Summary
We report measurements of formaldehyde, HCHO, using Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy, at five sites in continental North America. The TDLAS apparatus has been shown to be capable of detection limits of <0.3 ppbv using a 40 m pathlength and averaging times of a few minutes, which can be further reduced by more extended signal averaging. Two distinct types of HCHO diurnal variation are observed: at locations remote from major sources of pollution, the HCHO diurnal variation is weak and HCHO is not lost during the night. From our data we place a lower limit of ca. 50 hours on the HCHO deposition lifetime at our Lewes DE site. At sites located downwind of source areas the diurnal variation is more marked, with maximum mixing ratios occuring near local noon. At the least polluted location the most probable value of the HCHO mixing ratio was between 0.25 and 0.5 ppbv, while at the highest one hour average value observed was ca, 12 ppbv at Claremont CA. Simultaneous measurements of HCHO and of hydrogen peroxide also made by TDLAS are used to roughly estimate HO2 concentrations.
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© 1987 ECSC, EEC, EAEC, Brussels and Luxembourg
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Harris, G.W., Mackay, G.I., Schiff, H.I. (1987). Measurements of Formaldehyde in the Troposphere. In: Grisar, R., Preier, H., Schmidtke, G., Restelli, G. (eds) Monitoring of Gaseous Pollutants by Tunable Diode Lasers. Air Pollution Research Reports. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3991-2_13
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3991-2_13
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