Journal article
Flux measurements of volatile organic compounds from an urban landscape
Geophysical research letters, Vol.32(20), pp.L20802-n/a
10/2005
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/115142
Abstract
Direct measurements of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions that include all sources in urban areas are a missing requirement to evaluate emission inventories and constrain current photochemical modelling practices. Here we demonstrate the use of micrometeorological techniques coupled with fast‐response sensors to measure urban VOC fluxes from a neighbourhood of Mexico City, where the spatial variability of surface cover and roughness is high. Fluxes of olefins, methanol, acetone, toluene and C2‐benzenes were measured and compared with the local gridded emissions inventory. VOC fluxes exhibited a clear diurnal pattern with a strong relationship to vehicular traffic. Recent photochemical modelling results suggest that VOC emissions are significantly underestimated in Mexico City, but for the olefin class, toluene, C2‐benzenes, and acetone fluxes measured in this work, the results show general agreement with the gridded emissions inventory. While these measurements do not address the full suite of VOC emissions, the comparison with the inventory suggests that other explanations may be needed to explain the photochemical modelling results.
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Details
- Title
- Flux measurements of volatile organic compounds from an urban landscape
- Creators
- E Velasco - Washington State UniversityB Lamb - Washington State UniversityS Pressley - Washington State UniversityE Allwine - Washington State UniversityH Westberg - Washington State UniversityB. T Jobson - Battelle Pacific Northwest National LaboratoryM Alexander - Battelle Pacific Northwest National LaboratoryP Prazeller - Battelle Pacific Northwest National LaboratoryL Molina - Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyM Molina - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Publication Details
- Geophysical research letters, Vol.32(20), pp.L20802-n/a
- Academic Unit
- Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of
- Number of pages
- 4
- Identifiers
- 99900547697401842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article