The effects of forest canopy shading and turbulence on boundary layer ozone.
basic_science · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 28516905.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1038/ncomms15243 and PMC identifier 5454380.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The chemistry of the Earth's atmosphere close to the surface is known to be strongly influenced by vegetation. However, two critical aspects of the forest environment have been neglected in the description of the large-scale influence of forests on air pollution: the reduction of photolysis reaction rates and the modification of vertical transport due to the presence of foliage. Here we show that foliage shading and foliage-modified vertical diffusion have a profound influence on atmospheric chemistry, both at the Earth's surface and extending throughout the atmospheric boundary layer. The absence of these processes in three-dimensional models may account for 59-72% of the positive bias in North American surface ozone forecasts, and up to 97% of the bias in forested regions within the continent. These processes are shown to have similar or greater influence on surface ozone levels as climate change and current emissions policy scenario simulations.