboratory
T. Leblanc, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Document Type

Article

Date of Original Version

12-27-2006

Abstract

The most extensive set of free tropospheric ozone measurements ever compiled across midlatitude North America was measured with daily ozonesondes, commercial aircraft and a lidar at 14 sites during July-August 2004. The model estimated stratospheric ozone was subtracted from all profiles, leaving a tropospheric residual ozone. On average the upper troposphere above midlatitude eastern North America contained 15 ppbv more tropospheric residual ozone than the more polluted layer between the surface and 2 km above sea level. Lowest ozone values in the upper troposphere were found above the two upwind sites in California. The upper troposphere above midlatitude eastern North America contained 16 ppbv more tropospheric residual ozone than the upper troposphere above three upwind sites, with the greatest enhancement above Houston, Texas, at 24 ppbv. Upper tropospheric CO measurements above east Texas show no statistically significant enhancement compared to west coast measurements, arguing against a strong influence from fresh surface anthropogenic emissions to the upper troposphere above Texas where the ozone enhancement is greatest. Vertical mixing of ozone from the boundary layer to the upper troposphere can only account for 2 ppbv of the 16 ppbv ozone enhancement above eastern North America; therefore the remaining 14 ppbv must be the result of in situ ozone production. The transport of NOx tracers from North American anthropogenic, biogenic, biomass burning, and lightning emissions was simulated for the upper troposphere of North America with a particle dispersion model. Additional box model calculations suggest the 24 ppbv ozone enhancement above Houston can be produced over a 10 day period from oxidation reactions of lightning NOx and background mixing ratios of CO and CH4. Overall, we estimate that 69-84% (11-13 ppbv) of the 16 ppbv ozone enhancement above eastern North America is due to in situ ozone production from lightning NOx with the remainder due to transport of ozone from the surface or in situ ozone production from other sources of NOx. Copyright 2006 by the American Geophysical Union.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres

Volume

111

Issue

24

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