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Atmospheric Acetaldehyde: Importance of Air‐Sea Exchange and a Missing Source in the Remote Troposphere
Author(s) -
Wang Siyuan,
Hornbrook Rebecca S.,
Hills Alan,
Emmons Louisa K.,
Tilmes Simone,
Lamarque JeanFrançois,
Jimenez Jose L.,
CampuzanoJost Pedro,
Nault Benjamin A.,
Crounse John D.,
Wennberg Paul O.,
Kim Michelle,
Allen Hannah,
Ryerson Thomas B.,
Thompson Chelsea R.,
Peischl Jeff,
Moore Fred,
Nance David,
Hall Brad,
Elkins James,
Tanner David,
Huey L. Gregory,
Hall Samuel R.,
Ullmann Kirk,
Orlando John J.,
Tyndall Geoff S.,
Flocke Frank M.,
Ray Eric,
Hanisco Thomas F.,
Wolfe Glenn M.,
St. Clair Jason,
Commane Róisín,
Daube Bruce,
Barletta Barbara,
Blake Donald R.,
Weinzierl Bernadett,
Dollner Maximilian,
Conley Andrew,
Vitt Francis,
Wofsy Steven C.,
Riemer Daniel D.,
Apel Eric C.
Publication year - 2019
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2019gl082034
Subject(s) - troposphere , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , stratosphere , atmospheric chemistry , ozone , acetaldehyde , meteorology , climatology , chemistry , geology , physics , organic chemistry , ethanol
We report airborne measurements of acetaldehyde (CH 3 CHO) during the first and second deployments of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Atmospheric Tomography Mission (ATom). The budget of CH 3 CHO is examined using the Community Atmospheric Model with chemistry (CAM‐chem), with a newly developed online air‐sea exchange module. The upper limit of the global ocean net emission of CH 3 CHO is estimated to be 34 Tg/a (42 Tg/a if considering bubble‐mediated transfer), and the ocean impacts on tropospheric CH 3 CHO are mostly confined to the marine boundary layer. Our analysis suggests that there is an unaccounted CH 3 CHO source in the remote troposphere and that organic aerosols can only provide a fraction of this missing source. We propose that peroxyacetic acid is an ideal indicator of the rapid CH 3 CHO production in the remote troposphere. The higher‐than‐expected CH 3 CHO measurements represent a missing sink of hydroxyl radicals (and halogen radical) in current chemistry‐climate models.