The Contribution of Global Transport on -
Ehlers,Susanna(2007).pdf (3.751Mb PDF) - May 18, 2007 - Carbon
Monoxide - Carbon monoxide, CO, is produced by natural and
anthropogenic processes including biomass burning and fossil
fuel usage and affects atmospheric chemistry through its roles
as a sink for the hydroxyl radical (OH) and as a precursor to
ozone. As the primary atmospheric sink for OH, which is
responsible for chemically destroying numerous air pollutants,
CO concentrations impact the concentrations of other such
pollutants. Here we use CO as a tracer for polluted air masses
by examining the transport of CO both to and from North America.
CO is an ideal tracer for atmospheric and climate modeling
because it is well understood and well captured due to its
simple chemistry and long lifespan. By employing MOZART, a
numerical global tropospheric chemistry model, we seek to
address the nature of air pollutant transport and establish the
role of transport on regional North American CO concentrations.
We fin