Space‐Based Constraints on Terrestrial Glyoxal Production
Glyoxal is a volatile organic compound (VOC) in the atmosphere that is a precursor to ozone and secondary organic aerosol, can be a measure of photochemical activity, and is one of a small number of VOCs observable from space. However, the global budget of glyoxal is not well understood, and there h...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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American Geophysical Union (AGU)
2020
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/125529 |
| _version_ | 1811083995352399872 |
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| author | Silva, Sam James Heald, Colette L. Li, Meng |
| author2 | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering |
| author_facet | Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Silva, Sam James Heald, Colette L. Li, Meng |
| author_sort | Silva, Sam James |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Glyoxal is a volatile organic compound (VOC) in the atmosphere that is a precursor to ozone and secondary organic aerosol, can be a measure of photochemical activity, and is one of a small number of VOCs observable from space. However, the global budget of glyoxal is not well understood, and there has been limited exploration of whether current chemical transport models reproduce satellite observations of this VOC. In this work we take advantage of recent advances in the retrieval of glyoxal from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument along with retrieved formaldehyde and the GEOS-Chem model to constrain global glyoxal sources. Model glyoxal is produced by direct emissions from fires (6.5 Tg/year) and secondary chemical production (32.9 Tg/year) from biogenic and anthropogenic precursors. The model reproduces the annual average terrestrial spatial variability in formaldehyde and glyoxal reasonably well, with an R2 of 0.8 and 0.5, respectively. We find that the model representation of biomass burning, C2H2, glyocolaldehyde, and isoprene-dominated glyoxal production is consistent with the observations of glyoxal and formaldehyde, and the ratio of glyoxal to formaldehyde to within ~20%. However, the observations suggest that glyoxal production from the high monoterpene-emitting boreal regions is underestimated in the model, with concentrations low by more than a factor of 3. This suggests that the oxidative chemistry of monoterpenes is not well represented in the GEOS-Chem model and that more laboratory work is needed to constrain the impact of monoterpene emissions on atmospheric composition. ©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:42:51Z |
| format | Article |
| id | mit-1721.1/125529 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T12:42:51Z |
| publishDate | 2020 |
| publisher | American Geophysical Union (AGU) |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/1255292022-09-28T09:37:28Z Space‐Based Constraints on Terrestrial Glyoxal Production Silva, Sam James Heald, Colette L. Li, Meng Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering Glyoxal is a volatile organic compound (VOC) in the atmosphere that is a precursor to ozone and secondary organic aerosol, can be a measure of photochemical activity, and is one of a small number of VOCs observable from space. However, the global budget of glyoxal is not well understood, and there has been limited exploration of whether current chemical transport models reproduce satellite observations of this VOC. In this work we take advantage of recent advances in the retrieval of glyoxal from the Ozone Monitoring Instrument along with retrieved formaldehyde and the GEOS-Chem model to constrain global glyoxal sources. Model glyoxal is produced by direct emissions from fires (6.5 Tg/year) and secondary chemical production (32.9 Tg/year) from biogenic and anthropogenic precursors. The model reproduces the annual average terrestrial spatial variability in formaldehyde and glyoxal reasonably well, with an R2 of 0.8 and 0.5, respectively. We find that the model representation of biomass burning, C2H2, glyocolaldehyde, and isoprene-dominated glyoxal production is consistent with the observations of glyoxal and formaldehyde, and the ratio of glyoxal to formaldehyde to within ~20%. However, the observations suggest that glyoxal production from the high monoterpene-emitting boreal regions is underestimated in the model, with concentrations low by more than a factor of 3. This suggests that the oxidative chemistry of monoterpenes is not well represented in the GEOS-Chem model and that more laboratory work is needed to constrain the impact of monoterpene emissions on atmospheric composition. ©2018. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved. NASA Earth and Space Science Fellowship Program (Grant no. NNX16AN92H) National Science Foundation (ATM-1564495) 2020-05-27T20:59:25Z 2020-05-27T20:59:25Z 2018-11 2018-07 2020-05-27T17:35:11Z Article http://purl.org/eprint/type/JournalArticle 2169-8996 https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/125529 Silva, Sam J. et. al., "Space‐Based Constraints on Terrestrial Glyoxal Production." Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres 123, 23 (December 2018): 13,583-94 doi. 10.1029/2018JD029311 ©2018 Authors en https://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2018JD029311 Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use. application/pdf American Geophysical Union (AGU) MIT web domain |
| spellingShingle | Silva, Sam James Heald, Colette L. Li, Meng Space‐Based Constraints on Terrestrial Glyoxal Production |
| title | Space‐Based Constraints on Terrestrial Glyoxal Production |
| title_full | Space‐Based Constraints on Terrestrial Glyoxal Production |
| title_fullStr | Space‐Based Constraints on Terrestrial Glyoxal Production |
| title_full_unstemmed | Space‐Based Constraints on Terrestrial Glyoxal Production |
| title_short | Space‐Based Constraints on Terrestrial Glyoxal Production |
| title_sort | space based constraints on terrestrial glyoxal production |
| url | https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/125529 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT silvasamjames spacebasedconstraintsonterrestrialglyoxalproduction AT healdcolettel spacebasedconstraintsonterrestrialglyoxalproduction AT limeng spacebasedconstraintsonterrestrialglyoxalproduction |