Quantifying Peroxy Acetyl Nitrate (PAN) concentrations in pollution plumes is important for understanding the potential impact of the long-range transport of air pollution. PAN serves as a reservoir for nitrogen oxides (NOx), which leads to the formation of ozone far downwind of the NOx source region.
The residual between TES measured spectra and that simulated using the LBLRTM radiative transfer model reveals a signature of PAN (black line). The residual between observed and modeled spectra is reduced when ~1.9 ppb of PAN is included in the radiative transfer model (red line).
This signature of PAN is seen in TES spectra of biomass burning plumes from the 2008 ARCTAS campaign. This prototype calculation shows it is feasible to estimate atmospheric PAN using TES spectra; PAN will be included a future release of the Aura TES production code.
from Alvarado et al., 2011, Atmosphere
03.14.2012
