Strong HONO formation in a suburban site during snowy days

Vincent Michoud (1) , Jean-Francois Doussin (1) , A. Colomb (2) , Charbel Afif (1) , Agnès Borbon (2) , M. Camredon (1) , B. Aumont (1) , Michel Legrand (3, 4) , Matthias Beekmann (1)

1 LISA (UMR_7583) - Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques
2 LaMP - Laboratoire de météorologie physique
3 LGGE - Laboratoire de glaciologie et géophysique de l'environnement
4 UGA [2016-2019] - Université Grenoble Alpes [2016-2019]

Nitrous acid measurements were carried out during the MEGAPOLI (Megacities: Emissions, urban, regional and Global Atmospheric POLlution and climate effects, and Integrated tools for assessment and mitigation) winter field campaign at the SIRTA observatory in Paris surroundings from the 20th of January to the 15th of February 2010. At the end of the campaign, significant snow events occurred leading to snow accumulation at the sampling site during the last days. These specific conditions gave the opportunity to examine the HONO budget with and without the presence of snow at ground. Much higher HONO sources were found for the days when the site was covered by snow. This provides evidence for the existence of a large snowpack source of HONO in mid-latitude polluted regions that needs to be investigated for a better understanding of wintertime photochemistry.

Domains: Environmental Sciences

Vincent Michoud, Jean-Francois Doussin, A. Colomb, Charbel Afif, Agnès Borbon, et al.. Strong HONO formation in a suburban site during snowy days. Atmospheric environment, 2015, 116, pp.155-158. ⟨10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.06.040⟩. ⟨insu-01207077⟩