Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Vegetation and Paper Mills in the Southeast United States during the SENEX (Southeast Nexus) Campaign in 2013

Abstract:

Natural emissions of ozone-and-aerosol-precursor gases such as isoprene and monoterpenes are high in the southeast of the U.S. and rival those found in tropical forests. In addition, anthropogenic emissions are significant in the Southeast and photochemistry is rapid. The NOAA SENEX aircraft campaign took place in June-July 2013 in the southeast U.S. as part of the Southeast Atmosphere Study (SAS) and was focused on studying the interactions between these emissions to form secondary pollutants. The NOAA WP-3 aircraft conducted 20 research flights between May 27 and July 10, 2013 based out of Smyrna, TN.

In this presentation we focus on the emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Various methods to determine emissions of isoprene and monoterpenes are investigated, e.g.: (1) emissions are determined by looking at the ambient mixing ratio, their lifetime and mixing volume, (2) eddy covariance or wavelet flux measurement techniques are tested, and (3) using the NCAR C-130 observations of isoprene fluxes, the correlations between fluxes and concentrations and variability to estimate fluxes from the P-3 data. The resulting emission flux estimates are compared with biogenic emission inventories.

The forested Southeast US is heavily managed for large-scale wood and wood products production and therefore has a large density of pulp and paper mills, which are a source of monoterpenes and other VOCs that are typically thought to be biogenic. The significance of VOC emissions from point sources such as the paper mills and others are investigated.