American Association for Aerosol Research - Abstract Submission

AAAR 37th Annual Conference
October 14 - October 18, 2019
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA

Abstract View


Intermediate-scale Concentrations of Volatile and Semivolatile Organic Compounds in the Near-canopy Forest Atmosphere and Implications for Emission Heterogeneity

JIANHUAI YE, Carla E. Batista, Igor O. Ribeiro, Patrícia C. Guimarães, Adan Medeiros, Rafael Barbosa, Rafael L. Oliveira, Sérgio Duvoisin Junior, Kolby Jardine, Dasa Gu, Alex Guenther, Karena McKinney, Leila Martins, Rodrigo Souza, Scot T. Martin, Harvard University

     Abstract Number: 61
     Working Group: Remote and Regional Atmospheric Aerosol

Abstract
The emissions, deposition, and chemistry of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are thought to be influenced by underlying landscape heterogeneity at intermediate horizontal scales of several hundred meters. Quantitative observations and scientific understanding at these scales, however, remain lacking, in large part due to a historical absence of facile observational approaches. Herein, horizontal heterogeneity in the concentrations of VOCs (e.g., isoprene and monoterpenes) and their corresponding oxidation products (semivolatile organic compounds, or SVOCs) over the near-canopy atmosphere was examined by sampling from a copter unmanned aerial vehicle in central Amazonia during the wet and dry seasons of 2018. Distinct VOC and SVOC concentrations were observed over two forest sub-types separated from one another by several hundred meters. A gradient transport model together with a large eddy simulation model was employed to investigate the relationship between variable VOC emissions from underlying forest sub-types and the observed concentrations of VOCs and SVOCs. The data set obtained from this study, linking the diversity among VOC emissions and atmospheric particulate matter production at intermediate scales, provides a better understanding of the ecological and Earth system roles of VOCs.