AAAR 34th Annual Conference
October 12 - October 16, 2015
Hyatt Regency
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Abstract View
Wintertime Secondary Organic Aerosol Over an Oil and Natural Gas Producing Region of the U.S. from an Air Quality Model Perspective
RAVAN AHMADOV, Stuart McKeen, Michael Trainer, Joost de Gouw, Jessica Gilman, Carsten Warneke, Timothy Bates, James Johnson, Patricia Quinn, CU CIRES- NOAA ESRL
Abstract Number: 708 Working Group: Carbonaceous Aerosols in the Atmosphere
Abstract The rapid development of the oil and natural gas production across the United States in recent years has been associated with significant amounts of methane and other volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released to the atmosphere. Unexpectedly, the highest ground level ozone concentrations during 2013 year within the entire country were detected in winter over a remote area the Uinta Basin in Utah, which is densely populated by oil and natural gas wells. During these pollution episodes significant levels of particulate matter were also observed. The high photochemistry and abundance of the volatile organic compounds emitted by the oil and natural gas sector make the formation of secondary organic aerosols very likely in the UB region.
In this study, we simulate primary and secondary organic aerosols (SOA) and elemental carbon over the Uinta Basin during winter of 2013. We use the state of the art air quality model WRF-Chem with an updated SOA parameterization based on the volatility basis set framework. The unique signature of the anthropogenic emissions dominated by the oil/gas sector provides an unprecedented opportunity to study and improve the secondary organic aerosol parameterizations used in air quality models. Here we discuss different processes that contribute to SOA formation, such as the composition of VOCs, mutligenerational aging, and dry deposition of condensable organic vapors characterized by the WRF-Chem model. Finally, we compare our results with organic and elemental carbon measurements taken during winter of 2013 in the UB.