Tropospheric Box-Modelling and Analytical Studies of the Hydroxyl (OH) Radical and Related Species: Comparison with Observations

Calculated and observed hydroxyl (OH) fields are presented. Calculated OH was obtained in three ways using (1) a photochemical box-model (2) a simple OH steady state approach and (3) a variant on (2) – the ‘multiple equation steady state’ approach which assumes steady state for OH, HO2 and RO2 and hence obtains three simultaneous, non linear, equations. All three methods used data collected in June 1995 during the Weybourne Atmospheric Observatory Summer Experiment (WAOSE'95). Julian Days 169, 178, 179 and 180 displayed especially good data capture and were consequently chosen for study. The two steady state methods are essentially driven purely by observations and derive OH from the ratio of the relevant source and sink terms. The box-model was constrained where possible to observations; remaining unmeasured volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were initialised to an arbitrary low value of 10 ppt. Agreement between theory and experiment was usually around 50% and often better than this value, especially on J169, though discrepancies of up to a factor of 3 were occasionally apparent. Despite the inherent scatter, neither the box-model nor the simple steady state method were found to consistently over-estimate OH (a common feature of many numerical approaches) although this did occur to a certain extent using the multiple equation steady state approach, probably due to breakdowns in the steady state approximation. More data spread was evident in the box-model approach compared with the other methods. An analysis of the major sources and sinks of OH is presented for the three methods of calculation. Calculated and observed peroxy radicals are also presented. Calculated peroxy radicals were generally lower than that observed at night yet higher, sometimes by up to a factor of 7, during the day. Possible explanations for this result are explored.