A13E-0391
On the Role of Organic Nitrates, RONO2, in the NOx Budget: Constraints from Measurements During SOAS

Monday, 14 December 2015
Poster Hall (Moscone South)
Paul Romer, University of California Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, United States
Abstract:
In rural and forested areas, the formation of alkyl nitrates (RONO2) has recently been shown to be the most important sink of NOx (Browne et al. 2013). However, the lifetime and fate of RONO2 are still poorly understood, especially for biogenic, multifunctional nitrates. We use measurements of NOx, RONO2, HNO3, HOx, and VOCs obtained during summer 2013 in rural Alabama as part of the Southern Oxidant and Aerosol Study (SOAS) to provide new constraints on the production and loss of biogenic RONO2 and thus to understand their role in setting the NOx lifetime. We find that the RONO2 in the region are short-lived, with a lifetime of approximately 2 hours. Processes affecting this lifetime and consequences for NOx will be described.