Nitrogen oxides control OH: New insights into an old paradigm

PHYS 16

Ronald C. Cohen, rccohen@berkeley.edu, Department of Chemistry; Department Of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-1460
The nonlinear relationship between OH and NOx (NO+NO2) is a core element of the atmospheric chemistry paradigm. We believe that OH increases in linear proportion to NO at low NOx and decreases in propotion to 1/NO2 at high NOx. Nonetheless, a quantitative description of the inerdependence of OH and NOx remains elusive. This talk will focus on new observations of NO, NO2, total peroxynitrates, total alkyl and multifunctional nitrates (RONO2) and HNO3 that provide new insights into the quantitative response of OH to NOx. We pay particular attention to the role of RONO2, temperature and isoprene and discuss implications for ozone and secondary organic aerosol.
 

Physical Chemistry of Atmospheric Processes
8:00 AM-12:00 PM, Sunday, April 6, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Rm. 343, Oral

Division of Physical Chemistry

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008