Study of NO2 photolysis rate coefficients for the Paso Del Norte region
Abstract
The photolysis of NO2 is one of the most influential chemical processes in the formation of photochemical air pollution. In this study, we compared simulated and measured nitrogen dioxide photolysis rate coefficients (JNO2) for the Paso Del Norte (PdN) region. The Tropospheric Ultraviolet-Visible (TUV) radiation transfer model was used to calculate J(NO2) values. The measurements of hemi-spherically integrated, spectrally resolved solar photon flux between the wavelengths 400 and 700 nm were used to obtain the photolysis rate coefficients for NO2. Results are presented for a selected episode on July, 2015. The work investigated the use of measured actinic flux to improve the NO2 photolysis rate coefficients used by air quality models in order to predict more accurately nitrogen dioxide concentrations for the PdN Region. Complimentary to this work, simulated irradiances at visible wavelengths for the PdN region were inter-compared with Multi-filter Rotating ShadowBand radiometer irradiances data. TUV program was successfully enhanced to tailor it for the PdN region which results in an improved methodology in optimizing the photolysis rate coefficients to increase the accuracy of air quality and forecasting capability.
Subject Area
Physical chemistry|Atmospheric sciences|Environmental science
Recommended Citation
Wangchuk, Pema, "Study of NO2 photolysis rate coefficients for the Paso Del Norte region" (2016). ETD Collection for University of Texas, El Paso. AAI10250956.
https://scholarworks.utep.edu/dissertations/AAI10250956