Observation of atmospheric nitrous acid with DOAS in Beijing, China

Article type: Research Article

Authors: QIN, Min | XIE, Pin-hua | LIU, Wen-qing | LI, Ang | DOU, Ke | FANG, Wu | LIU, Jian-guo | ZHANG, Wei-jun

Affiliations: Key Laboratory of Environmental Optics and Technology, Anhui Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei 230031, China

Note: [] Corresponding author. E-mail: mqin@aiofm.ac.cn

Abstract: Measurements of nitrous acid (HONO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO_2) in Beijing City have been performed by means of a developed differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) system based on photodiode array (PDA), during the autumn of 2004. HONO and NO_2 were simultaneously identified by their characteristic absorption bands in the spectral region between 337 nm and 372 nm with high sensibility and time resolution. The concentrations of HONO exhibit obviously diurnal variation with a nocturnal maximum and a daytime minimum. The highest HONO value up to 11.8 μg/m^3 was observed during the night of 2/3 September. Possible sources of the observed HONO were discussed. Good correlation to NO_2 indicates that NO2 is a main source component. The measurement also shows direct emission of HONO is an important source in strongly polluted urban area.

Keywords: atmospheric measurements, HONO, NO[TeX:] _2, DOAS, source

Journal: Journal of Environmental Sciences, vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 69-75, 2006