Abstract
We report the first observations of the emission of five C1–C4alkyl nitrates (methyl‐, ethyl‐,n‐propyl‐,i‐propyl‐, and 2‐butyl nitrate) from savanna burning. Average alkyl nitrate mixing ratios in the immediate vicinity of three bushfires in Northern Australia were 47–122 times higher than local background mixing ratios. These are the highest alkyl nitrate mixing ratios we have ever detected, with maximum mixing ratios exceeding 3 ppbv for methyl nitrate. Methyl nitrate dominated the alkyl nitrate emissions during the flaming stage of savanna burning, whereas C2–C4alkyl nitrates were mostly emitted during the smoldering stage. To explain the formation of alkyl nitrates from biomass burning, we propose a reaction mechanism involving the combination of reactive radicals at high temperature. Bearing in mind the uncertainties associated with extrapolating small data sets to much larger scales, alkyl nitrate emissions from global savanna burning are estimated to be on the order of 8 Gg/yr.
Highlights
[2] Alkyl nitrates (RONO2) are an important component of the reactive odd nitrogen (NOy) budget and they can serve as a reservoir for the long-range transport of nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2)
[1] We report the first observations of the emission of five C1 – C4 alkyl nitrates from savanna burning
[7] The alkyl nitrate mixing ratios in the savanna burning samples were strongly enhanced relative to background levels (Table 1)
Summary
Received 16 September 2002; revised 25 October 2002; accepted 29 October 2002; published 19 December 2002. [1] We report the first observations of the emission of five C1 – C4 alkyl nitrates (methyl-, ethyl-, n-propyl-, i-propyl-, and 2-butyl nitrate) from savanna burning. Average alkyl nitrate mixing ratios in the immediate vicinity of three bushfires in Northern Australia were 47– 122 times higher than local background mixing ratios. These are the highest alkyl nitrate mixing ratios we have ever detected, with maximum mixing ratios exceeding 3 ppbv for methyl nitrate. Bearing in mind the uncertainties associated with extrapolating small data sets to much larger scales, alkyl nitrate emissions from global savanna burning are estimated to be on the order of 8 Gg/yr.
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