Abstract
The chemical reactivity of NO and NO2 is so rapid that their fluxes and concentrations can be considerably modified from that expected for conserved variables in the atmospheric surface layer, even as low as a meter above the surface. Fitzjarrald and Lenschow (1983) have calculated flux and mean concentration profiles for NO, NO2 and O3 in the surface layer using numerical techniques. However, their solutions do not approach the photostationary state at large heights. Here we solve a simpler set of equations analytically (i.e. we assume a constant O3 concentration and neutral hydrodynamic stability), and are able to show how the flux profiles behave at large heights assuming that the concentrations approach their photostationary values. We find, for example, that at large heights the ratio of the flux of NO to that of NO2 is equal to the ratio of their concentrations. These results are relevant to estimating surface fluxes of NO and NO2, and are most applicable to nonurban environments where NO and NO2 concentrations are usually much less than O3 concentration.
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The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.
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Lenschow, D.H., Delany, A.C. An analytic formulation for NO and NO2 flux profiles in the atmospheric surface layer. J Atmos Chem 5, 301–309 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114108
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00114108