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During the CalNex (California Research at the Nexus of Air Quality and Climate Change) field study in May-June 2010, measurements of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were performed in the Los Angeles (LA) basin onboard a NOAA research aircraft and at a ground site located in Pasadena. A weekday-weekend effect in ozone, caused by lower NOx emissions due to reduced diesel truck traffic in the weekends, has been previously observed in Los Angeles and other cities. Measurements in the Caldecott tunnel show that emission ratios of VOCs do not vary with the day of the week, but measurements during CalNex2010 show a VOC weekday-weekend effect through faster photochemical processing at lower ambient NOx mixing ratios. Ambient VOC enhancement ratios of long-lived species such as benzene are the same between weekdays and weekends, whereas enhancement ratios of short-lived species, such as trimethyl benzene, are up to a factor of three lower on weekends. Based upon the observed differences in VOC enhancement ratios to CO, we determine that photochemical processing was on average 65%-75% faster on weekends during CalNex2010, which indicates that ambient OH radical concentrations were larger by this factor causing the observed change in VOC composition. A box model calculation based on the Master Chemical Mechanism was used to verify the increase in photochemical processing in the weekends. Key PointsSpatial and temporal photochemical processing in Los AngelesVOC weekday-weekend effectFaster photochemistry in weekends ©2013. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.

The role of the sea/bay breeze in the planetary boundary layer evolution and air quality during a high ozone event day in the Deriving Information on Surface Conditions from Column and Vertically Resolved Observations Relevant to Air Quality (DISCOVER‐AQ) Texas 2013 campaign was examined. Data from surface air quality monitoring network stations, airborne lidar data, and additional ground‐based lidar instrumentation deployed during the campaign allowed for a unique three‐dimensional spatial and temporal study of the progression of both meteorological and air quality conditions in the Houston‐Galveston regions on 25 September 2013. The Weather Research and Forecasting model coupled with Chemistry model was used to examine the relationship of the land and bay/sea breeze circulations and its influence on air quality during the case study. Comparisons between observations and simulations revealed the largest discrepancies near the Galveston Bay shore areas where the highly localized ozone concentrations were observed and were linked to the strength and timing of the bay/sea breeze progression. Additionally, results indicate vertical downmixing from the remnants of the nighttime residual layer during morning hours into the convective boundary layer and from the lofted offshore return flow into the subjacent bay breeze flow. Key Points: Sea/bay breeze role in the planetary boundary layer evolution and air quality during a high ozone eventModel simulations and observation comparison revealed the largest discrepancies near Galveston Bay shorelineLocalized ozone was linked to breeze progression with possible contributions from residual layer and the lofted offshore return flow [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Dust storms are considered to be a natural hazard over the Arabian Peninsula, since they occur all year round with maximum intensity and frequency in Spring and Summer. The Regional Climate Model version 4 (RegCM4) has been used to study the climatology of atmospheric dust over the Arabian Peninsula from 1999 to 2012. This relatively long simulation period samples the meteorological conditions that determine the climatology of mineral dust aerosols over the Arabian Peninsula. The modeled Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) has been compared against ground-based observations of three Aerosol Robotic Network (AERONET) stations that are distributed over the Arabian Peninsula and daily space based observations from the Multi-angle Imaging Spec- troRadiometer (MISR), the Moderate resolution Imaging SpectroRadimeter (MODIS) and Ozone Monitoring Instrument (OMI). The large scale atmospheric circulation and the land surface response that lead to dust uplifting have been analyzed. While the modeled AOD shows that the dust season extends from March to August with two pronounced maxima, one over the northern Arabian Peninsula in March with AOD equal to 0.4 and one over the southern Arabian Peninsula in July with AOD equal to 0.7, the observations show that the dust season extends from April to August with two pronounced maxima, one over the northern Arabian Peninsula in April with AOD equal to 0.5 and one over the southern Arabian Peninsula in July with AOD equal to 0.5. In spring a high pressure dominates the Arabian Peninsula and is responsible for advecting dust from southern and western part of the Arabian Peninsula to northern and eastern part of the Peninsula. Also, fast developed cyclones in northern Arabian Peninsula are responsible for producing strong dust storms over Iraq and Kuwait. However, in summer the main driver of the surface dust emission is the strong northerly wind ("Shamal") that transport dust from the northern Arabian Peninsula toward south parallel to the Arabian Gulf. The AERONET shortwave Top of Atmosphere Radiative Forcing (TOARF) and at the Bottom of Atmosphere Radiative Forcing (BOARF) have been analyzed and compared with the modeled direct radiative forcing of mineral dust aerosol. The annual modeled TOARF and BOARF are -3.3 and -12 W m-2, respectively. However, the annual observed TOARF and BOARF are significantly different at -10 and -52 W m-2, respectively. The analysis of observed and modeled TOARF agrees with previous studies in highlighting the need for more accurate specification of surface albedo over the region. Due to the high surface albedo of the central Arabian Peninsula, mineral dust aerosols tend to warm the atmosphere in summer (June-August). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attributing observed CO2 variations to human or natural cause is critical to deducing and tracking emissions from observations. We have used in situ CO2, CO, and planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) measurements recorded during the CalNex-LA (CARB et al., 2008) ground campaign of 15 May-15 June 2010, in Pasadena, CA, to deduce the diurnally varying anthropogenic component of observed CO2 in the megacity of Los Angeles (LA). This affordable and simple technique, validated by carbon isotope observations and WRF-STILT (Weather Research and Forecasting model - Stochastic Time-Inverted Lagrangian Transport model) predictions, is shown to robustly attribute observed CO2 variation to anthropogenic or biogenic origin over the entire diurnal cycle. During CalNex-LA, local fossil fuel combustion contributed up to ~50% of the observed CO2 enhancement overnight, and ~100% of the enhancement near midday. This suggests that sufficiently accurate total column CO2 observations recorded near midday, such as those from the GOSAT or OCO-2 satellites, can potentially be used to track anthropogenic emissions from the LA megacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study extends the work of Baumgardner et al. (2009) in which measurements of trace gases and particles, at a remote, high altitude mountain site, 60km from Mexico City were analyzed with respect to the origin of the air masses. In the current evaluation, the temperature, water vapor, ozone (O3), carbon monoxide (CO), acyl peroxy nitrate (APN) and particle size distributions (PSDs) of the mass concentrations of sulfate, nitrate, ammonium and organic mass (OM) were simulated with the WRF-Chem chemical transport model and compared with the measurements at the mountain site. The model predictions of the diurnal trends of the gases were well correlated with the measurements before the regional mixed layer (RML) reached the measurement site but underestimated the concentration after that time. The differences are caused by an over rapid growth of the boundary layer by the model and too much dilution. There also is more O3 being actually produced by photochemical production downwind of the emission sources than predicted by the model. The measured and modeled PSDs compare very well with respect to their general shape and diameter of the peak concentrations. The spectra are lognormal with most of the mass in the accumulation mode and the geometric diameter centered at 200±20 nm, showing little observed or predicted change with respect to the time when the RML is above the Altzomoni research station. Only the total mass changed with time and air mass origin. The invariability of average diameter of the accumulation mode suggests that there is very little growth of the particles by condensation or coagulation past about six hours of aging downwind of the major sources of anthropogenic emissions in Mexico's Megapolis. This could greatly simplify parameterization in climate models although it is not known at this time if this invariance can be extended to other megacity regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attributing observed CO2 variations to human or natural cause is critical to deducing and tracking emissions from observations. We have used in situ CO2, CO, and planetary boundary layer height (PBLH) measurements recorded during the CalNex-LA (CARB et al., 2008) ground campaign of 15 May-15 June 2010, in Pasadena, CA, to deduce the diurnally varying anthropogenic component of observed CO2 in the megacity of Los Angeles (LA). This affordable and simple technique, validated by carbon isotope observations, is shown to robustly attribute observed CO2 variation to anthropogenic or biogenic origin. During CalNex-LA, local fossil fuel combustion contributed up to ~50% of the observed CO2 enhancement overnight, and ~100% during midday. This suggests midday column observations over LA, such as those made by satellites relying on reflected sunlight, can be used to track anthropogenic emissions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concentrations of gases and properties of aerosol particles have been measured at the mountain site of Altzomoni approximately equidistant from Mexico City, Puebla and Cuernavaca, at an altitude of 4010 m. At this location there is a diurnal transition from local to regional mixed layer air whose properties depend on prevailing winds and larger scale circulation. Three days during March 2006 have been evaluated during which time the synoptic scale air flow was from the east, southeast and southwest. In general the properties of gases and particles were similar when the regional mixed layer (RML) was below the research site, regardless of the direction of flow. When the RML reached the site, the highest concentrations of CO, O3 and aerosol particles were from the east, decreasing as the flow shifted to the southeast then to the southwest. The maximum concentration of condensation nuclei (CN) was greater than 25×10-3 when winds were from the east. The highest mass concentrations of organic matter (OM), sulfate (SO4-), and Nitrate (NO3+) were 80, 4 and 8 μg m-3, at standard temperature and pressure in air from the east. The mass concentration of OM in the RML was greater than 70% of the total mass, regardless of the air mass origin. This compares to less than the 60% that has been reported for Mexico City. At night, the mass fraction of sulfate went up by a factor of ten from the daytime value when air arrived from the east. The relationship between the CO and OM suggests that the majority of the daytime OM is from biomass burning and at night it is from wood burning. Whereas the maximum CO at Altzomoni, 0.35 ppm, was approximately one tenth of the CO measured at the same time in the center of Mexico City, the maximum O3 of 120 ppb was approximately the same as in the city. The maximum nighttime values of O3 was 60 ppb, indicating the presence of residual pollution. From these results we conclude that even though Mexico City is the second most populated city in the world, with an associated high level of pollution, there are other significant sources of pollution in Mexico that contribute to the mixture of emissions that are dispersed throughout the region. This mixture rapidly erases the signature of a unique Mexico City "plume" and suggests that the environmental impact of this region should be considered as one that stems from a large area source rather than a single megacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]