Buffering Mechanism of the Atmospheric Oxidation Capacity

Abstract:

Millions of tons pollutant and greenhouse gases per year are emitted and subsequently removed from the atmosphere through oxidation reactions. The oxidation products are typically more soluble or have a low vapor pressure so that they become subject to deposition processes. The atmospheric oxidation capacity is primarily maintained by hydroxyl (OH) radicals, which initiate reaction chains that can recycle or destroy OH. Key questions are if the oxidation capacity is affected by growing pollution emissions, to what extent it is buffered by OH recycling, and how regions with specific photochemical and pollution characteristics act together through atmospheric transport at a global scale. While previous generations atmospheric chemistry-transport models have discounted OH recycling with schemes that lumped or truncated reaction sequences, we present an approach that does justice to the intricate interactions between reactive carbon, nitrogen and oxygen species. This gives rise to a global buffering mechanism of the oxidation capacity that explains the observed small variability of methane and other gases that are removed by reaction with OH.