Two-Dimensional Distribution of Light Hydrocarbons: Results From the STRATOZ III Experiment
| dc.contributor.author | Rudolph, J. | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2010-02-08T20:22:36Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2010-02-08T20:22:36Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 1988 | |
| dc.description.abstract | During the STRATOZ III flights in June 1984, about 120 whole-air samples were collected and analyzed later on in the laboratory for several atmospheric trace components, including light hydro-carbons. The STRATOZ III mission consisted of 21 flight segments and covered a latitude range from 70°N to 60°S and altitudes up to 12 km. The results of these measurements were used to construct latitude-altitude profiles in the form of isolines for ethane, ethene, acetylene, propane, propene, n-butane, isobutane, n-pentane, and isopentane. These results are compared with the latitudinal cross sections obtained during a previous, very similar flight mission (STRATOZ II) in May-June 1980. Also, the few published latitudinal or vertical profiles for these nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHCs) are used for a comparison. The two-dimensional distributions for the longer-lived NMHCs, especially ethane and to some extent also propane and acetylene, are reasonably representative, even on a global scale. The high variability of the short-lived NMHCs, the C4 and C5 alkanes, and the light alkenes, prevents the determination of representative two-dimensional distributions for these species. The distributions of these short-lived compounds give at best an extremely rough idea on the distributions and should in general be considered as descriptions of a given momentary situation. These latitude-altitude profiles indicate the existence of fast mechanisms for vertical mixing in the troposphere. The observation of high mixing ratios of short-lived hydrocarbons in the middle and upper troposphere proves the existence of vertical mixing processes with a time scale comparable to, or even shorter than, the atmospheric lifetime of these reactive NMHCs. As a consequence, there exist several regions, even above the boundary layer, with NMHC mixing ratios high enough to make them important participants in the atmospheric photochemical reaction cycles. | en |
| dc.identifier.citation | J. Geophys. Res. 93, 8367 | en |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10315/2958 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en |
| dc.rights.article | http://www.agu.org/journals/jd/v093/iD07/JD093iD07p08367/ | en |
| dc.rights.journal | http://www.agu.org/journals/jd/ | en |
| dc.title | Two-Dimensional Distribution of Light Hydrocarbons: Results From the STRATOZ III Experiment | en |
| dc.type | Article | en |