M. De Reus et al., Airborne observations of dust aerosol over the North Atlantic Ocean duringACE 2: Indications for heterogeneous ozone destruction, J GEO RES-A, 105(D12), 2000, pp. 15263-15275
Aerosol size distribution measurements have been performed in the free trop
osphere during the Second Aerosol Characterization Experiment (ACE 2) near
Tenerife, Canary Islands, in July 1997. During one measurement flight, on J
uly 8, a uniform aerosol layer was encountered between 2.5 and 5.5 km altit
ude, characterized by a relatively low Aitken mode particle number concentr
ation and high concentrations of accumulation and coarse mode particles? re
sulting in a relatively large aerosol surface area and mass, which is estim
ated to be about 400 mu g m(-3). Five-day backward trajectories indicate th
at the aerosol in this layer was mineral dust originating from arid regions
on the North African continent. The dust layer was associated with reduced
ozone mixing ratios. Model simulations have been performed with a photoche
mical box model including different heterogeneous removal reactions to stud
y the interaction between gas phase chemistry and mineral aerosol. The best
agreement between the observed and modeled ozone concentrations was obtain
ed when heterogeneous removal of ozone and precursor gases on dust aerosol
were taken into account. Heterogeneous O-3 loss is estimated at 4 ppbv O-3
per day. Although uncertainties concerning heterogeneous ozone removal rema
in, in particular related to the reactive uptake coefficient of O-3, it is
likely that the loss of O-3 and precursor gases on mineral dust aerosol sig
nificantly reduces the O-3 abundance in large-scale dust plumes.