The stability of the stratospheric ozone layer during the end-Permian eruption of the Siberian Traps

Author(s):  
David J Beerling ◽  
Michael Harfoot ◽  
Barry Lomax ◽  
John A Pyle

The discovery of mutated palynomorphs in end-Permian rocks led to the hypothesis that the eruption of the Siberian Traps through older organic-rich sediments synthesized and released massive quantities of organohalogens, which caused widespread O 3 depletion and allowed increased terrestrial incidence of harmful ultraviolet-B radiation (UV-B, 280–315 nm; Visscher et al . 2004 Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 101 , 12 952–12 956). Here, we use an extended version of the Cambridge two-dimensional chemistry–transport model to evaluate quantitatively this possibility along with two other potential causes of O 3 loss at this time: (i) direct effects of HCl release by the Siberian Traps and (ii) the indirect release of organohalogens from dispersed organic matter. According to our simulations, CH 3 Cl released from the heating of coals alone caused comparatively minor O 3 depletion (5–20% maximum) because this mechanism fails to deliver sufficiently large amounts of Cl into the stratosphere. The unusual explosive nature of the Siberian Traps, combined with the direct release of large quantities of HCl, depleted the model O 3 layer in the high northern latitudes by 33–55%, given a main eruptive phase of less than or equal to 200 kyr. Nevertheless, O 3 depletion was most extensive when HCl release from the Siberian Traps was combined with massive CH 3 Cl release synthesized from a large reservoir of dispersed organic matter in Siberian rocks. This suite of model experiments produced column O 3 depletion of 70–85% and 55–80% in the high northern and southern latitudes, respectively, given eruption durations of 100–200 kyr. On longer eruption time scales of 400–600 kyr, corresponding O 3 depletion was 30–40% and 20–30%, respectively. Calculated year-round increases in total near-surface biologically effective (BE) UV-B radiation following these reductions in O 3 layer range from 30–60 (kJ m −2  d −1 ) BE up to 50–100 (kJ m −2  d −1 ) BE . These ranges of daily UV-B doses appear sufficient to exert mutagenic effects on plants, especially if sustained over tens of thousands of years, unlike either rising temperatures or SO 2 concentrations.

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (12) ◽  
pp. 17251-17281 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Xu ◽  
R. V. Martin ◽  
A. van Donkelaar ◽  
J. Kim ◽  
M. Choi ◽  
...  

Abstract. We determine and interpret fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in East China for January to December 2013 at a horizontal resolution of 6 km from aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved from the Korean Geostationary Ocean Color Imager (GOCI) satellite instrument. We implement a set of filters to minimize cloud contamination in GOCI AOD. Evaluation of filtered GOCI AOD with AOD from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) indicates significant agreement with mean fractional bias (MFB) in Beijing of 6.7 % and northern Taiwan of −1.2 %. We use a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to relate the total column AOD to the near-surface PM2.5. The simulated PM2.5/AOD ratio exhibits high consistency with ground-based measurements (MFB = −0.52–8.0 %). We evaluate the satellite-derived PM2.5 vs. the ground-level PM2.5 in 2013 measured by the China Environmental Monitoring Center. Significant agreement is found between GOCI-derived PM2.5 and in-situ observations in both annual averages (r = 0.81, N = 494) and monthly averages (MFB = 13.1 %), indicating GOCI provides valuable data for air quality studies in Northeast Asia. The GEOS-Chem simulated chemical speciation of GOCI-derived PM2.5 reveals that secondary inorganics (SO42−, NO3−, NH4+) and organic matter are the most significant components. Biofuel emissions in northern China for heating are responsible for an increase in the concentration of organic matter in winter. The population-weighted GOCI-derived PM2.5 over East China for 2013 is 53.8 μg m−3, threatening the health and life expectancy of its 600 million residents.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurav Govardhan ◽  
Sreedharan Krishnakumari Satheesh ◽  
Ravi Nanjundiah ◽  
Krishnaswamy Krishna Moorthy ◽  
Surendran Suresh Babu

Abstract. On account of its strong absorption of solar and terrestrial radiations, Black Carbon (BC) aerosol is known to impact large scale systems such as the Asian monsoon, Himalayan glaciers etc, besides affecting the thermal structure of lower atmosphere. While most studies focus on the near-surface abundance and impacts of BC, our study, using online regional chemistry transport model (WRF-Chem) simulations, examines the implications of sharp and confined layers of high BC concentration (called elevated BC layers) at altitudes of about 4.5 km and 8 km over the Indian region, as revealed in the recent in-situ measurements using high-altitude balloons. Our study demonstrates, that emissions from high-flying aircrafts are the most likely cause of these elevated BC layers. Furthermore, we show that such aircraft-emitted BC can get transported to even upper tropospheric/lower stratospheric heights (~ 17 km) aided by the strong monsoonal convection occurring over the region, which are known to overshoot the tropical tropopause leading to injection of tropospheric air mass (along with its constituent aerosols) into the stratosphere. We show observational evidence for such an intrusion of tropospheric BC into the stratosphere over Indian region, using extinction coefficient and particle depolarization ratio data from CALIOP Lidar on-board the CALIPSO satellite. We hypothesise that such intrusions of BC to lower stratosphere and its consequent longer residence time in the stratosphere would have significant implications for stratospheric ozone, considering the already reported ozone depleting potential of BC.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (22) ◽  
pp. 13133-13144 ◽  
Author(s):  
J.-W. Xu ◽  
R. V. Martin ◽  
A. van Donkelaar ◽  
J. Kim ◽  
M. Choi ◽  
...  

Abstract. We determine and interpret fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentrations in eastern China for January to December 2013 at a horizontal resolution of 6 km from aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrieved from the Korean geostationary ocean color imager (GOCI) satellite instrument. We implement a set of filters to minimize cloud contamination in GOCI AOD. Evaluation of filtered GOCI AOD with AOD from the Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) indicates significant agreement with mean fractional bias (MFB) in Beijing of 6.7 % and northern Taiwan of −1.2 %. We use a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) to relate the total column AOD to the near-surface PM2.5. The simulated PM2.5 / AOD ratio exhibits high consistency with ground-based measurements in Taiwan (MFB = −0.52 %) and Beijing (MFB = −8.0 %). We evaluate the satellite-derived PM2.5 versus the ground-level PM2.5 in 2013 measured by the China Environmental Monitoring Center. Significant agreement is found between GOCI-derived PM2.5 and in situ observations in both annual averages (r2 = 0.66, N = 494) and monthly averages (relative RMSE = 18.3 %), indicating GOCI provides valuable data for air quality studies in Northeast Asia. The GEOS-Chem simulated chemical composition of GOCI-derived PM2.5 reveals that secondary inorganics (SO42-, NO3-, NH4+) and organic matter are the most significant components. Biofuel emissions in northern China for heating increase the concentration of organic matter in winter. The population-weighted GOCI-derived PM2.5 over eastern China for 2013 is 53.8 μg m−3, with 400 million residents in regions that exceed the Interim Target-1 of the World Health Organization.


2017 ◽  
Vol 17 (15) ◽  
pp. 9623-9644 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gaurav Govardhan ◽  
Sreedharan Krishnakumari Satheesh ◽  
Ravi Nanjundiah ◽  
Krishnaswamy Krishna Moorthy ◽  
Surendran Suresh Babu

Abstract. On account of its strong absorption of solar and terrestrial radiation, black carbon (BC) aerosol is known to impact large-scale systems, such as the Asian monsoon and the Himalayan glaciers, in addition to affecting the thermal structure of the lower atmosphere. While most studies focus on the near-surface abundance and impacts of BC, our study examines the implications of sharp and confined layers of high BC concentration (called elevated BC layers) at altitudes more than 4 km over the Indian region using the online regional chemistry transport model (WRF-Chem) simulations. These elevated BC layers were revealed in the recent in situ measurements using high-altitude balloons carried out on 17 March 2010, 8 January 2011 and 25 April 2011. Our study demonstrates that high-flying aircraft (with emissions from the regionally fine-tuned MACCity inventory) are the most likely cause of these elevated BC layers. Furthermore, we show that such aircraft-emitted BC can be transported to upper tropospheric or lower stratospheric heights ( ∼  17 km) aided by the strong monsoonal convection occurring over the region, which is known to overshoot the tropical tropopause, leading to the injection of tropospheric air mass (along with its constituent aerosols) into the stratosphere. We show observational evidence for such an intrusion of tropospheric BC into the stratosphere over the Indian region using extinction coefficient and particle depolarisation ratio data from CALIOP Lidar on-board the CALIPSO satellite. We hypothesise that such intrusions of BC into the lower stratosphere and its consequent longer residence time in the stratosphere have significant implications for stratospheric ozone, especially considering the already reported ozone-depleting potential of BC.


Langmuir ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 1035-1042 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven E. Mylon ◽  
Claudia I. Rinciog ◽  
Nathan Schmidt ◽  
Leonardo Gutierrez ◽  
Gerard C. L. Wong ◽  
...  

2014 ◽  
Vol 70 (12) ◽  
pp. 2040-2046 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Chekli ◽  
S. Phuntsho ◽  
L. D. Tijing ◽  
J. L. Zhou ◽  
J.-H. Kim ◽  
...  

Manufactured nanoparticles (MNPs) are increasingly released into the environment and thus research on their fate and behaviour in complex environmental samples is urgently needed. The fate of MNPs in the aquatic environment will mainly depend on the physico-chemical characteristics of the medium. The presence and concentration of natural organic matter (NOM) will play a significant role on the stability of MNPs by either decreasing or exacerbating the aggregation phenomenon. In this study, we firstly investigated the effect of NOM concentration on the aggregation behaviour of manufactured Fe-oxide nanoparticles. Then, the stability of the coated nanoparticles was assessed under relevant environmental conditions. Flow field-flow fractionation, an emerging method which is gaining popularity in the field of nanotechnology, has been employed and results have been compared to another size-measurement technique to provide increased confidence in the outcomes. Results showed enhanced stability when the nanoparticles are coated with NOM, which was due to electrosteric stabilisation. However, the presence of divalent cations, even at low concentration (i.e. less than 1 mM) was found to induce aggregation of NOM-coated nanoparticles via bridging mechanisms between NOM and Ca2+.


2002 ◽  
Vol 59 (5) ◽  
pp. 778-786 ◽  
Author(s):  
C D Allen ◽  
R E.H Smith

The hypothesis that ambient ultraviolet radiation (UVR), at near-surface intensities, may diminish phosphorus availability to phytoplankton was tested in Lake Erie in July and August of 1998 and 1999. Relative to samples exposed to photosynthetically active radiation (PAR, 400–700 nm) only, those exposed to ultraviolet-B (UVB, 280–320) and (or) ultraviolet-A (UVA, 320–400 nm) in natural sunlight, or kept in darkness, had diminished phosphate uptake rates at elevated (1 µM P) dissolved phosphate concentrations. By contrast, the specific uptake rate of dissolved phosphate at ambient concentrations (turnover rate) was not significantly affected by UVR or darkness. Turnover was usually dominated by particles smaller than 0.8 µm, whereas uptake from elevated concentrations was dominated by larger particles. The size distribution of turnover and uptake activity was not affected by radiation treatment. Chlorophyll a concentrations were decreased by sufficient exposure to UVB and (or) UVA and increased by deprivation of PAR (dark controls), but the concentration of bacterial cells was unaffected. The results showed that UVR inhibited the phosphate uptake potential of larger, probably algal, plankton but did not change the apparent severity of phosphate limitation at ambient concentrations.


2016 ◽  
Vol 55 (3) ◽  
pp. 723-741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiao-Ming Hu ◽  
Ming Xue ◽  
Petra M. Klein ◽  
Bradley G. Illston ◽  
Sheng Chen

AbstractMany studies have investigated urban heat island (UHI) intensity for cities around the world, which is normally quantified as the temperature difference between urban location(s) and rural location(s). A few open questions still remain regarding the UHI, such as the spatial distribution of UHI intensity, temporal (including diurnal and seasonal) variation of UHI intensity, and the UHI formation mechanism. A dense network of atmospheric monitoring sites, known as the Oklahoma City (OKC) Micronet (OKCNET), was deployed in 2008 across the OKC metropolitan area. This study analyzes data from OKCNET in 2009 and 2010 to investigate OKC UHI at a subcity spatial scale for the first time. The UHI intensity exhibited large spatial variations over OKC. During both daytime and nighttime, the strongest UHI intensity is mostly confined around the central business district where land surface roughness is the highest in the OKC metropolitan area. These results do not support the roughness warming theory to explain the air temperature UHI in OKC. The UHI intensity of OKC increased prominently around the early evening transition (EET) and stayed at a fairly constant level throughout the night. The physical processes during the EET play a critical role in determining the nocturnal UHI intensity. The near-surface rural temperature inversion strength was a good indicator for nocturnal UHI intensity. As a consequence of the relatively weak near-surface rural inversion, the strongest nocturnal UHI in OKC was less likely to occur in summer. Other meteorological factors (e.g., wind speed and cloud) can affect the stability/depth of the nighttime boundary layer and can thus modulate nocturnal UHI intensity.


2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (19) ◽  
pp. 10983-10998 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Péré ◽  
B. Bessagnet ◽  
V. Pont ◽  
M. Mallet ◽  
F. Minvielle

Abstract. In this work, impact of aerosol solar extinction on the photochemistry over eastern Europe during the 2010 wildfires episode is discussed for the period from 5 to 12 August 2010, which coincides to the peak of fire activity. The methodology is based on an online coupling between the chemistry-transport model CHIMERE (extended by an aerosol optical module) and the radiative transfer code TUV. Results of simulations indicate an important influence of the aerosol solar extinction, in terms of intensity and spatial extent, with a reduction of the photolysis rates of NO2 and O3 up to 50 % (in daytime average) along the aerosol plume transport. At a regional scale, these changes in photolysis rates lead to a 3–15 % increase in the NO2 daytime concentration and to an ozone reduction near the surface of 1–12 %. The ozone reduction is shown to occur over the entire boundary layer, where aerosols are located. Also, the total aerosol mass concentration (PM10) is shown to be decreased by 1–2 %, on average during the studied period, caused by a reduced formation of secondary aerosols such as sulfates and secondary organics (4–10 %) when aerosol impact on photolysis rates is included. In terms of model performance, comparisons of simulations with air quality measurements at Moscow indicate that an explicit representation of aerosols interaction with photolysis rates tend to improve the estimation of the near-surface concentration of ozone and nitrogen dioxide as well as the formation of inorganic aerosol species such as ammonium, nitrates and sulfates.


1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (4) ◽  
pp. 550-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Gremaud ◽  
W. Cheng ◽  
I. Finnie ◽  
M. B. Prime

Introducing a thin cut from the surface of a part containing residual stresses produces a change in strain on the surface. When the strains are measured as a function of the depth of the cut, residual stresses near the surface can be estimated using the compliance method. In previous work, the unknown residual stress field was represented by a series of continuous polynomials. The present paper shows that for stress states with steep gradients, superior predictions are obtained by using “overlapping piecewise functions” to represent the stresses. The stability of the method under the influence of random errors and a zero shift is demonstrated by numerical simulation.


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