A comparison of airborne and surface trace gas measurements during the Southern Oxidants Study (SOS)

The NOAA Twin Otter conducted more than a dozen overflights of ground-level air quality monitoring stations during the 1995 SOS Nashville/Middle Tennessee Ozone Project Field Intensive. Surface and aircraft observations of ozone and ozone precursors were examined to identify systematic sampling erro...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of Geophysical Research 1998-09, Vol.103 (D17), p.22
Main Authors: Luke, Winston T, Watson, Thomas B, Olszyna, Kenneth J, Gunter, R Laureen, McMillen, Robert T, Wellman, Dennis L, Wilkison, Stan W
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The NOAA Twin Otter conducted more than a dozen overflights of ground-level air quality monitoring stations during the 1995 SOS Nashville/Middle Tennessee Ozone Project Field Intensive. Surface and aircraft observations of ozone and ozone precursors were examined to identify systematic sampling errors, and to assess the degree to which surface measurements may be considered representative of the larger planetary boundary layer (PBL). Overall agreement between surface and aircraft trace gas measurements was excellent in the well developed mixed layer, especially in rural-regional background air and under stagnant conditions, where surface concentrations change only slowly. On July 2, surface level measurements were representative of the larger mixed layer over distances as far as 70 km in background air, and 30 km in the weakly advected urban plume. Vertical variations in trace gas concentrations were often minimal in the well-mixed PBL, and measurements at the surface always agreed well with aircraft observations up to 460 m above ground level. (Author)
ISSN:0148-0227