On contents of trace gases in the atmospheric surface layer over Moscow

Abstract

The results of the 2002–2012 continuous once-a-minute measurements of the composition of the surface air over Moscow, which were taken at the joint ecological station of the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences, and the Geographic Faculty of Moscow State University, are discussed. It is shown that the annual increase (on the order of 1%) in the content of surface ozone is stable and the decrease in the content of nitric oxide is statistically significant, while the content of nitric dioxide remains almost unchanged. Reliable regularities in both diurnal and annual variations in the contents of the five trace gases O3, NO, NO2, CO, and SO2 have been studied in detail. Statistical relations of the content of sulfur dioxide with the amount of reserve fuel (black oil) used in city heating (this relation is the strongest one), wind velocity in an atmospheric layer up to a height of 200 m, and air temperature have been analyzed. The influence that wind velocity has on the surface contents of trace gases and carbon dioxide has been studied for the first time on the basis of long-term ‘MODOS’ sodar data. It is shown that, with an increase in wind velocity, the contents of nitric and carbon oxides generally decrease, the content of ozone increases, and the content of sulfur dioxide decreases starting from an intermediate value of 1–2 m/s due to the prevalence of high sources of this gas. An additional maximum found in the content of carbon dioxide at high wind velocities may be associated with the long-range transport of CO2.