Urban carbon dioxide cycles within the Salt Lake Valley: A multiple-box model validated by observations
A multiple-box model was developed to determine how meteorological, anthropogenic, and biological processes combine to produce diel cycles of carbon dioxide (COâ) mole fraction during each of the four calendar-based seasons within Salt Lake Valley, Utah, USA. The model was forced by observed winds, sounding-derived mixing depths, an anthropogenic COâ emissions inventory, and net biological flux estimates based on temperature, solar radiation, and ecosystem type. The model was validated using hourly COâ mole fractions measured at five sites in the urban Salt Lake Valley (uSLV) area for 2005 - 2009 (spatial average of observations denoted by Cobs). The model accounted for 53% of Cobs on an hourly basis, and accounted for 90 - 94% of the mean diel cycle of Cobs depending on season. The multiple-box model results indicated that COâ change rates within the uSLV mean diel cycles were largely the result of imbalances between anthropogenic processes adding COâ and meteorological processes removing or diluting COâ. Removal by wind (advection) was the most important COâ reduction process on average, but dilution of COâ by entrainment of air from above the mixing height overtook advection in importance between sunrise and midday. During summer mornings, COâ reduction attributable to photosynthesis below shallow mixing heights was of intermediate importance between advection and entrainment, but the overall net effect of biological processes was the least important influence on COâ change rates during each of the four seasons.
document
https://n2t.org/ark:/85065/d7n29xjg
eng
geoscientificInformation
Text
publication
2016-01-01T00:00:00Z
publication
2011-08-11T00:00:00Z
Copyright 2011 American Geophysical Union.
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