Diurnal variations of boundary-layer carbon dioxide in a coastal city—Observations and comparison with model results

1997 ◽  
Vol 31 (18) ◽  
pp. 3101-3114 ◽  
Author(s):  
K.H. Reid ◽  
D.G. Steyn
2003 ◽  
Vol 48 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-281 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. El Ouarghi ◽  
E. Praet ◽  
H. Jupsin ◽  
J.-L. Vasel

We previously suggested a method to characterize the oxygen balance in High-Rate Algal Ponds (HRAPs). The method was based on a hydrodynamic study of the reactor combined with a tracer gas method to measure the oxygen transfer coefficient. From such a method diurnal variations of photosynthesis and respiration can be quantified and the net oxygen production rate determined. In this paper we propose a similar approach to obtain carbon dioxide balances in HRAPs. Then oxygen and carbon dioxide balances can be compared.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 19529-19570 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. D. Andrés-Hernández ◽  
D. Kartal ◽  
J. N. Growley ◽  
V. Sinha ◽  
E. Regelin ◽  
...  

Abstract. Peroxy radicals were measured by a PeRCA (Peroxy Radical Chemical Amplifier) instrument in the boundary layer during the DOMINO (Diel Oxidant Mechanisms In relation to Nitrogen Oxides) campaign at a coastal, forested site influenced by urban-industrial emissions in Southern Spain in late autumn. Total peroxy radicals (RO2* = HO2 + ΣRO2) generally showed a daylight maximum between 10 and 50 pptv at 13:00 UTC, with an average of 18 pptv over the 15 days of measurements. Emissions from the industrial area of Huelva often impacted the measurement site at night during the campaign. The processing of significant levels of anthropogenic organics leads to an intense nocturnal radical chemistry accompanied by formation of organic peroxy radicals at comparable levels to those of summer photochemical conditions with peak events up to 60–80 pptv. The RO2 production initiated by reactions of NO3 with organic trace gases was estimated to be significant but not sufficient to account for the concentrations of RO2* observed in air masses carrying high pollutant loading. The nocturnal production of peroxy radicals seems therefore to be dominated by ozonolysis of volatile organic compounds. RO2* diurnal variations were consistent with other HO2 measurements available at the site. HO2/RO2* ratios generally varied between 0.3 and 0.4 in all wind directions. Occasional HO2/RO2* ≥ 1 seemed to be associated with periods of high RO2* variability and with RO2 interferences in the HO2 measurement in air masses with high RO2 load.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Kunz ◽  
Jost V. Lavric ◽  
Rainer Gasche ◽  
Christoph Gerbig ◽  
Richard H. Grant ◽  
...  

Abstract. The carbon exchange between ecosystems and the atmosphere has a large influence on the Earth system and specifically on the climate. This exchange is therefore being studied intensively, often using the eddy covariance (EC) technique. EC measurements provide reliable results under turbulent atmospheric conditions, but under stable conditions – as they often occur at night – these measurements are known to misrepresent exchange fluxes. Nocturnal boundary layer (NBL) budgets can provide independent flux estimates under stable conditions, but their application so far has been limited by rather high cost and practical difficulties. Unmanned aircraft systems (UASs) equipped with trace gas analysers have the potential to make this method more accessible. We present the methodology and results of a proof of concept study carried out during the ScaleX 2016 campaign. Successive vertical profiles of carbon dioxide dry air mole fraction in the NBL were taken with a compact analyser carried by a UAS. We estimate an average carbon dioxide flux of 12 μmol m−2 s−1, which is plausible for nocturnal respiration in this region in summer. Transport modelling suggests that the NBL budgets represent an area on the order of 100 km2.


2008 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 14311-14346 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. L. McGrath-Spangler ◽  
A. S. Denning ◽  
K. D. Corbin ◽  
I. T. Baker

Abstract. The response of atmospheric carbon dioxide to a given amount of surface flux is inversely proportional to the depth of the boundary layer. Overshooting thermals that entrain free tropospheric air down into the boundary layer modify the characteristics and depth of the lower layer through the insertion of energy and mass. This alters the surface energy budget by changing the Bowen ratio and thereby altering the vegetative response and the surface boundary conditions. Although overshooting thermals are important in the physical world, their effects are unresolved in most regional models. A parameterization to include the effects of boundary layer entrainment was introduced into a coupled ecosystem-atmosphere model (SiB-RAMS). The parameterization is based on a downward heat flux at the top of the boundary layer that is proportional to the heat flux at the surface. Results with the parameterization show that the boundary layer simulated is deeper, warmer, and drier than when the parameterization is turned off. These results alter the vegetative stress factors thereby changing the carbon flux from the surface. The combination of this and the deeper boundary layer change the concentration of carbon dioxide in the boundary layer.


Author(s):  
M. Satyavani ◽  
P. S. Brahmanandam ◽  
P. S. V. Subba Rao ◽  
M. P. Rao

This study reports diurnal variations of wind directions, wind speed of vector winds, and the evolution of boundary layer (BL) over a mid-latitude measured using a transportable 1290 MHz wind profiling radar located at Cardington (Lat. 52.10ºN; Long. 0.42ºE), Bedfordshire, UK from 17 to 28 April 2010. The horizontal winds show benign behavior during nighttime hours, while winds during daytime hours had magnitudes around, on average, 10-20 m/s, in the majority of the cases. The heights of the boundary layer (BL) varied from as low as ~1100 m to ~2600 km and BL height had shown to have evolved from 0700 universal time (UT) onwards and collapsed by 0000 UT.  Besides, a comparison made between winds measured by the 1290 MHz radar and near-by radiosonde showed a moderate similitude between them, albeit a few discrepancies are found in wind directions and speeds. The possible reasons for these discrepancies could be different volume sensing of observations of these independent observations. An attempt is, therefore, made to calculate radiosonde balloon drifts [1] for the ascending node of the balloons, which had confirmed that the balloons often drifted horizontally as long as up to 100 km. The large drifts, most probably, are the possible reasons for the mismatching of winds measured by these two independent remote sensing instruments.


2019 ◽  
Vol 2019 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-47 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuzhan Ren

Abstract A solution to the 3D transport equation for passive tracers in the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL), formulated in terms of Green’s function (GF), is derived to show the connection between the concentration and surface fluxes of passive tracers through GF. Analytical solutions to the 1D vertical diffusion equation are derived to reveal the nonlinear dependence of the concentration and flux on the diffusivity, time, and height, and are employed to examine the impact of the diffusivity on the diurnal variations of CO2 in the ABL. The properties of transport operator H and their implications in inverse modeling are discussed. It is found that H has a significant contribution to the rectifier effect in the diurnal variations of CO2. Since H is the integral of GF in time, the narrow distribution of GF in time justifies the reduction of the size of H in inverse modeling. The exponential decay of GF with height suggests that the estimated surface fluxes in inverse modeling are more sensitive to the observations in the lower ABL. The solutions and first mean value theorem are employed to discuss the uncertainties associated with the concentration–mean surface flux equation used to link the concentrations and mean surface flux. Both analytical and numerical results show that the equation can introduce big errors, particularly when surface flux is sign indefinite. Numerical results show that the conclusions about the evolution properties of passive tracers based on the analytical solutions also hold in the cases with a more complicated diffusion coefficient and time-varying ABL height.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jinhui Gao

<p>Comprehensive measurements were conducted at the summit of Mount (Mt.) Huang, a rural site located in eastern China during the summer of 2011. They observed that ozone showed pronounced diurnal variations with high concentrations at night and low values during daytime. The Weather Research and Forecasting with Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model was applied to simulate the ozone concentrations at Mt. Huang in June 2011. With processes analysis and online ozone tagging method we coupled into the model system, the causes of this diurnal pattern and the contributions from different source regions were investigated. Our results showed that boundary layer diurnal cycle played an important role in driving the ozone diurnal variation. Further analysis showed that the negative contribution of vertical mixing was significant, resulting in the ozone decrease during the daytime. In contrast, ozone increased at night owing to the significant positive contribution of advection. This shifting of major factor between vertical mixing and advection formed this diurnal variation. Ozone source apportionment results indicated that approximately half was provided by inflow effect of ozone from outside the model domain (O<sub>3-INFLOW</sub>) and the other half was formed by ozone precursors (O<sub>3-PBL</sub>) emitted in eastern, central, and southern China. In the O<sub>3-PBL</sub>, 3.0% of the ozone was from Mt. Huang reflecting the small local contribution (O<sub>3-LOC</sub>) and the non-local contributions (O<sub>3-NLOC</sub>) accounted for 41.6%, in which ozone from the southerly regions contributed significantly, for example, 9.9% of the ozone originating from Jiangxi, representing the highest geographical contributor. Because the origin and variation of O<sub>3-NLOC</sub> was highly related to the diurnal movements in boundary layer, the similar diurnal patterns between O<sub>3-NLOC</sub> and total ozone both indicated the direct influence of O<sub>3-NLOC</sub> and the importance of boundary layer diurnal variations in the formation of such distinct diurnal ozone variations at Mt. Huang.</p>


2005 ◽  
Vol 44 (8) ◽  
pp. 1180-1194 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Salmond ◽  
T. R. Oke ◽  
C. S. B. Grimmond ◽  
S. Roberts ◽  
B. Offerle

Abstract Turbulent fluxes of carbon dioxide and sensible heat were observed in the surface layer of the weakly convective nocturnal boundary layer over the center of the city of Marseille, France, during the Expérience sur Sites pour Contraindre les Modèles de Pollution Atmosphérique et de Transport d’Emission (ESCOMPTE) field experiment in the summer of 2001. The data reveal intermittent events or bursts in the time series of carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and air temperature that are superimposed upon the background values. These features relate to intermittent structures in the fluxes of CO2 and sensible heat. In Marseille, CO2 is primarily emitted into the atmosphere at street level from vehicle exhausts. In a similar way, nocturnal sensible heat fluxes are most likely to originate in the deep street canyons that are warmer than adjacent roof surfaces. Wavelet analysis is used to examine the hypothesis that CO2 concentrations can be used as a tracer to identify characteristics of the venting of pollutants and heat from street canyons into the above-roof nocturnal urban boundary layer. Wavelet analysis is shown to be effective in the identification and analysis of significant events and coherent structures within the turbulent time series. Late in the evening, there is a strong correlation between the burst structures observed in the air temperature and CO2 time series. Evidence suggests that the localized increases of temperature and CO2 observed above roof level in the urban boundary layer (UBL) are related to intermittent venting of sensible heat from the warmer urban canopy layer (UCL). However, later in the night, local advection of CO2 in the UBL, combined with reduced traffic emissions in the UCL, limit the value of CO2 as a tracer of convective plumes in the UBL.


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