Annual Cycles and Long-range Transports of Non-methane Hydrocarbons, CO, Rn-222 and Kr-85 in the Mid and Upper Troposphere

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

A central problem in interpreting atmospheric chemistry has been finding a rational means of evaluating the relative roles of chemistry and transport, so that the budgets, reaction times, fluxes, etc. of primary interest could be identified and quantified. One approach to this problem has been to use measurements of the atmospheric concentrations of natural and manmade radionuclides as a way of evaluating transport. The atmospheric concentrations of radionuclides such as Radon-222 and Krypton-85 are essentially insensitive to chemical effects, while at the same time are affected by transport in the same way as are many of the chemically reactive species found in the atmosphere. Thus the simultaneous measurement of both radioactive and reactive chemical species has proved to be an effective approach in atmospheric chemistry field experiments. The objectives of this research project is to: 1) build and flight test an airborne radon pumped whole air sampler, and build the laboratory transfer/analysis system for use in conjunction with the whole air sampler; and 2) build an airborne aerosol sampling system designed to collect samples for Pb-210 analysis. Both samplers will be designed to facilitate their eventual integration aboard medium sized research aircraft such as the NCAR Electra. This equipment will be available and for use in organized multi-investigator atmospheric chemistry experiments such as the Pacific Stratus/Sulfur Investigation (PSI), the Pacific Dust Experiment (PACDEX) or the Atmosphere/Ocean Chemistry Experiment (AEROCE).