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Published on: October 21, 2016
Characterizing CO and NO y Sources and Relative Ambient Ratios in the Baltimore Area Using Ambient Measurements and
Heather Simon1, Luke C Valin2, Kirk R Baker1
1Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, NC, USA.
Air quality models struggle to accurately represent CO:NOy ratios due to atmospheric processing and secondary CO formation. Ambient measurements show higher variability than models, indicating limitations in emission inventory constraints.
Area of Science:
- Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
- Air Quality Modeling
- Environmental Science
Background:
- Accurate source attribution is crucial for effective air quality management.
- Carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) are key air pollutants with varying emission ratios across sources.
- The ratio of CO to NOy (total reactive nitrogen) is often used to infer emission source contributions.
Purpose of the Study:
- To assess source contributions to CO and NOy in the Baltimore urban area using the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model.
- To evaluate the utility of aircraft-measured CO and NOy ratios for constraining emission inventories.
- To investigate the influence of atmospheric processes on ambient CO:NOy ratios.
Main Methods:
- Coupling CMAQ model outputs with ambient data from the 2011 Baltimore field study.
- Deriving and comparing ambient and modeled delta-CO:delta-NOy (ΔCO:ΔNOy) ratios.
- Utilizing sector-based tagging within the model to identify source contributions.
- Analyzing correlations between ambient formaldehyde and measured ΔCO:ΔNOy.
Main Results:
- Modeled and measured ΔCO:ΔNOy ratios were similar, but measured ratios exhibited greater daily variability.
- Major contributors to modeled CO included regional transport, on-road gasoline vehicles, and nonroad equipment.
- On-road diesel vehicles, soil emissions, and power plants significantly contributed to modeled NOy.
- Ambient ΔCO:ΔNOy ratios were elevated above emitted ratios due to factors like free tropospheric entrainment, atmospheric processing, and secondary CO formation.
Conclusions:
- Ambient urban daytime ΔCO:ΔNOy ratios are not reliable indicators of emitted ratios from individual sources.
- Atmospheric processing and secondary CO formation significantly alter CO:NOy ratios, challenging their use for direct emission inventory constraints.
- Further research is needed to refine air quality models and improve the interpretation of ambient pollutant ratios for source apportionment.
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