Date of Award

4-1997

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Chemistry

First Advisor

Dr. Steven Bertman

Second Advisor

Dr. Michael McCarville

Third Advisor

Dr. J. Miller

Access Setting

Masters Thesis-Open Access

Abstract

The Arctic Outflow Study (AOS) was a project funded by the National Science Foundation to assess the impact of tropospheric ozone concentrations by the measurement of oxidized nitrogen. Measurements of arctic outflow were made to assess the seasonal cycle of compounds in arctic air and the partitioning of NOy during transport to the North Atlantic region. These photochemically active compounds are elevated in the arctic during the winter and spring because of the lack of photochemical processes to destroy them.

Measurements of PAN, Alkyl nitrates, NOy, NO, NO2, CO, HNO3, O3, and particulate nitrate were made at a rural site in Cape Norman, Newfoundland from February 1996 to May 1996. The focus of this thesis will be on the analysis of PAN and alkyl nitrtes. The measured PAN concentration varied from below 2 pptv to a maximum of 783 pptv. The lack of a diurnal trend in the PAN data shows that PAN was transported to the Cape Norman site during the campaign. PAN/NOy ratios were determined to be 40 % in arctic air masses,and the thermal decompostion of PAN was not determined to occur faster over open water versus over land. The measured Alkyl nitrate concentration varied from 3 pptv to 101 pptv. Alkyl nitrates were determined to be transported to the site by comparison to an analytical expression.

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