ISSN 1006-9895

CN 11-1768/O4

A Model Study of the Impact of Uncertainty in the Heterogeneous Uptake Coefficients on Dust Aerosol Surface
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    Abstract:

    The heterogeneous uptake coefficients (γ) taken from recent laboratory studies are analyzed in terms of aerosol sample, experiment method, and analysis method. The reference γ which are theoretically more suitable for Asian dust aerosol are derived and applied in a regional air quality model to represent heterogeneous reactions of dust aerosol in East Asia. In order to explore the sensitivity of model results to γ values, two sensitivity experiments, namely T-up (upper limit) and T-low (lower limit), are conducted based on the upper and lower limits of γ values for four gaseous species (HNO3, N2O5, O3, and SO2). T-rh experiment is also conducted to investigate the influence of relative humidity on γ values for HNO3 and N2O5. Model results using referenceγvalues are generally better than those using upper and lower limits of γ values in comparison with observations. This study also shows that it would be more reasonable to take γ as a function of relative humidity than to take it as a constant. Through heterogeneous reactions, dust aerosol can make the average concentrations of SO2, NOx, and O3 decrease by 3.44%, 5.92%, and 1.75%, respectively, while those of sulfate and nitrate increase by 5.22% and 23.25% below 3 km within the model domain, showing heterogeneous reactions exert more influence on aerosols than gases. The percentages could be changed when using different γ values, especially ozone and nitrate. The model results of ozone and nitrate can differ by 13.4% and 10.1% between T-up and T-low.

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  • Received:
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  • Online: December 06,2011
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