Yn. Lee et al., ATMOSPHERIC CARBONYL-COMPOUNDS AT A RURAL SOUTHEASTERN UNITED-STATES SITE, JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-ATMOSPHERES, 100(D12), 1995, pp. 25933-25944
Atmospheric concentrations of a series of carbonyl compounds known as
formaldehyde (FA), acetaldehyde (AC), acetone (AN), glycolaldehyde (GA
), glyoxal (GL), methylglyoxal (MG), glyoxylic acid (GD), and pyruvic
acid (PD) were measured at a rural site in Georgia in summers of 1991
and 1992. The midafternoon median concentrations, in parts per billion
, determined for 1991-1992 were FA, 3.6/3.1; AC, 0.58/0.74; AN, 1.7/1.
8; GA, 0.21/0.26; GL, 0.02/0.09; MG, 0.03/0.08; GD, 0.46; and PD, 0.11
, the latter two for 1992 only. All of the carbonyls except AC and AN
exhibited a strong diurnal dependence, with maxima in the midafternoon
and minima during the night, consistent with a rapid in situ photoche
mical production in the daytime and a loss by dry deposition in a shal
low inversion during the night. FA correlated well with O-3, GA and MG
, consistent with their photochemical production near the surface at t
he measurement site. GL and MG showed the strongest correlation among
all species, suggesting common origins as well as similar atmospheric
lifetimes. The presence of GA, MG, and GL along with FA at the observe
d relative concentrations are consistent with laboratory developed iso
prene oxidation mechanism and the expectation that isoprene represents
a major reactive hydrocarbon in this rural region. At the concentrati
ons observed, these carbonyls serve as important radical sources. The
contribution of FA accounts for half of that by O-3 and the higher car
bonyls approximates half of that by FA. With respect to production of
peroxyacetyl nitrate, isoprene contributes as much as acetaldehyde. Th
ese results lend further credence to the notion that isoprene plays a
pivotal role in photochemical processes, especially in rural environme
nts.