Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In this study, we evaluate volatile chemical product (VCP; e.g., adhesives, personal care products) emissions in the McDonald et al. inventory using sector-specific tracers and the FLEXPART-WRF Lagrangian particle dispersion model. Observations of decamethylcyclopentasiloxane (D5-Siloxane) are used for optimizing emissions from personal care products, para-dichlorobenzene (PDCBZ) for insecticides, and parachlorobenzotrifluoride (PCBTF) for emissions from the construction (coatings + adhesives) subsector. Continuous ground-site measurements obtained in Las Vegas and Los Angeles (LA) during summer 2021 are used to optimize the temporal emission profiles of the area sources. Additionally, in situ aircraft-based observations (June 2021) over the LA region are used to evaluate emission factors for the basin. The configuration of the weather research and forecasting (WRF) model is optimized using vertical wind profile measurements obtained from the Pick-Up truck-based Mobile Atmospheric Sounder (PUMAS) deployed in the LA basin to minimize the uncertainty of the inversion due to meteorology. While the diurnal amplitude in emission rates from personal care products and insecticides is reduced after optimization, that of construction VCPs (coatings + adhesives) is enhanced. From the aircraft inversion, we find that the inventory underestimates the emissions originating from construction by a factor of 5.3 (95% confidence interval 4.3-6.3) in the LA basin. Emissions from consumer products (personal care + cleaning) and insecticides were reduced by a factor of 2.1 (1.7-2.5) and 5.2 (3.9-6.4), respectively, following optimization.
Authors: Bert W. D. Verreyken, Colin Harkins, Meng Li, Wayne Angevine, Chelsea E. Stockwell, Lu Xu, Matthew Coggon, Jessica Gilman, Carsten Warneke, Edward Strobach, Steven Brown, Brandi McCarty, Richard Marchbanks, Sunil Baidar, Alan Brewer, Eva Y. Pfannerstill, Caleb Arata, Allen H. Goldstein, Jérome Brioude, Brian C. McDonald
Institutions: NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado Boulder, Belgian Nuclear Research Centre, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, University of Reunion Island, Laboratoire de l'Atmosphère et des Cyclones
Language: English
Subfield: Atmospheric Science
Field: Earth and Planetary Sciences
Domain: Physical Sciences
SDG: Climate action
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4409115180