Characteristics of Non-Methane Hydrocarbons in the Atmosphere of Guangzhou

2011 ◽  
Vol 66-68 ◽  
pp. 59-64
Author(s):  
Long Feng Li ◽  
Xin Ming Wang

From March to December 2005 NMHCs were measured in an urban site in Guangzhou. Air samples were collected with canister and analyzed for HMHCs by GC-MSD/FID after cryogenic pre-concentration. Mixing ratios of Alkanes accounted for over 43% in total NMHCs in each month while the shares of aromatic hydrocarbons were 19-28%. In average ethyne was the most abundant compound (5.46 ppbv), followed by propane (4.49 ppbv) and toluene (4.19 ppbv). Seasonal variations of most anthropogenic hydrocarbons revealed higher mixing ratios in autumn-winter than in spring-summer. Isoprene, on the contrary, exhibited the the highest levels in summer and the lowest in spring. Anthropogenic NMHCs typically showed a first peak around 8:00 local time in morning and 20:00 local time in the evening, while isoprene revealed a different bimodal diurnal pattern.

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ziru Lan ◽  
Weili Lin ◽  
Weiwei Pu ◽  
Ziqiang Ma

Abstract. Ammonia (NH3) plays an important role in particulate matter formation; however, few long-term observations with a high temporal resolution have been conducted on the NH3 concentrations in Beijing. In this study, online ammonia analyzers were used to observe continuously the atmospheric NH3 concentrations at an urban site and a suburban site in Beijing from January 13, 2018, to January 13, 2019. The average mixing ratio of NH3 at the urban site was 21 ± 14 ppb (range: 1.6–133 ppb) and that at the suburban site was 22 ± 15 ppb (range: 0.8–199 ppb). The NH3 mixing ratios at the urban and suburban sites exhibited similar seasonal variations, with high values being observed in the summer and spring and low values being observed in the autumn and winter. The hourly mean NH3 mixing ratios at the urban site were highly correlated (R = 0.849, P 


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (19) ◽  
pp. 10721-10730 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Ran ◽  
W. L. Lin ◽  
Y. Z. Deji ◽  
B. La ◽  
P. M. Tsering ◽  
...  

Abstract. Through several years of development, the city of Lhasa has become one of the most populated and urbanized areas on the highest plateau in the world. In the process of urbanization, current and potential air quality issues have been gradually concerned. To investigate the current status of air pollution in Lhasa, various gas pollutants including NOx, CO, SO2, and O3, were continuously measured from June 2012 to May 2013 at an urban site (29.40° N, 91.08° E, 3650 m a.s.l.). The seasonal variations of primary gas pollutants exhibited a peak from November to January with a large variability. High mixing ratios of primary trace gases almost exclusively occurred under low wind speed and showed no distinct dependence on wind direction, implying local urban emissions to be predominant. A comparison of NO2, CO, and SO2 mixing ratios in summer between 1998 and 2012 indicated a significant increase in emissions of these gas pollutants and a change in their intercorrelations, as a result of a substantial growth in the demand of energy consumption using fossil fuels instead of previously widely used biomass. The pronounced diurnal double peaks of primary trace gases in all seasons suggested automobile exhaust to be a major emission source in Lhasa. The secondary gas pollutant O3 displayed an average diurnal cycle of a shallow flat peak for about 4–5 h in the afternoon and a minimum in the early morning. Nighttime O3 was sometimes completely consumed by the high level of NOx. Seasonally, the variations of O3 mixing ratios displayed a low valley in winter and a peak in spring. In autumn and winter, transport largely contributed to the observed O3 mixing ratios, given its dependence on wind speed and wind direction, while in spring and summer photochemistry played an important role. A more efficient buildup of O3 mixing ratios in the morning and a higher peak in the afternoon was found in summer 2012 than in 1998. An enhancement in O3 mixing ratios would be expected in the future and more attention should be given to O3 photochemistry in response to increasing precursor emissions in this area.


2011 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 371-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maja Turk-Sekulic ◽  
Jelena Radonic ◽  
Mirjana Vojinovic-Miloradov ◽  
Nevena Senk ◽  
Marija Okuka

Results of partial or total destruction of industrial plants, military targets, infrastructure, uncontrolled fires and explosions during the conflict period from 1991 to 1999, at the area of Western Balkans, were large amounts of hazardous organic matter that have been generated and emitted in the environment. In order to assess gas/particle partition of seven EPA polychlorinated biphenyls and sixteen EPA polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, twenty air samples have been collected at six urban, industrial and highly contaminated localities in Vojvodina. Hi-Vol methodology has been used for collecting ambiental air samples, that simultaneously collects gaseous and particulate phase with polyurethane foam filters (PUF) and glass fiber filters (GFF). PUF and GFF filters have been analyzed, and concentration levels of gaseous PCBs and PAHs molecules in gaseous and particulate phase were obtained, converted and expressed through fraction of individual compounds sorbed onto particulate phase of the sample, in total detected quantity. Experimentally gained gas/particle partitioning values of PCBs and PAHs molecules have been compared with PP-LFER model estimated values. Significant deviation has been noticed during comparative analysis of estimated polyparameter model values for complete set of seven PCBs congeners. Much better agreement of experimental and estimated values is for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, especially for molecules with four rings. These results are in a good correlation with literature data where polyparameter model has been used for predicting gas/particle partition of studied group of organic molecules.


2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (20) ◽  
pp. 27663-27729 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Launois ◽  
P. Peylin ◽  
S. Belviso ◽  
B. Poulter

Abstract. Clear analogies between carbonyl sulfide (OCS) and carbon dioxide (CO2) diffusion pathways through leaves have been revealed by experimental studies with plant uptake playing an important role for the atmospheric budget of both species. Here we use atmospheric OCS to evaluate the gross primary production (GPP) of three dynamic global vegetation models (LPJ, NCAR-CLM4 and ORCHIDEE). Vegetation uptake of OCS is modeled as a linear function of GPP and LRU, the ratio of OCS to CO2 deposition velocities to plants. New parameterizations for the non-photosynthetic sinks (oxic soils, atmospheric oxidation) and biogenic sources (oceans and anoxic soils) of OCS are also provided. Despite new large oceanic emissions, global OCS budgets created with each vegetation model show exceeding sinks by several hundreds of Gg S yr−1. An inversion of the surface fluxes (optimization of a global scalar which accounts for flux uncertainties) led to balanced OCS global budgets, as atmospheric measurements suggest, mainly by drastic reduction (−30%) of soil and vegetation uptakes. The amplitude of variations in atmospheric OCS mixing ratios is mainly dictated by the vegetation sink over the Northern Hemisphere. This allows for bias recognition in the GPP representations of the three selected models. Main bias patterns are (i) the terrestrial GPP of ORCHIDEE at high Northern latitudes is currently over-estimated, (ii) the seasonal variations of the GPP are out of phase in the NCAR-CLM4 model, showing a maximum carbon uptake too early in spring in the northernmost ecosystems, (iii) the overall amplitude of the seasonal variations of GPP in NCAR-CLM4 is too small, and (iv) for the LPJ model, the GPP is slightly out of phase for northernmost ecosystems and the respiration fluxes might be too large in summer in the Northern Hemisphere.


2015 ◽  
Vol 8 (10) ◽  
pp. 4243-4264 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Hansen ◽  
M. Blocquet ◽  
C. Schoemaecker ◽  
T. Léonardis ◽  
N. Locoge ◽  
...  

Abstract. The investigation of hydroxyl radical (OH) chemistry during intensive field campaigns has led to the development of several techniques dedicated to ambient measurements of total OH reactivity, which is the inverse of the OH lifetime. Three techniques are currently used during field campaigns, including the total OH loss rate method, the pump–probe method, and the comparative reactivity method. However, no formal intercomparison of these techniques has been published so far, and there is a need to ensure that measurements of total OH reactivity are consistent among the different techniques. An intercomparison of two OH reactivity instruments, one based on the comparative reactivity method (CRM) and the other based on the pump–probe method, was performed in October 2012 in a NOx-rich environment, which is known to be challenging for the CRM technique. This study presents an extensive description of the two instruments, the CRM instrument from Mines Douai (MD-CRM) and the pump–probe instrument from the University of Lille (UL-FAGE), and highlights instrumental issues associated with the two techniques. It was found that the CRM instrument used in this study underestimates ambient OH reactivity by approximately 20 % due to the photolysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) inside the sampling reactor; this value is dependent on the position of the lamp within the reactor. However, this issue can easily be fixed, and the photolysis of VOCs was successfully reduced to a negligible level after this intercomparison campaign. The UL-FAGE instrument may also underestimate ambient OH reactivity due to the difficulty to accurately measure the instrumental zero. It was found that the measurements are likely biased by approximately 2 s-1, due to impurities in humid zero air. Two weeks of ambient sampling indicate that the measurements performed by the two OH reactivity instruments are in agreement, within the measurement uncertainties for each instrument, for NOx mixing ratios up to 100 ppbv. The CRM technique has hitherto mainly been used in low-NOx environments, i.e. environments with ambient NOx mixing ratios lower than a few ppbv, due to a measurement artifact generated by ambient NO inside the sampling reactor. However, this study shows that this technique can also be used under NOx-rich conditions if a NOx-dependent correction is carefully applied on the OH reactivity measurements. A full suite of 52 VOCs, NOx, and other inorganic species were monitored during this intercomparison. An investigation of the OH reactivity budget for this urban site suggests that this suite of trace gases can account for the measured total OH reactivity.


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