Tropospheric formation

Example of an analysis of exhaust gas by gas phase chromatography and j relative reactivity of effluents with respect to tropospheric ozone formation. I... 

R is hydrogen, alkenyl, or alkyne. In remote tropospheric air where NO concentrations ate sometimes quite low, HO2 radicals can react with ozone (HO2 + O3 — HO + 2 O2) and result in net ozone destmction rather than formation. The ambient ozone concentration depends on cloud cover, time of day and year, and geographical location. 

Another interesting applieation of MDGC is in the rapid determination of isoprene (the most reaetive hydroearbon speeies) and dimethyl sulfide (DMS) (the major souree of sulfur in the marine troposphere and a preeursor to eloud formation) in the atmosphere (16). The deteetion limits were 5 and 25 ng 1 respeetively. 

Upward diffusion of water vapor through the cold temperatures of the tropopause is very inefficient in fact, the upper limit of cloud formation often occurs at the tropopause. Thus the stratosphere is so dry as to prevent rain formation, and particles and gases have very much longer residence times there than in the troposphere. Stratospheric removal requires diffusion back through the tropopause, which then may be followed by precipitation scavenging. 

Existence of the PSS was predicted theoretically by Leighton (61), and experimental studies of this relationship date back almost 20 years. These experiments have been accomplished in smog chambers (62), polluted urban air (63,64,65), rural environments (66), and in the free troposphere (67). The goal of these experiments has been to verify that our understanding of NOjj chemistry is fundamentally correct, and to ver the role of H02 and R02 in ozone formation. Studies in polluted air seem to confirm the dominance... 

Oxidant Formation. The role of HO. in controlling the time-scale and severity of tropospheric oxidant pollution may be seen from the parameterization of O Brien and co-workers (75,76). The simplest possible mechanism for oxidant (Le. ozone, PAN, H2O2, etc.) formation consists simply of the reaction of an individual NNlHCj with HO. to convert the NMHCj to a generic product(s) PRODj, followed by removal of the product by HO. (PROD photolysis may be important, but is ignored here)... 

When NMHC are significant in concentration, differences in their oxidation mechanisms such as how the NMHC chemistry was parameterized, details of R02-/R02 recombination (95), and heterogenous chemistry also contribute to differences in computed [HO ]. Recently, the sensitivity of [HO ] to non-methane hydrocarbon oxidation was studied in the context of the remote marine boundary-layer (156). It was concluded that differences in radical-radical recombination mechanisms (R02 /R02 ) can cause significant differences in computed [HO ] in regions of low NO and NMHC levels. The effect of cloud chemistry in the troposphere has also recently been studied (151,180). The rapid aqueous-phase breakdown of formaldehyde in the presence of clouds reduces the source of HOj due to RIO. In addition, the dissolution in clouds of a NO reservoir (N2O5) at night reduces the formation of HO and CH2O due to R6-RIO and R13. Predictions for HO and HO2 concentrations with cloud chemistry considered compared to predictions without cloud chemistry are 10-40% lower for HO and 10-45% lower for HO2. 

Only two possibilities exist for explaining the existence of cloud formation in the atmosphere. If there were no particles to act as cloud condensation nuclei (CCN), water would condense into clouds at relative humidities (RH) of around 300%. That is, air can remain supersaturated below 300% with water vapor for long periods of fime. If this were to occur, condensation would occur on surface objects and the hydrologic cycle would be very different from what is observed. Thus, a second possibility must be the case particles are present in the air and act as CCN at much lower RH. These particles must be small enough to have small settling velocity, stay in the air for long periods of time and be lofted to the top of the troposphere by ordinary updrafts of cm/s velocity. Two further possibilities exist - the particles can either be water soluble or insoluble. In order to understand why it is likely that CCN are soluble, we examine the consequences of the effect of curvature on the saturation water pressure of water. 

Although nitrosamine and nitramine formation from UDMH (and similarly substituted hydrazines) will probably be the major reaction pathway as long as the atmosphere into which the hydrazines are emitted contains some ozone (as does the "natural" troposphere), our results indicate that different products would potentially be formed if these compounds are emitted into polluted atmospheres where O3 is suppressed by high levels of NO. 

The concentration of NO determines the relative importance of reaction 3, and the formation of NO2 is particularly significant since this is readily photolyzed to produce 0( P) that reacts with oxygen to produce ozone. This alkane-NO reaction may produce O3 at the troposphere-stratosphere interface ... 

The kinetics of the various reactions have been explored in detail using large-volume chambers that can be used to simulate reactions in the troposphere. They have frequently used hydroxyl radicals formed by photolysis of methyl (or ethyl) nitrite, with the addition of NO to inhibit photolysis of NO2. This would result in the formation of 0( P) atoms, and subsequent reaction with Oj would produce ozone, and hence NO3 radicals from NOj. Nitrate radicals are produced by the thermal decomposition of NjOj, and in experiments with O3, a scavenger for hydroxyl radicals is added. Details of the different experimental procedures for the measurement of absolute and relative rates have been summarized, and attention drawn to the often considerable spread of values for experiments carried out at room temperature (-298 K) (Atkinson 1986). It should be emphasized that in the real troposphere, both the rates—and possibly the products—of transformation will be determined by seasonal differences both in temperature and the intensity of solar radiation. These are determined both by latitude and altitude. 

Considerable attention has been directed to the formation of nitroarenes that may be formed by several mechanisms (a) initial reaction with hydroxyl radicals followed by reactions with nitrate radicals or NO2 and (b) direct reaction with nitrate radicals. The first is important for arenes in the troposphere, whereas the second is a thermal reaction that occurs during combustion of arenes. The kinetics of formation of nitroarenes by gas-phase reaction with N2O5 has been examined for naphthalene (Pitts et al. 1985a) and methylnaphthalenes (Zielinska et al. 1989) biphenyl (Atkinson et al. 1987b,c) acephenanthrylene (Zielinska et al. 1988) and for adsorbed pyrene (Pitts et al. 1985b). Both... 

Seefeld S, JA Kerr (1997) Kinetics of reactions of propionylperoxy radicals with NO and NOj peroxypropio-nyl nitrate formation under laboratory conditions related to the troposphere. Environ Sci Technol 31 2949-2953. 

In a clean troposphere, ozone would react with NO molecules, resulting in no net generation of ozone. However, in a dirty atmosphere, excess ozone is generated, thereby resulting in the formation of an oxidant which can lead to health effects, an especially hazardous condition for children and the elders who suffer from asthma and other respiratory challenges. 

Ozone is a very reactive compound present in the upper atmosphere (stratosphere) and the lower atmosphere (troposphere). Whilst ozone is vital in the stratosphere, its presence at ground levels is a danger to human health and contributes to the formation of other pollutants. 

The basic principle for 210Pb dating is that gaseous 222Rn is emitted to the atmosphere from the lithosphere, surface waters and airborne dust and there decays to 210Pb. After formation in the troposphere, 2l0Pb becomes attached to aerosol particles which reside in the atmosphere for only 30 days or less depending on season, latitude, frequency of rainfall, size and altitude of the aerosols, Nevissi et al., [17]1, Schell [26], and Poet et al., [19]. — —... 

Nitrous oxide (N2O) is an important greenhonse gas with a radiative forcing effect 310 times that of CO2 and a lifetime in the troposphere of approximately 120 years. Part of the N2O is converted to NO in the stratosphere, and so contributes to depletion of ozone. Nitric oxide (NO) is very reactive in the atmosphere and has a lifetime of only 1-10 days. It contribntes to acidification and to reactions leading to the formation of ozone in the troposphere, and so also to global warming. 

Chemical/Physical. In the gas phase, cycloate reacts with hydroxyl and NO3 radicals but not with ozone. With hydroxy radicals, cleavage of the cyclohexyl ring was suggested leading to the formation of a compound tentatively identified as C2H5(Cff0)NC(0)SC2H5. The calculated photolysis lifetimes of cycloate in the troposphere with hydroxyl and NO3 radicals are 5.2 h and 1.4 d, respectively. The relative reaction rate constants for the reaction of cycloate with OH and nitrate radials are 3.54 x lO " and 3.29 x 10 cm /molecule-sec, respectively (Kwok et al., 1992). 

Volatile organic compounds (VOC) contribute to the formation of tropospheric ozone (summer smog). Certain halogenated hydrocarbons (e.g. CFCs) also destroy the stratospheric ozone layer. Chlorinated solvents are hazardous to water and, if disposed of incorrectly (e.g. burning), may emit highly toxic substances (e.g. dioxins). 

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