Atmospheric measurements of HONO by tunable diode laser absorption spectroscopy

Ambient gas phase nitrous acid (HONO) has been measured by Tunable Diode Laser Absorption Spectroscopy with sub-ppbv detection limits. An R-branch line in the 1263.4 cm–1 3 band was found tobe free of interference and suitable for ambient HONO measurements. Nitrous acid was measured during the night and early morning at an urban site in Toronto, Canada, during the summer of 1998. Average mixing ratios, integrated over 30 minutes, ranged from below the minimum detection limit of 300 pptv to 1.9 ppbv, with the highest concentrations observed during the early morning hours. During the night of 19 June 1998, the concentration of HONO increased by as much as 0.5 ppbv/hr. The usual decrease in HONO after sunrise was delayed by a few hours, possibly due to a combination of an increase in the production rate of HONO with rush hour, and attenuation of the early morning light by high NO2 within the aerosol fog/haze.