Micrometeorological investigation of surface exchange of O sub(3) , SO sub(2) , and NO sub(2) : a case study

• Published in: Boundary-layer meteorology 1989-01, Vol.47 (1/4), p.321-336
• Main Authors: Hicks, B B, Matt, DR, McMillen, R T
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0006-8314

Data obtained in an intensive field study of the dry deposition of sulfur dioxide, ozone, and nitrogen dioxide, conducted in 1985 in central Pennsylvania, are used to illustrate the factors that must be considered to assure that high-quality results are derived. In particular, the quality of the site must be such that flux measurements made above the surface are representative of surface values. For this purpose, tests involving momentum transfer and the surface energy budget are especially useful. In addition, conditions must not be changing rapidly, and the statistical uncertainty associated with flux measurement must be low. For the set of data presented, conservative quality-assurance guidelines are used to reject potentially erroneous flux data. For ozone, most of the measured fluxes are of use in deriving surface resistances. For SO sub(2) , far fewer data points are available. For NO sub(2) , fluxes appear to lack the order of the O sub(3) and SO sub(2) fluxes, and do not enable surface resistances to be computed. The highest quality SO sub(2) and O sub(3) data yield surface resistances in fair average agreement with model predictions for SO sub(2) , but substantially higher than predictions for O sub(3) .