During the second Texas Air Quality Study 2006 (TexAQS II), a full range of pollutants was measured by aircraft in eastern Texas during successive transects of power plant plumes (PPPs). A regional photochemical model is applied to simulate the physical and chemical evolution of the plumes. The observations reveal that SO 2 and NO y were rapidly removed from PPPs on a cloudy day but not on the cloud-free days, indicating efficient aqueous processing of these compounds in clouds. The model reasonably represents observed NO x oxidation and PAN formation in the plumes, but fails to capture the rapid loss of SO 2 (0.37 h -1) and NO y (0.24 h -1) in some plumes on the cloudy day. Adjustments to the cloud liquid water content (QC) and the default metal concentrations in the cloud module could explain some of the SO 2 loss. However, NO y in the model was insensitive to QC. These findings highlight cloud processing as a major challenge to atmospheric models. Model-based estimates of ozone production efficiency (OPE) in PPPs are 20-50% lower than observation-based estimates for the cloudy day. © 2012 Author(s).
CITATION STYLE
Zhou, W., Cohan, D. S., Pinder, R. W., Neuman, J. A., Holloway, J. S., Peischl, J., … Zheng, W. G. (2012). Observation and modeling of the evolution of Texas power plant plumes. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 12(1), 455–468. https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-12-455-2012
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