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This article, the eighth in the series, presents kinetic and photochemical data sheets evaluated by the IUPAC Task Group on Atmospheric Chemical Kinetic Data Evaluation. It covers the gas-phase thermal and photochemical reactions of organic species with four, or more, carbon atoms (≥ C4) available on the IUPAC website in 2021, including thermal reactions of closed-shell organic species with HO and NO3 radicals and their photolysis. The present work is a continuation of volume II (Atkinson et al., 2006), with new reactions and updated data sheets for reactions of HO (77 reactions) and NO3 (36 reactions) with ≥ C4 organics, including alkanes, alkenes, dienes, aromatics, oxygenated, organic nitrates and nitro compounds in addition to photochemical processes for nine species. The article consists of a summary table (Table 1), containing the recommended kinetic parameters for the evaluated reactions, and a supplement containing the data sheets, which provide information upon which recommendations are made.

Reaction with ozone is an important atmospheric removal process for alkenes. The ozonolysis reaction produces carbonyls and carbonyl oxides (Criegee intermediates, CI), which can rapidly decompose to yield a range of closed shell and radical products, including OH radicals. Consequently, it is essential to accurately represent the complex chemistry of Criegee intermediates in atmospheric models in order to fully understand the impact of alkene ozonolysis on atmospheric composition. A mechanism construction protocol is presented which is suitable for use in automatic mechanism generation. The protocol defines the critical parameters for describing the chemistry following the initial reaction, namely the primary carbonyl/CI yields from the primary ozonide fragmentation, the amount of stabilisation of the excited CI, the unimolecular decomposition pathways, rates and products of the CI, and the bimolecular rates and products of atmospherically important reactions of the stabilised CI (SCI). This analysis implicitly predicts the yield of OH from the alkene–ozone reaction. A comprehensive database of experimental OH, SCI and carbonyl yields has been collated using reported values in the literature and used to assess the reliability of the protocol. The protocol provides estimates of OH, SCI and carbonyl yields with root mean square errors of 0.13 and 0.12 and 0.14, respectively. Areas where new experimental and theoretical data would improve the protocol and its assessment are identified and discussed.

Nonacyl peroxy nitrates, RO2NO2, act as a reservoir species for NOx in the upper troposphere. The low thermal stability of these compounds means that they only become a significant sink of NOx at the low temperatures observed in the upper troposphere. The chemical processes involved with the formation and degradation of methyl peroxy nitrate (CH3O2NO2) and an additional 44 RO2NO2 have been incorporated into the global three-dimensional chemical transport model, STOCHEM-CRI. The study investigates the effect of the addition of RO2NO2 chemistry on the budget of NOx, which in turn impacts the ozone, hydroxyl radical (OH), and nitrate radical (NO3) formation. This investigation found that the addition of CH3O2NO2 led to an increase in the tropospheric burdens of NOx (+3.0%), ozone (+2.0%), OH (+4.0%), and NO3 (+8.8%). However, the other 44 RO2NO2 contribute a significant increment of tropospheric global burdens of NOx (+4.4%), ozone (+3.4%), OH (+5.5%), and NO3 (+11.1%) with the largest mixing ratios of NOx of up to 25%, ozone up to 14%, OH up to 20%, and NO3 up to 50%. The increase in the global burden of oxidizing species such as OH due to the addition of 44 other RO2NO2 led to a significant decrease in the lifetimes of greenhouse gases such as methane (∼6%). The modeled mixing ratios of CH3O2NO2 were in reasonable agreement with measurements, the only extensive data set available.

A global chemistry-transport model has been employed to describe the global sources and sinks of hydrogen (H2) and its isotopomer (HD). The model is able to satisfactorily describe the observed tropospheric distributions of H2 and HD and deliver budgets and turnovers which agree with literature studies. We than go on to quantify the methane and ozone responses to emission pulses of hydrogen and their likely radiative forcing consequences. These radiative forcing consequences have been expressed on a 1 Tg basis and integrated over a hundred-year time horizon. When compared to the consequences of a 1 Tg emission pulse of carbon dioxide, 1 Tg of hydrogen causes 5 ± 1 times as much time-integrated radiative forcing over a hundred-year time horizon. That is to say, hydrogen has a global warming potential (GWP) of 5 ± 1 over a hundred-year time horizon. The global warming consequences of a hydrogen-based low-carbon energy system therefore depend critically on the hydrogen leakage rate. If the leakage of hydrogen from all stages in the production, distribution, storage and utilisation of hydrogen is efficiently curtailed, then hydrogen-based energy systems appear to be an attractive proposition in providing a future replacement for fossil-fuel based energy systems.

We document the implementation of the Common Representative Intermediates Mechanism version 2, reduction 5 into the United Kingdom Chemistry and Aerosol model (UKCA) version 10.9. The mechanism is merged with the stratospheric chemistry already used by the StratTrop mechanism, as used in UKCA and the UK Earth System Model, to create a new CRI‐Strat mechanism. CRI‐Strat simulates a more comprehensive treatment of non‐methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) and provides traceability with the Master Chemical Mechanism. In total, CRI‐Strat simulates the chemistry of 233 species competing in 613 reactions (compared to 87 species and 305 reactions in the existing StratTrop mechanism). However, while more than twice as complex than StratTrop, the new mechanism is only 75% more computationally expensive. CRI‐Strat is evaluated against an array of in situ and remote sensing observations and simulations using the StratTrop mechanism in the UKCA model. It is found to increase production of ozone near the surface, leading to higher ozone concentrations compared to surface observations. However, ozone loss is also greater in CRI‐Strat, leading to less ozone away from emission sources and a similar tropospheric ozone burden compared to StratTrop. CRI‐Strat also produces more carbon monoxide than StratTrop, particularly downwind of biogenic VOC emission sources, but has lower burdens of nitrogen oxides as more is converted into reservoir species. The changes to tropospheric ozone and nitrogen budgets are sensitive to the treatment of NMVOC emissions, highlighting the need to reduce uncertainty in these emissions to improve representation of tropospheric chemical composition.

We present the first incorporation and evaluation of the Common Representative Intermediates version 2.2 chemistry mechanism, CRI v2.2, for use in the United Kingdom Earth System Model (UKESM1). Tuned against the MCM v3.3.1, the CRI v2.2 mechanism builds on the previous CRI version, CRI v2.1, in UKESM1 (Archer-Nicholls et al., 2020) by updating isoprene chemistry and offers a more comprehensive description of tropospheric chemistry than the standard chemistry mechanism STRAT-TROP (ST).CRI v2.2 adds state-of-the-art isoprene chemistry with the introduction of HOx-recycling via the isoprene peroxy radical isomerisation pathway, making UKESM1 one of the first CMIP6 models to include this important chemistry. HOx-recycling has noticeable effects on oxidants in regions with large emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs). Low altitude OH in tropical forested regions increases by 75-150% relative to ST, reducing the existing model low bias compared to observations. Consequently, isoprene surface mixing ratios decrease considerably (25-40%), significantly improving the model high bias relative to ST. Methane lifetime decreases by 2% and tropospheric ozone burden increases by 4%. Aerosol processes also differ between CRI v2.2 and ST, resulting in changes to the size and number distributions. Relative to ST, CRI v2.2 simulates an 8% decrease in the sulphate aerosol burden with 20% decreases in the nucleation and Aitken modes. By contrast, the secondary organic aerosol (SOA) nucleation mode burden increases by 11%. Globally, the average nucleation and Aitken mode aerosol number concentrations decrease by 20%.The differences in aerosol and gas phase chemistry between CRI v2.2 and ST are likely to have impacts on the radiation budget. We plan to use CRI v2.2 and ST to investigate the influence that the chemical mechanism has on the simulated chemistry-climate feedbacks from BVOCs. In addition, CRI v2.2 will serve as the basis for the addition of a scheme describing the formation of highly oxygenated organic molecules (HOMs) from BVOCs, facilitating a semi-explicit mechanism for new particle formation from organic species.

The contribution of NOx emissions and background O3 to the sources and partitioning of the oxidants [OX (= O3 + NO2)] at the Marylebone Road site in London during the 2000s and 2010s has been investigated to see the impact of the control measures or technology changes inline with the London Mayor's Air Quality Strategy. The abatement of the pollution emissions has an impact on the trends of local and background oxidants, [OX]L and [OX]B, decreasing by 1.4% per year and 0.4% per year, respectively from 2000 to 2019. We also extend our study to three roadside sites (Din Daeng, Thonburi and Chokchai) in another megacity, Bangkok, to compare [OX]L and [OX]B and their behavioural changes with respect to the Marylebone Road site. [OX]L and [OX]B at the Marylebone Road site (0.21[NOx] and 32 ppbv) are comparable with the roadside sites of Thailand (0.12[NOx] to 0.26[NOx] and 29 to 32 ppbv). The seasonal variation of [OX]B levels displays a spring maximum for London, which is due to the higher northern hemispheric ozone baseline, but a maximum during the dry season is found for Bangkok which is likely due to regional-scale long-range transport from the Asian continent. The diurnal variations of [OX]L for both London and Bangkok roadside sites confirm the dominance of the oxidants from road transport emissions, which are found to be higher throughout the daytime. WRF-Chem-CRI model simulations of the distribution of [OX] showed that the model performed well for London background sites when predicting [OX] levels compared with the measured [OX] levels suggesting that the model is treating the chemistry of the oxidants correctly. However, there are large discrepancies for the model-measurement [OX] levels at the traffic site because of the difficulties in the modelling of [OX] at large road networks in megacities for the complex sub grid-scale dynamics that are taking place, both in terms of atmospheric processes and time-varying sources, such as traffic volumes. For roadside sites in Bangkok, the trend in changes of [OX] is predicted by the model correctly but overestimated in absolute magnitude. We suggest that this large deviation is likely to be due to discrepancies in the EDGAR emission inventory (emission overestimates) beyond the resolution of the model.

The term open-air factor (OAF) was coined following microbiological research in the 1960s and 1970s which established that rural air had powerful germicidal properties and attributed this to Criegee intermediates formed in the reaction of ozone with alkenes. We have re-evaluated those early experiments applying the current state of knowledge of ozone–alkene reactions. Contrary to previous speculation, neither Criegee intermediates nor the HO radicals formed in their decomposition are directly responsible for the germicidal activity attributed to the OAF. We identify other potential candidates, which are formed in ozone–alkene reactions and have known (and likely) germicidal properties, but the compounds responsible for the OAF remain a mystery. There has been very little research into the OAF since the 1970s, and this effect seems to have been largely forgotten. In this opinion piece we remind the community of the germicidal open-air factor. Given the current global pandemic spread by an airborne pathogen, understanding the natural germicidal effects of ambient air, solving the mystery of the open-air factor and determining how this effect can be used to improve human welfare should be a high priority for the atmospheric science community.

This article, the seventh in the series, presents kinetic and photochemical data sheets evaluated by the IUPAC Task Group on Atmospheric Chemical Kinetic Data Evaluation. It covers an extension of the gas-phase and photochemical reactions related to Criegee intermediates previously published in Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP) in 2006 and implemented on the IUPAC website up to 2020. The article consists of an introduction, description of laboratory measurements, a discussion of rate coefficients for reactions of O3 with alkenes producing Criegee intermediates, rate coefficients of unimolecular and bimolecular reactions and photochemical data for reactions of Criegee intermediates, and an overview of the atmospheric chemistry of Criegee intermediates. Summary tables of the recommended kinetic and mechanistic parameters for the evaluated reactions are provided. Data sheets summarizing information upon which the recommendations are based are given in two files, provided as a Supplement to this article.

This article, the eighth in the series, presents kinetic and photochemical datasheets evaluated by the IUPAC Task Group on Atmospheric Chemical Kinetic Data Evaluation. It covers the gas phase thermal and photochemical reactions of organic species with four, or more, carbon atoms (≥ C4) available on the IUPAC website in 2019, including thermal reactions of closed-shell organic species with HO and NO3 radicals, and their photolysis. The article consists of a summary table, containing the recommended kinetic parameters for the evaluated reactions, and a supplement containing the datasheets, which provide information upon which the recommendations are made.

Reaction with ozone (O3) is an important removal process for unsaturated volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere. Rate coefficients for reactions of O3 with VOCs are therefore essential parameters for chemical mechanisms used in chemistry transport models. Updated and extended structure–activity relationship (SAR) methods are presented for the reactions of O3 with mono- and poly-unsaturated organic compounds. The methods are optimized using a preferred set of data including reactions of O3 with 222 unsaturated compounds. For conjugated dialkene structures, site specific rates are defined, and for isolated poly-alkenes rates are defined for each double bond to determine the branching ratios for primary ozonide formation. The information can therefore guide the representation of the O3 reactions in the next generation of explicit detailed chemical mechanisms.

Secondary organic aerosol contributes to the atmospheric particle burden with implications for air quality and climate. Biogenic volatile organic compounds such as terpenoids emitted from plants are important secondary organic aerosol precursors with isoprene dominating the emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds globally. However, the particle mass from isoprene oxidation is generally modest compared to that of other terpenoids. Here we show that isoprene, carbon monoxide and methane can each suppress the instantaneous mass and the overall mass yield derived from monoterpenes in mixtures of atmospheric vapours. We find that isoprene ‘scavenges’ hydroxyl radicals, preventing their reaction with monoterpenes, and the resulting isoprene peroxy radicals scavenge highly oxygenated monoterpene products. These effects reduce the yield of low-volatility products that would otherwise form secondary organic aerosol. Global model calculations indicate that oxidant and product scavenging can operate effectively in the real atmosphere. Thus highly reactive compounds (such as isoprene) that produce a modest amount of aerosol are not necessarily net producers of secondary organic particle mass and their oxidation in mixtures of atmospheric vapours can suppress both particle number and mass of secondary organic aerosol. We suggest that formation mechanisms of secondary organic aerosol in the atmosphere need to be considered more realistically, accounting for mechanistic interactions between the products of oxidizing precursor molecules (as is recognized to be necessary when modelling ozone production). Adding reactive gases such as isoprene to mixtures lowers the production of secondary organic aerosol in the atmosphere, thus reducing the atmospheric particulate burden, with implications for human health and climate.

Production of ozone and secondary organic aerosols (SOA) in the troposphere is driven by the photo-oxidation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Crucial intermediates in these oxidation steps are peroxy radicals, which enable ozone generation when reacting with NO. Recent pioneering studies have shown peroxy radical chemistry to have much broader impacts on the atmosphere, with many of these species undergoing autoxidation and forming highly oxidised organic molecules (HOMs), including accretion products, which can form new particles, contribute to SOA growth and influence global climate. However, explicitly simulating the full complexity of this chemistry is impractical due to the many thousands of VOC species in the atmosphere; techniques for reducing complexity are therefore necessary. The Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) is a near-explicit scheme, with ~6,000 species and ~19,000 reactions, but is almost exclusively used in box-model applications due to its high cost. The Common Representative Intermediates (CRIv2-R5) mechanism is an effective compromise, preserving the ozone forming potential of the MCM from the emission and atmospheric degradation of isoprene, α/β-pinene, and 19 other primary VOC species whilst reducing the number of species and reactions to be feasible in a 3D model (approximately 240 species and 650 reactions, including 47 non-transported peroxy radical species and their associated reactions).We have implemented CRIv2R5 into a global chemistry-climate model, the UK Earth System Model (UKESM1). We present results from a present-day emissions scenario for the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project (CMIP6) to enable a broad scope of model simulations with more basic chemistry and observations to evaluate the model changes against. We find significant differences to tropospheric ozone production and oxidative capacity of the atmosphere, with a strong sensitivity to magnitude and speciation of VOC emissions, highlighting the importance of accurately simulating VOC chemistry to understand trends in tropospheric ozone under changing emissions and climate.Moving forward, having the comprehensive CRIv2R5 mechanism within UKESM1 provides the framework for investigating the impacts of recently discovered peroxy radical chemical processes on global climate. We present further work that has focused on expanding the CRI mechanism in box-model studies with a semi-explicit treatment key peroxy radical processes including (i) the autoxidation of peroxy radicals from the hydroxyl radical and ozone initiated reactions of α-pinene, (ii) the formation of multiple generations of peroxy radicals, (iii) formation of accretion products (dimers) and (iv) isoprene-driven suppression of accretion product formation as observed in experiments. This new CRI-HOM mechanism is now being implemented into the global UKESM1 model and coupled with its aerosol mechanism. This work will enable pioneering investigations linking best process-level understanding of gas-phase peroxy radical chemistry to SOA formation and thus improving our understanding of the relationship between biogenic VOC emissions and global climate.

As we approach the end of the second decade of the 21st century, changes in atmospheric chemical composition due to anthropogenic pollution continue to challenge the well-being of society. The IUPAC effort in atmospheric chemistry data evaluation can be traced back over 40 years. Global concerns over potentially catastrophic stratospheric ozone depletion resulting from emissions of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) led to the creation of the CODATA Task Group on Chemical Kinetics in 1977. The task of the CODATA group was to provide the evaluated kinetic data for atmospheric reactions needed to assess the threat to stratospheric ozone. In 1989, sponsorship of the data evaluation effort was transferred to IUPAC, leading to the formation of the IUPAC Task Group on Atmospheric Chemical Kinetic Data Evaluation.

The Photochemical Ozone Creation Potential (POCP) scale quantifies the relative abilities of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) to produce ground level ozone. POCP values are usually calculated using atmospheric boundary layer models containing detailed representations of atmospheric VOC degradation chemistry. The sensitivity of POCP values to variation of a number of kinetic and mechanistic parameters has been investigated here. It is shown that POCP values for VOCs can be rationalized in terms of their molecular structure and OH reactivity. As a result, a simple method has been developed and optimized that allows POCP values for north-west European and USA urban reference conditions to be estimated for alkanes, alkenes, aromatic hydrocarbons, and several oxygenated VOC classes without the requirement to construct a detailed chemical mechanism or run an atmospheric model. The procedure for determining the estimated POCP value (POCPE) is described, and the results are presented and discussed.

Sesquiterpenes are one of the precursors of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) which can be an important global sources of organic aerosol (OA). Updating the chemistry scheme in the global chemistry transport model by incorporating an oxidation mechanism for β-caryophyllene (representing all sesquiterpenes), adding global sesquiterpene emissions of 29 Tg/yr, and revising global monoterpene emissions up to 162 Tg/yr [Guenther et al., 2012] led to an increase of SOA burden by 95% and SOA production rate by 106% relative to the base case described in Utembe et al. [2011]. Including the emissions of sesquiterpenes resulted in increase of SOA burden of 0.11 Tg and SOA production rate of 12.9 Tg/yr relative to the base case. The highest concentrations of sesquiterpene-derived SOA (by up to 1.2 μg/m3) were found over central Africa and South America, the regions having high levels of biogenic emissions with significant biomass burning. In the updated model simulation, the multigeneration oxidation products from sesquiterpenes and monoterpenes transported above the boundary layer and condensed to the aerosol phase at higher altitude led to an increase of OA by up to 30% over the tropics and northern midlatitude to higher altitude. The model evaluation showed an underestimation of model OA mostly for the campaigns dominated by regional anthropogenic pollution. The increase of SOA production from sesquiterpenes reduced the discrepancies between modeled and observed OA concentrations over the remote and rural areas. The increase of SOA concentrations by up to 200% from preindustrial to present scenarios was found over the tropical oceans.

The reduced representation of isoprene degradation in the Common Representative Intermediates (CRI) mechanism has been systematically updated, using the Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM v3.3.1) as a reference benchmark, with the updated mechanism being released as CRI v2.2. The complete isoprene degradation mechanism in CRI v2.2 consists of 186 reactions of 56 closed shell and free radical species, this being an order of magnitude reduction in size compared with MCM v3.3.1. The chemistry initiated by reaction with OH radicals, NO3 radicals and ozone (O3) is treated. An overview of the updates is provided, within the context of reported kinetic and mechanistic information. The revisions mainly relate to the OH-initiated chemistry, which tends to dominate under atmospheric conditions, although these include updates to the chemistry of products that are also generated from the O3- and NO3-initiated oxidation. The revisions have impacts in a number of key areas, including recycling of HOx and NOx. The performance of the CRI v2.2 isoprene mechanism has been compared with those of the preceding version (CRI v2.1) and the reference MCM v3.3.1 over a range of relevant conditions, using a box model of the tropical forested boundary layer. In addition, tests are carried out to ensure that the performance of MCM v3.3.1 remains robust to more recently reported information. CRI v2.2 has also been implemented into the STOCHEM chemistry-transport model, with a customized close-variant of CRI v2.2 implemented into the EMEP MSC-W chemistry-transport model. The results of these studies are presented and used to illustrate the global-scale impacts of the mechanistic updates on HOx radical concentrations.

Recent revisions to our understanding of the oxidation chemistry of isoprene have been incorporated into a well-established global atmospheric chemistry and transport model, STOCHEM-CRI. These revisions have previously been shown to increase the production and recycling of HOx radicals at lower NOx levels characteristic of the remote troposphere. The main aim of this study is to assess the resultant broader changes to atmospheric composition due to the recent revisions to isoprene oxidation chemistry. The impact of the increased isoprene-related HOx recycling is found to be significant on the reduction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) lifetime, e.g. a decrease in isoprene's tropospheric burden by ~17%. The analysis of lifetime reduction of the potent greenhouse gas, methane, associated with the increased HOx recycling, suggests its significant lifetime reduction by ~5% in terms of the current literature. The revisions to the isoprene chemistry also reduce the amount of ozone (by up to 10%), but provide a significant increase in NO3 (by up to 30%) over equatorial forested regions, which can alter the oxidizing capacity of the troposphere. The calculated mixing ratios of formic acid are decreased which in turn leads to an increase in the inferred concentrations of Criegee intermediates due to reduced loss through reaction with formic acid (up to 80%) over the dominant isoprene emitting regions.

A relationship between isoprene and 1,3-butadiene mixing ratios was established to separate the anthropogenic and biogenic fractions of the measured isoprene in London air in both urban background (Eltham) and urban traffic (Marylebone Road) areas over two decades (1997&ndash, 2017). The average daytime biogenic isoprene mixing ratios over this period reached 0.09 &plusmn, 0.04 ppb (Marylebone Road) and 0.11 &plusmn, 0.06 ppb (Eltham) between the period of 6:00 to 20:00 local standard time, contributing 40 and 75% of the total daytime isoprene mixing ratios. The average summertime biogenic isoprene mixing ratios for 1997&ndash, 2017 are found to be 0.13 &plusmn, 0.02 and 0.15 &plusmn, 0.04 ppb which contribute 50 and 90% of the total summertime isoprene mixing ratios for Marylebone Road and Eltham, respectively. Significant anthropogenic isoprene mixing ratios are found during night-time (0.11 &plusmn, 0.04 ppb) and winter months (0.14 &plusmn, 0.01 ppb) at Marylebone Road. During high-temperature and high-pollution events (high ozone) there is a suggestion that ozone itself may be directly responsible for some of the isoprene emission. By observing the positive correlation between biogenic isoprene levels with temperature, photosynthetically active radiation and ozone mixing ratios during heatwave periods, the Cobb-Douglas production function was used to obtain a better understanding of the abiotic factors that stimulate isoprene emission from plants. Other reasons for a correlation between ozone and isoprene are discussed. The long-term effects of urban stressors on vegetation were also observed, with biogenic isoprene mixing ratios on Marylebone Road dropping over a 20-year period regardless of the sustained biomass levels.

Reaction with the hydroxyl (OH) radical is the dominant removal process for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the atmosphere. Rate coefficients for reactions of OH with VOCs are therefore essential parameters for chemical mechanisms used in chemistry-transport models, and are required more generally for impact assessments involving estimation of atmospheric lifetimes or oxidation rates for VOCs. Updated and extended structure-activity relationship (SAR) methods are presented for the reactions of OH with aliphatic organic compounds, with the reactions of aromatic organic compounds considered in a companion paper. The methods are optimized using a preferred set of data including reactions of OH with 489 aliphatic hydrocarbons and oxygenated organic compounds. In each case, the rate coefficient is defined in terms of a summation of partial rate coefficients for H abstraction or OH addition at each relevant site in the given organic compound, so that the attack distribution is defined. The information can therefore guide the representation of the OH reactions in the next generation of explicit detailed chemical mechanisms. Rules governing the representation of the subsequent reactions of the product radicals under tropospheric conditions are also summarized, specifically their reactions with O2 and competing processes.

The atmospheric global budget and distribution of C 1 –C 3 alkyl nitrates have been investigated using a global three-dimensional chemistry transport model, STOCHEM-CRI. Alkyl nitrates (RONO 2 ) are significant NO x reservoir species and the more detailed VOC oxidation mechanism (CRI v2-R5) leads to greater photochemical production. RONO 2 are significant sources of NO x in regions remote from NO x sources. The study shows that the global burden and the atmospheric life-time of C 1 –C 3 alkyl nitrates are 113 Gg and 9–10 days, respectively, which are in excellent agreement with estimates established by previous studies. The abundance of alkyl nitrates have been found to be higher in the continental atmosphere, with CH 3 ONO 2 mixing ratios up to 20 ppt over the Amazon rainforest. Up to 15, 10, 2, and 5 ppt of modelled CH 3 ONO 2 , C 2 H 5 ONO 2 , n-C 3 H 7 ONO 2 and i-C 3 H 7 ONO 2 have been found in the northern hemisphere over regions with large anthropogenic emissions of NO x and VOCs. The combination of atmospheric production and long-range transport led to high alkyl nitrate levels at high latitudes. The model performance for C 1 –C 3 alkyl nitrates was established using observations from nine flights and nine field campaigns. The comparison shows a tendency towards model under-prediction of the observations, particularly in the southern hemispheric marine boundary layer, possibly due to the absence of oceanic production mechanisms and air-sea exchange processes in the model. The discrepancies between model and observed seasonal cycles, especially of CH 3 ONO 2 , in both hemispheres are discussed.

Ozone tagged labelling schemes have been implemented in a global Lagrangian chemistry-transport model to identify the intercontinental origins of surface ozone in Europe. Stratosphere–troposphere exchange gave rise to between 3 and 5 ppb across Europe, whereas the mid-latitudes of the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific Ocean region contributed 6–8 ppb. Surface ozone levels of 10–16 ppb were associated with the mid-latitudes of North America and the North Atlantic Ocean regions. Appreciable intercontinental ozone production occurred downwind of continental regions and above the surface layer. Intercontinental ozone formation and transport from tropical regions contributed about 4 ppb and was much less efficient compared with that from mid-latitudes. There were approaching 60 chemical processes driving intercontinental ozone formation, of which the HO2 + NO, CH3O2 + NO and CH3COO2 + NO reactions were the most important. Ozone production appeared to be driven by OH oxidation of secondary reaction products rather than the oxidation of primary emitted VOCs. The largest intercontinental ozone contributions amounted to about 20 ppb from North America to European baseline stations, 14 ppb from Asia to North American baseline stations and 10 ppb from Asia to European baseline stations. It is possible that changing intercontinental ozone production and transport could have led to seasonal ozone trends and shifts in seasonal cycles at northern hemisphere mid-latitude baseline ozone monitoring stations.

Isoprene is a~precursor to tropospheric ozone, a key pollutant and greenhouse gas. Anthropogenic activity over the coming century is likely to cause large changes in atmospheric CO2 levels, climate and land use, all of which will alter the global vegetation distribution leading to changes in isoprene emissions. Previous studies have used global chemistry–climate models to assess how possible changes in climate and land use could affect isoprene emissions and hence tropospheric ozone. The chemistry of isoprene oxidation, which can alter the concentration of ozone, is highly complex, therefore it must be parameterised in these models. In this work, we compare the effect of four different reduced isoprene chemical mechanisms, all currently used in Earth system models, on tropospheric ozone. Using a box model we compare ozone in these reduced schemes to that in a more explicit scheme (the Master Chemical Mechanism) over a range of NOx and isoprene emissions, through the use of O3 isopleths. We find that there is some variability, especially at high isoprene emissions, caused by differences in isoprene-derived NOx reservoir species. A global model is then used to examine how the different reduced schemes respond to potential future changes in climate, isoprene emissions, anthropogenic emissions and land use change. We find that, particularly in isoprene-rich regions, the response of the schemes varies considerably. The wide-ranging response is due to differences in the model descriptions of the peroxy radical chemistry, particularly their relative rates of reaction towards NO, leading to ozone formation, or HO2, leading to termination. Also important is the yield of isoprene nitrates and peroxyacyl nitrate precursors from isoprene oxidation. Those schemes that produce less of these NOx reservoir species, tend to produce more ozone locally and less away from the source region. We also note changes in other key oxidants such as NO3 and OH (due to the inclusion of additional isoprene-derived HOx recycling pathways). These have implications for secondary organic aerosol formation, as does the inclusion of an epoxide formation pathway in one of the mechanisms. By combining the emissions and O3 data from all of the global model integrations, we are able to construct isopleth plots comparable to those from the box model analysis. We find that the global and box model isopleths show good qualitative agreement, suggesting that comparing chemical mechanisms with a box model in this framework is a useful tool for assessing mechanistic performance in complex global models. We conclude that as the choice of reduced isoprene mechanism may alter both the magnitude and sign of the ozone response, how isoprene chemistry is parameterised in perturbation experiments such as these is a crucially important consideration. More measurements and laboratory studies are needed to validate these reduced mechanisms especially under high-volatile-organic-compound, low-NOx conditions.

Ji et al. (1) published a study examining the mechanism of the initial stages of OH-initiated oxidation of toluene. Their results challenge the mechanisms used in atmospheric chemistry models [e.g., Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM) (2)] derived from chamber experiments at atmospheric conditions, and previous experimental (3, 4) and theoretical studies (5, 6). In these mechanisms, the main product (55–65%) of the O2 reaction with the OH-adduct is a peroxy-peroxide bridged radical ( cyc-RO 2 , Scheme 1), the subsequent chemistry of which goes on to yield dienals and the dicarbonyls: glyoxal and methylglyoxal. The present study detected a negligible yield of these dicarbonyl products. From this, the authors conclude that the cyc-RO 2 pathway is insignificant under atmospheric conditions. Scheme 1. Simplified representation of chemical mechanism of OH-initiated toluene oxidation. For clarity, … [↵][1]1To whom correspondence should be addressed. Email: mike.newland{at}york.ac.uk. [1]: #xref-corresp-1-1

A global 3-D chemistry and transport model, STOCHEM integrated with a detailed VOC oxidation scheme (CRI v2-R5) has been employed to study the important NOx reservoir compound, peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN). Globally, PAN is produced entirely by the reaction of acetyl peroxy radicals (CH3CO3)with NO2 and up to 2.0 ppb of PAN is found over the polluted regions of North America during June-July-August for the present scenario. The imbalances between model and measurement data are noted, with STOCHEM-CRI overestimating PAN mixing ratios relative to the measurement data by +17 and+80 pptv for the lower and upper troposphere, respectively. The inclusion of additional HOx recycling mechanisms (e.g. related to isoprene oxidation) in STOCHEM-CRI causes a decrease in PAN in a present scenario by as much as 40% over sink regions and reduces the model-measurement disagreement by 90% for the lower troposphere and 40% for the upper troposphere. The lower NOx emissions and CH3CO3 formation upon including HOx recycling in a preindustrial scenario led to a decrease in PAN formation by as much as 40%. The decrease in PAN formation results in less nitrogen being transported to remote regions which in turn leads to the greatest percentage change in O3 concentration (9% decrease) in the equatorial regions.

Methanol (CH 3 OH) is an oxygenated volatile organic compound (VOC) and one of the most abundant species present in the troposphere. The mass of CH 3 OH in the atmospheric reservoir, its annual mass flux from sources to sinks, and its global budget have been investigated using STOCHEM-CRI, a global three-dimensional chemistry transport model. Our study shows that the global burden of methanol is 5 Tg. The atmospheric life-time of CH 3 OH is found to be 6.1 days which falls within the range of previous modelling studies. The impact of peroxy radicals on the photochemical production of CH 3 OH has been studied and suggests that NMVOCs (non-methane Volatile Organic Compounds) are an important source of both peroxy radicals and CH 3 OH. The photochemical production routes of CH 3 OH are found to be 48 Tg/yr, which are higher than the previous studies and contributes significantly to the total global methanol sources of 287 Tg/yr. An additional CH 3 OH production of 8.2 Tg/yr from the reaction of methyl peroxy radicals (CH 3 O 2 ) with hydroxyl radicals (OH) could be a significant additional source of CH 3 OH particularly over the tropical oceans which would lead to a revision of the global sources and life cycle of CH 3 OH.

The levels of ozone (O3) at a given location in the UK have been reported to be determined by a combination of global (northern hemispheric), regional and local-scale effects. These effects therefore also potentially influence values of the O3 exposure metric, AOT40 (the accumulated ozone exposure over a threshold of 40 ppb). A corresponding background oxidant metric, AOXBT40, is defined, which quantifies the value of AOT40 corrected for the effects of local oxidant sources and the chemical coupling of O3 with emitted NOx (i.e. effectively a remote rural background AOT40 value). Data from the UK automatic monitoring network have been analysed to determine values of AOT40 and AOXBT40 at 39 UK sites for the example year of 2009. The spatial variation of AOXBT40 over the UK is consistent with contributions deriving both directly from the northern hemispheric baseline O3 level and from episodic events during which the baseline is supplemented by regional-scale oxidant formation; and the approximate relative importance of these inputs is estimated. The fractional decrement in AOT40 (AOT40/AOXBT40), shows a well-defined dependence on the average NOx level for the hours that contribute to AOXBT40, consistent with the expected impact of the local-scale chemical coupling of O3 and NOx. The AOXBT40 concept can therefore be used to help characterise the factors that control AOT40 on different spatial scales, and its potential applications in empirical O3 exposure modelling activities and model evaluation are briefly discussed.

Empirical assessments of annual mean [NO 2 ] have often made use of expressions describing its non-linear [NO x ]-dependence, based on fitting to a large number of observations. These studies have also shown that annual mean [NO 2 ] data possess a large amount of scatter, such that the target [NO x ] that corresponds to the EU annual mean NO 2 limit value (40 μg m −3 ) can vary considerably from one site to another. A contribution to this scatter is shown to result from site-to-site variations in the [NO x ]-averaging of the non-linear impact of the chemical coupling of NO x and O 3 over the annual range of ambient conditions. The variability in the partitioning of oxidant (OX) into its component forms of NO 2 and O 3 is used as a diagnostic, with a particular focus on the impact of short-timescale [NO x ] variability. Annual mean monitoring data from 95 UK sites reporting co-located measurements of O 3 and NO x are used in the analysis, consisting of 906 site-years of annual mean concentrations measured over the period 1991–2011. The ratio of the upper and lower quartiles of the annual distribution of hourly mean [NO x ] (the quartile ratio, QR) is used as a practical indicator of [NO x ] variability. The data in a series of QR intervals are shown to deviate systematically from an idealised [NO 2 ]/[OX] vs. [NO x ] curve. The data are well-described by [NO x ]-averaging the idealised curve, with QR being well correlated with the range of [NO x ] over which the curve is averaged, providing strong evidence of a systematic impact of short-timescale [NO x ] variability. A combined analysis of the data for sites nominally categorised as roadside, background and rural shows that (although scattered) the values of QR in each category apparently display systematic trends with annual mean [NO x ], showing progressive increases in QR with decreasing [NO x ] at roadside and polluted background sites. These dependences are used to interpolate between [NO 2 ]/[OX] vs. [NO x ] expressions based on constant QR to produce representative expressions for background and roadside sites. These may be appropriate for application in empirical policy models, with the high level of scatter for each site category being rationalised by the associated range in QR.

We describe the design and execution of the BORTAS (Quantifying the impact of BOReal forest fires on Tropospheric oxidants using Aircraft and Satellites) experiment, which has the overarching objective of understanding the chemical aging of airmasses that contain the emission products from seasonal boreal wildfires and how these airmasses subsequently impact downwind atmospheric composition. The central focus of the experiment was a two-week deployment of the UK BAe-146-301 Atmospheric Research Aircraft (ARA) over eastern Canada. The planned July 2010 deployment of the ARA was postponed by 12 months because of activities related to the dispersal of material emitted by the Eyjafjallajökull volcano. However, most other planned model and measurement activities, including ground-based measurements at the Dalhousie University Ground Station (DGS), enhanced ozonesonde launches, and measurements at the Pico Atmospheric Observatory in the Azores, went ahead and constituted phase A of the experiment. Phase B of BORTAS in July 2011 included the same measurements, but included the ARA, special satellite observations and a more comprehensive measurement suite at the DGS. The high-frequency aircraft data provided a comprehensive snapshot of the pyrogenic plumes from wildfires. The coordinated ground-based and sonde data provided detailed but spatially-limited information that put the aircraft data into context of the longer burning season. We coordinated aircraft vertical profiles and overpasses of the NASA Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer and the Canadian Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment. These space-borne data, while less precise than other data, helped to relate the two-week measurement campaign to larger geographical and longer temporal scales. We interpret these data using a range of chemistry models: from a near-explicit gas-phase chemical mechanism, which tests out understanding of the underlying chemical mechanism, to regional and global 3-D models of atmospheric transport and lumped chemistry, which helps to assess the performance of the simplified chemical mechanism and effectively act as intermediaries between different measurement types. We also present an overview of some of the new science that has originated from this project from the mission planning and execution to the analysis of the ground-based, aircraft, and space-borne data.

The observed seasonal cycles of a selection of reactive hydrocarbons in baseline air masses at Mace Head, Ireland are consistent with a simple picture of largely man-made sources and oxidation by hydroxyl (OH) radicals. As a result, the observed seasonal cycles become more pronounced the more reactive the species are with OH. For the pentanes, the assumption of little wintertime removal breaks down, leading to an apparent dampening of the seasonal cycles relative to ethane, propane and the butanes. A global chemistry-transport model is used to describe the seasonal cycles of the hydrocarbons at Mace Head and provided an accurate description of their observed amplitudes and phases. The model derived local OH concentrations in baseline air masses required to support the observed seasonal cycles of the hydrocarbons averaged 1.38 ± 1.1 × 106 molecule cm−3. Peak daytime levels during summertime reached 1.2 × 107 molecule cm−3.

The effect of photochemical ageing and initial precursor concentration on the composition and hygroscopic properties of secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formed during the chamber photo-oxidation of β-caryophyllene/NOx mixtures were investigated. Nucleation of β-caryophyllene SOA particles occurred almost immediately after oxidation was initiated and led to the formation of fresh SOA with a relatively simpler composition than has been reported for monoterpenes. The SOA yield values ranged from 9.5–26.7% and 30.4–44.5% using a differential mobility particle sizer (DMPS) and an aerosol mass spectrometer (AMS) mass based measurements, respectively. A total of 20 compounds were identified in the SOA by LC-MS/MS, with the most abundant compounds identified as β-caryophyllonic acid and β-caryophyllinic acid/β-nocaryophyllonic acid. The O:C and H:C elemental ratios of products identified in the condensed phase ranged from 0.20 to 1.00 and 1.00 to 2.00, with average values of 0.39 and 1.58, respectively. The increase in the O:C ratio was associated with a decrease in the saturation concentration of the identified compounds. The compounds identified in the lower initial concentration experiments were more oxidised compared to those that were found to be more abundant in the higher initial concentration experiments with average O:C ratios of 0.51 and 0.27, respectively. Photochemical ageing led to a more complex SOA composition with a larger contribution coming from lower molar mass, higher generation products, where both double bonds had been oxidised. This effect was more evident in the experiments conducted using the lower initial precursor concentration; a finding confirmed by the temporal behaviour of key organic mass fragment measured by an Aerosol Mass Spectrometer. Although the composition changed with both initial precursor concentration and ageing, this had no significant measurable effect on the hygroscopic properties of the SOA formed. The latter finding might have been influenced by the difference in pre-treatment of the semivolatile-containing particles prior to their measurements.

The rate coefficient for the reaction HO2 + NO2 has been measured using a turbulent flow technique with high pressure chemical ionization mass spectrometry for the detection of reactants. The rate constant was measured between 75 and 700 Torr and at 298, 223 and 200 K. This work represents the first experimental evaluation of this rate coefficient at temperatures below 219 K. The kinetic data has been evaluated in both a global 3-dimensional atmospheric chemistry model of the troposphere and in a steady-state model. These new data improve the agreement between the steady-state model and field measurements but an unresolved discrepancy remains. Field measurements suggest that some pernitric acid may persist in the upper troposphere and if this background is taken into consideration together with these new kinetic data, good agreement between steady-state models and measurements emerge. Global model runs show that on average HO2NO2 levels are reduced by 30–40% in the upper troposphere and 20–30% in the free troposphere. This reduction in HO2NO2 leads to increases in HOx and NOx in the upper troposphere, most notably a rise of 1–12% in OH and around 5% in NOx.

A secondary organic aerosol (SOA) code, coupled to the reduced Common Representative Intermediates chemical mechanism (CRI v2-R5), has been used in the global 3-D chemistry-transport model, STOCHEM, to simulate the global distribution of organic aerosol (OA) mass loadings. The SOA code represents the gas-to-aerosol partitioning of products formed over several generations of oxidation of a variety of organic precursors emitted from anthropogenic, biogenic and biomass burning sources. The model also includes emissions of primary organic aerosol (POA), based on the AeroCom inventory and the Global Fire Emissions database (GFED). The calculated burdens for POA, 0.89 Tg, and SOA, 0.23 Tg, are well within the range of values that have been reported in previous modelling studies. The calculated SOA annual in-situ production of 22.5 Tg yr −1 also falls within the 8–110 Tg yr −1 range calculated by other models, but is somewhat lower than observationally-constrained top-down estimates which have been reported recently. The oxidation of biogenic precursors is found to account for about 90% of the global SOA burden, and this makes a substantial contribution to the highest annual mean surface OA concentrations (up to 8 μg m −3 ), which are simulated in tropical forested regions. Comparison of the simulated OA mass loadings with surface observations from a variety of locations indicate a good description of the OA distribution, but with an average underestimation of about a factor of 3. Sustained formation of SOA into the free troposphere is simulated, with important contributions from second and third-generation products of terpene oxidation in the upper troposphere. Comparison of the simulated OA mass loadings with vertical profiles from the ACE-Asia campaign indicates a very good description of the relative variation of OA with altitude, but with consistent underestimation of about a factor of 5. Although the absolute magnitude of the global source strength is underestimated, this consistency nonetheless provides support for an important role for multigenerational oxidation chemistry as a large source of SOA in the free troposphere, and lends credence to the necessity of representing condensable material formed over several generations of VOC oxidation in global chemistry-transport models.

The chemical mechanisms describing the photo-oxidation of isoprene in current Chemistry Transport Models (CTMs) have been intercompared in a series of box model experiments. The mechanisms ranged in size and complexity from ∼600 reactions to ∼25 reactions. The box model experiments covered two isoprene emission strengths over a broad range of NO emissions to assess the performances of the mechanisms over the spectrum of atmospherically relevant conditions. There was some variability in the simulated oxidation rates of isoprene and formation rates of ozone. The variability in performance is a consequence of the details of the underlying chemistry as represented in the mechanisms, and of the different assumptions and approximations made in mechanism reduction. These differences are illustrated and discussed for a series of species involved in the degradation of isoprene and the ozone formation mechanism, namely: HOx radicals; organic peroxy radicals (RO2); hydroperoxides; oxidised organic nitrogen compounds; and major carbonyl products. The results also confirm that all the considered isoprene mechanisms are unable to generate/recycle HOx at the rates needed to match recently reported observations at locations characterized by low levels of NOx.

A detailed gas-phase photochemical chamber box model, incorporating the Master Chemical Mechanism (MCMv3.1) degradation scheme for the model anthropogenic aromatic compound 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene, has been used to simulate data measured during a series of aerosol chamber experiments in order to evaluate the mechanism under a variety of VOC/NOx conditions. The chamber model was used in the interpretation of comprehensive high (mass and time) resolution measurements of 1,3,5-trimethylbenzene and its photo-oxidation products recorded by a Chemical Ionisation Reaction Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (CIR-TOF-MS). Supporting gas and aerosol measurements have also enabled us to explore the ‘missing link’ between the gas and aerosol phases. Model-measurement comparisons have been used to gain insight into the complex array of oxygenated products formed, including the peroxide bicyclic ring opening products (α,β-unsaturated-γ-dicarbonyls and furanones) and the O2-bridged peroxide bicyclic ring-retaining products. To our knowledge this is the first time such high molecular weight species, corresponding to various peroxide bicyclic products represented in the MCMv3.1, have been observed in the gas-phase. The model was also used to give insight into which gas-phase species were participating in SOA formation, with the primary and secondary peroxide products, formed primarily under low NOx conditions, identified as likely candidates.

The Ozone Source–Receptor Model (OSRM) is a Lagrangian trajectory model developed to describe photochemical ozone production in the UK. The OSRM builds on existing boundary layer trajectory models used previously for assisting the development of UK ozone policy, but has a number of notable differences. A novel feature of the OSRM is a surface conversion module to represent the vertical gradient in ozone arising from chemical loss and deposition to the surface. This has significantly improved the performance of the model, especially in urban areas. In this paper, the modelling system is described and its performance against measured ozone concentrations and metrics and other UK ozone models is discussed. The model has been used to calculate future ozone concentrations in the UK and thus to assess a number of possible control measures developed for the UK Air Quality Strategy.

Recently reported model-measurement discrepancies for the concentrations of the HOx radical species (OH and HO2) in locations characterized by high emission rates of isoprene have indicated possible deficiencies in the representation of OH recycling and formation in isoprene mechanisms currently employed in numerical models; particularly at low levels of NOx. Using version 3.1 of the Master Chemical Mechanism (MCM v3.1) as a base mechanism, the sensitivity of the system to a number of detailed mechanistic changes is examined for a wide range of NOx levels, using a simple box model. The studies consider sensitivity tests in relation to three general areas for which experimental and/or theoretical evidence has been reported in the peer-reviewed literature, as follows: (1) implementation of propagating channels for the reactions of HO2 with acyl and β-oxo peroxy radicals with HO2, with support from a number of studies; (2) implementation of the OH-catalysed conversion of isoprene-derived hydroperoxides to isomeric epoxydiols, as characterised by Paulot et al.~(2009a); and (3) implementation of a mechanism involving respective 1,5 and 1,6 H atom shift isomerisation reactions of the β-hydroxyalkenyl and cis-δ-hydroxyalkenyl peroxy radical isomers, formed from the sequential addition of OH and O2 to isoprene, based on the theoretical study of Peeters et al. (2009). All the considered mechanistic changes lead to simulated increases in the concentrations of OH, with (1) and (2) resulting in respective increases of up to about 7% and 16%, depending on the level of NOx. (3) is found to have potentially much greater impacts, with enhancements in OH concentrations of up to a factor of about 3.3, depending on the level of NOx, provided the (crucial) rapid photolysis of the hydroperoxy-methyl-butenal products of the cis-δ-hydroxyalkenyl peroxy radical isomerisation reactions is represented, as also postulated by Peeters et al.~(2009). Additional tests suggest that the mechanism with the reported parameters cannot be fully reconciled with atmospheric observations and existing laboratory data without some degree of parameter refinement and optimisation which would probably include a reduction in the peroxy radical isomerisation rates and a consequent reduction in the OH enhancement propensity. However, an order of magntitude reduction in the isomerisation rates is still found to yield notable enhancements in OH concentrations of up to a factor of about 2, with the maximum impact at the low end of the considered NOx range. A parameterized representation of the mechanistic changes is optimized and implemented into a reduced variant of the Common Representative Intermediates mechanism (CRI v2-R5), for use in the STOCHEM global chemistry-transport model. The impacts of the modified chemistry in the global model are shown to be consistent with those observed in the box model sensitivity studies, and the results are illustrated and discussed with a particular focus on the tropical forested regions of the Amazon and Borneo where unexpectedly elevated concentrations of OH have recently been reported.

A reduced chemical scheme (CRIv2-R5) which describes ozone formation from the tropospheric degradation of methane and 22 emitted non-methane hydrocarbons and oxygenated volatile organic compounds has been applied in a global-3D chemistry transport model (STOCHEM). The scheme, which contains 220 species in 609 reactions, has been used to simulate ozone and its precursors for the meteorological year of 1998 and the results have been compared with those from STOCHEM runs with its original chemistry. Compared with the original chemistry scheme, the degradation of a larger number of more reactive VOCs in the CRI scheme results in the formation (and their consequent transportation) of more NOx active reservoirs thus leading to formation of more ozone away from land-based sources. Conversely, the more reactive VOCs also lead to greater removal of OH in continental areas and greater formation of OH in marine environments. STOCHEM run with the CRI scheme simulates more ozone (by up to 10 ppb), which results in better agreement with observed vertical ozone profiles. The CRI scheme transforms the globally and annually integrated ozone budget for the considered year in STOCHEM from a net loss of −55 Tg yr−1 to a net gain of +50 Tg yr−1.