THE SENSITIVITY OF THE RADICAL AMPLIFIER TO AMBIENT WATER-VAPOR

Citation
Cm. Mihele et Dr. Hastie, THE SENSITIVITY OF THE RADICAL AMPLIFIER TO AMBIENT WATER-VAPOR, Geophysical research letters, 25(11), 1998, pp. 1911-1913
Citations number
12
Categorie Soggetti
Geosciences, Interdisciplinary
ISSN journal
00948276
Volume
25
Issue
11
Year of publication
1998
Pages
1911 - 1913
Database
ISI
SICI code
0094-8276(1998)25:11<1911:TSOTRA>2.0.ZU;2-N
Abstract
The radical amplifier is an instrument used to measure radical concent rations in the troposphere. The critical parameter in determining the sensitivity is the chain length, which is shown to decrease with incre asing water vapour in the reactor. When compared to measurements in dr y air, this decrease is a factor 2 at a relative humidity of 40%. This suggests that field measurements using the radical amplifier may be u nderestimating the ambient radical concentration by a similar factor. One source of this deterioration in performance is an increase in the loss of radicals to the walls of the reactor, although there also appe ars to be a contribution from a water dependence on the gas phase chem istry.