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TETHERED BALLOON MEASUREMENTS OF BIOGENIC VOCS IN THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER
Citation:
Greenberg, J., A. Guenther, P. Zimmerman, W. Baugh, C D. Geron*, K. Davis, D. Helmig, AND L. Klinger. TETHERED BALLOON MEASUREMENTS OF BIOGENIC VOCS IN THE ATMOSPHERIC BOUNDARY LAYER. ATMOSPHERIC ENVIRONMENT 33(6):855-867, (1999).
Description:
Measurements of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) have been made on a tethered balloon platform in eleven field deployments between 1985 and 1996. A series of balloon sampling packages have been developed for these campaigns and they have been used to describe boundary layer dynamics, BVOC distribution, chemical transformations of BVOCs, and to estimate BVOC emission rates from terrestrial vegetation. Measurements indicate a slow decrease of concentration for BVOCs with altitude when sampling times are greater than average convective turnover time of the mixed layer. Surface layer concentrations were more variable than mixed layer concentrations because of proximity to various emission sources in the smaller surface layer footprint of sampling. Atmospheric concentrations of BVOCs were shown to be influenced in a predictable way both by the growth of the mixed layer and by the environmental factors which control emissions. Mass balance and mixed layer gradient techniques for estimating emissions from concentration profiles were in good agreement with each other and with estimates based on the extrapolation of leaf level emissions to the landscape scale. Observations of the reaction products of the atmospheric oxidation of isoprene provided information on reaction pathways and wet deposition processes.