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The impact of cloud chemistry on photochemical oxidant formation

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Abstract

Photochemical smog formation at the regional scale is a phenomenon of concern in northern America and Europe. It is important to include a treatment of cloud processes in regional photochemical oxidant models because clouds may affect the overall chemistry of regional photochemical oxidant formation. This paper focuses on the development and application of a model that describes the chemistry of oxidant formation in clouds. The model consists of a chemical kinetic mechanism for the gas phase, mass transfer and thermodynamic equilibrium between the bulk gas phase and the cloud droplets, and a detailed chemical kinetic mechanism for the aqueous phase. Model simulations were conducted for typical conditions in the northeastern U.S. using (1) gas-phase chemistry only and (2) gas-phase and cloud droplet chemistry. Comparisons of these two sets of model simulations show that O3 formation is considerably reduced in clouds despite its low solubility. The principal causes of lower O3 formation rates are (1) the high solubility of aldehydes, which are a main source of HO2 radicals, (2) the scavenging of radicals by cloud droplets, and (3) the lower photolytic rates inside the cloud.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Systems Applications, Inc., 101 Lucas Valley Road, 94903, San Rafael, CA, U.S.A.

    Christian Seigneur & Pradeep Saxena

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  1. Christian Seigneur
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  2. Pradeep Saxena
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Seigneur, C., Saxena, P. The impact of cloud chemistry on photochemical oxidant formation. Water Air Soil Pollut 24, 419–429 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00282492

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00282492

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