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The effects of the conversion of nitrogen oxides in aircraft exhaust plumes in global models
Author(s) -
Meijer E. W.,
van Velthoven P. F. J.,
Wauben W. M. F.,
Beck J. P.,
Velders G. J. M.
Publication year - 1997
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 - 10.1029/97gl53156
Subject(s) - plume , nitrogen , parametrization (atmospheric modeling) , environmental science , atmospheric sciences , nitrogen oxides , nitrogen oxide , panache , perturbation (astronomy) , nox , meteorology , chemistry , combustion , physics , waste management , engineering , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , radiative transfer
A parametrization is needed in global models to account for the sub‐grid chemical processes taking place in the plume of an aircraft, since these processes can cause the conversion of a considerable amount of the emitted NO x to reservoir species, such as HNO 3 . For this purpose, the chemical conversions of nitrogen oxides in the plume of an aircraft were investigated with a newly developed model. The calculated fractions of different nitrogen compounds formed within 24 hours in the exhaust plumes, differentiated for the global domain and season, were used to modify the original aircraft NO x emissions from the ANCAT emission inventory to emissions of various nitrogen compounds and we applied these to the global Chemistry Transport Model KNMI (CTMK). The results obtained imply that neglect of aircraft plume processes in global modeling leads to an overestimation of the NO x and O 3 perturbations. Compared with a CTMK calculation with unmodified aircraft NO x emissions, the NO x perturbations in the North Atlantic flight corridor (NAFC) decreased by 15%–55%, due to conversions in the plumes. The resulting O 3 perturbation decreased by 15%–25%.