ISSN:
1573-2932
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering
Notes:
Abstract Pollution episodes of three distinct types were detected at the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory, which is a 300 m instrumented tower located in a rural area 25 km north of Denver and 20 km east of Boulder. Under stably stratified atmospheric conditions, usually at night or early morning, both power-plant-derived and general urban plumes were sampled. The powerplant plumes were characterized by SO2 concentrations of 30 to 50 ppb in the plume centers, NO2 maxima of 20 to 40 ppb on the plume edges, NO maxima of as much as 50 ppb in the plume centers, and the absence of O3 from the plume centers. Light scattering (b scat), principally due to coarse particles, was typically enhanced by 20 to 40%, relative to nominally clean air. The urban plumes typically contained NO2 uniformly distributed throughout the affected air mass at 20 to 30 ppb, no detectable NO or SO2, and O3 present at concentrations less than half that in background air; b scat was typically increased by a factor of 2 to 3. A third type of pollution episode, containing greatly increased concentrations of condensation nuclei, was observed during days when surface heating had apparently stimulated biological particle production. At these times the usual indicators of anthropogenic pollution were absent.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00290942
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