Biogenic nitrogen oxide emissions from soils: Impact on NOx and ozone over West Africa during AMMA, observational study

Stewart, D. J., Taylor, C. M., Reeves, C. E. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4071-1926 and McQuaid, J. B. (2008) Biogenic nitrogen oxide emissions from soils: Impact on NOx and ozone over West Africa during AMMA, observational study. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 8 (8). pp. 2285-2297. ISSN 1680-7324

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Abstract

Chemical and meteorological parameters measured on board the Facility for Airborne Atmospheric Measurements (FAAM) BAe 146 Atmospheric Research Aircraft during the African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Analysis (AMMA) campaign are presented to show the impact of NOx emissions from recently wetted soils in West Africa. NO emissions from soils have been previously observed in many geographical areas with different types of soil/vegetation cover during small scale studies and have been inferred at large scales from satellite measurements of NOx. This study is the first dedicated to showing the emissions of NOx at an intermediate scale between local surface sites and continental satellite measurements. The measurements reveal pronounced mesoscale variations in NOx concentrations closely linked to spatial patterns of antecedent rainfall. Fluxes required to maintain the NOx concentrations observed by the BAe-146 in a number of cases studies and for a range of assumed OH concentrations (1×106 to 1×107 molecules cm-3) are calculated to be in the range 8.4 to 36.1 ng N m-2 s-1. These values are comparable to the range of fluxes from 0.5 to 28 ng N m-2 s-1 reported from small scale field studies in a variety of non-nutrient rich tropical and sub-tropical locations reported in the review of Davidson and Kingerlee (1997). The fluxes calculated in the present study have been scaled up to cover the area of the Sahel bounded by 10 to 20 N and 10 E to 20 W giving an estimated emission of 0.03 to 0.30 Tg N from this area for July and August 2006. The observed chemical data also suggest that the NOx emitted from soils is taking part in ozone formation as ozone concentrations exhibit similar fine scale structure to the NOx, with enhancements over the wet soils. Such variability can not be explained on the basis of transport from other areas.

Item Type:	Article
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Science > School of Environmental Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Centre for Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (former - to 2017) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Atmospheric Chemistry (former - to 2018) Faculty of Science > Research Groups > Climate, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences (former - to 2017)
Depositing User:	Rosie Cullington
Date Deposited:	02 Mar 2011 09:40
Last Modified:	13 Sep 2023 09:30
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/25516
DOI:	10.5194/acp-8-2285-2008

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