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The distribution of nitrogen oxides off the East Coast of North America
Author(s) -
Misanchuk Bryan A.,
Hastie Donald R.,
Schiff Harold I.
Publication year - 1987
Publication title -
global biogeochemical cycles
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.512
H-Index - 187
eISSN - 1944-9224
pISSN - 0886-6236
DOI - 10.1029/gb001i004p00345
Subject(s) - troposphere , mixing ratio , mixing (physics) , environmental science , nitrogen , boundary layer , atmospheric sciences , planetary boundary layer , oceanography , east coast , volume (thermodynamics) , climatology , geology , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics , thermodynamics
Measurements of NO and NO x ' (as measured by a chemiluminescent analyzer equipped with a FeSO 4 converter) were made from an aircraft off the east coast of North America in January and February 1986. These measurements show the mixing ratios of the nitrogen oxides to be higher than encountered in remote continental or marine environments. Both the free troposphere and boundary layer mixing ratio distributions are skewed to ward high mixing ratios and are best described by a gamma probability distribution. The mean mixing ratios observed were 2.9 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) in the boundary layer and 0.55 ppbv in the free troposphere for NO x ', and 0.56 ppbv in the boundary layer and 0.18 in the free troposphere for NO.