Influence of Oil and Gas Emissions on Summertime Ozone in the Colorado Northern Front Range

Abstract

Tropospheric O 3 has been decreasing across much of the eastern U.S. but has remained steady or even increased in some western regions. Recent increases in VOC and NO x emissions associated with the production of oil and natural gas (O&NG) may contribute to this trend in some areas. The Northern Front Range of Colorado has regularly exceeded O 3 air quality standards during summertime in recent years. This region has VOC emissions from a rapidly developing O&NG basin and low concentrations of biogenic VOC in close proximity to urban-Denver NO x emissions. Here VOC OH reactivity (OHR), O 3 production efficiency (OPE), and an observationally constrained box model are used to quantify the influence of O&NG emissions on regional summertime O 3 production. Analyses are based on measurements acquired over two summers at a central location within the Northern Front Range that lies between major regional O&NG and urban emission sectors. Observational analyses suggest that mixing obscures any OPE differences in air primarily influenced by O&NG or urban emission sector. The box model confirms relatively modest OPE differences that are within the uncertainties of the field observations. Box model results also indicate that maximum O 3 at the measurement location is sensitive to changes in NO x mixing ratio but also responsive to O&NGVOC reductions. Combined, these analyses show that O&tp://esrl. noaa.gov/csd, FRAPPNG alkanes contribute over 80% to the observed carbon mixing ratio, roughly 50% to the regional VOC OHR, and approximately 20% to regional photochemical O 3 production.

Metadata

Item Type:	Article
Authors/Creators:	McDuffie, Erin E. Edwards, Peter https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1076-6793 Gilman, Jessica B. Lerner, B. M. Dubé, William P. Trainer, Michael Wolfe, Daniel E. deGouw, J. Williams, Eric J. Tevlin, Alex G. Murphy, Jennifer G. Fischer, Emily V. McKeen, Stuart Ryerson, Thomas B. Peischl, J. Holloway, John S. Aikin, Kenneth Langford, A. O. Senff, C. J. Raul J., Alvarez II Hall, Samuel R. Ullmann, Kirk Lantz, Kathy O. Brown, Steven S.
Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information:	Funding Information: This work was supported by NOAA’s Atmospheric Chemistry, Carbon Cycle, and Climate Program. We thank Rebecca S. Hornbrook, Eric C. Apel, and Alan J. Hills for TOGA data from FRAPPÉ 2014 and comments during the manu script preparation process. We thank Betsy Weatherhead for her contribution to the statistical analysis. We also thank Patrick Reddy for insightful comments and discussion during preparation and Frank Flocke and Gabriele Pfister for FRAPPÉ campaign organization. Emily V. Fischer acknowledges support from the Colorado Department of Public Health and the Environment (CDPHE). Meteorological data from the Boulder Atmospheric Observatory (2012 and 2014) are available at http://www.esrl. noaa.gov/psd/technology/bao/ and http://www.esrl.noaa.gov/gmd/dv/ data/?category = Ozone&site = BAO, SONNE data available at http://esrl. noaa.gov/csd, FRAPPÉ data are available at http://www-air.larc.nasa.gov, NASA OMI total O3 column available at http:// mirador.gsfc.nasa.gov, and CalNEX CO and VOCs are available at http://esrl. noaa.gov/csd. All referenced supplemental text, figures, and tables can be found in the supporting information. Publisher Copyright: © 2016. American Geophysical Union. All Rights Reserved.
Dates:	Accepted: 5 July 2016 Published (online): 9 July 2016 Published: 2016
Institution:	The University of York
Academic Units:	The University of York > Faculty of Sciences (York) > Chemistry (York)
Depositing User:	Pure (York)
Date Deposited:	27 Jul 2016 09:34
Last Modified:	10 Apr 2025 23:09
Published Version:	https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JD025265
Status:	Published
Refereed:	Yes
Identification Number:	10.1002/2016JD025265
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID):	oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:103000

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Influence of Oil and Gas Emissions on Summertime Ozone in the Colorado Northern Front Range

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