Chapter 5.3 On the contribution of the heterogeneous chemistry to nitrate concentrations over Europe based on modeling results and long-term and campaign measurements

  • Alma Hodzic
  • , Laurent Menut
  • , Bertrand Bessagnet
  • , Robert Vautard

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterpeer-review

Abstract

The significance of the heterogeneous formation of particulate nitrate, rarely included in chemistry-transport models (CTMs), is investigated. According to several field campaigns, particulate nitrate in a coarse particle (2-10 μm) can be obtained by reaction of nitric acid with calcium and magnesium carbonates. This process significantly contributes to the total nitrate mass concentration over land particularly in summer. We introduce this heterogeneous reaction in the CHIMERE CTM and analyze its impact on total nitrate, nitric acid and aerosol particles, by statistical comparison of one-year-long simulations with EMEP measurements over Europe. Several values of the nitric acid uptake coefficient are tested in order to investigate the sensitivity to this parameter, and we propose an optimal value for our study. The model performances in simulating nitrates and PM10 significantly improve when the heterogeneous nitrate formation is included. This process also greatly improves the simulation of coarse nitrate in comparison with field campaign measurements near Paris city.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationAir Pollution Modeling and Its Application XVIII
EditorsCarlos Borrego, Eberhard Renner
Pages503-513
Number of pages11
DOIs
StatePublished - 2007

Publication series

NameDevelopments in Environmental Science
Volume6
ISSN (Print)1474-8177

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