ACP Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ACP 1680-7324 Copernicus GmbH Göttingen, Germany 10.5194/acp-9-3629-2009 On inferring isoprene emission surface flux from atmospheric boundary layer concentration measurements Vilà-Guerau de Arellano J. 1 van den Dries K. 1 Pino D. 2 Meteorology and Air Quality Section, Wageningen University, The Netherlands Applied Physics Department, Technical University of Catalonia and Institute for Space Studies of Catalonia, Spain 04 06 2009 9 11 3629 3640 This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/3629/2009/acp-9-3629-2009.html The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/9/3629/2009/acp-9-3629-2009.pdf

We examine the dependence of the inferred isoprene surface emission flux from atmospheric concentration on the diurnal variability of the convective boundary layer (CBL). A series of systematic numerical experiments carried out using the mixed-layer technique enabled us to study the sensitivity of isoprene fluxes to the entrainment process, the partition of surface fluxes, the horizontal advection of warm/cold air masses and subsidence. Our findings demonstrate the key role played by the evolution of boundary layer height in modulating the retrieved isoprene flux. More specifically, inaccurate values of the potential temperature lapse rate lead to changes in the dilution capacity of the CBL and as a result the isoprene flux may be overestimated or underestimated by as much as 20%. The inferred emission flux estimated in the early morning hours is highly dependent on the accurate estimation of the discontinuity of the thermodynamic values between the residual layer and the rapidly forming CBL. Uncertainties associated with the partition of the sensible and latent heat flux also yield large deviations in the calculation of the isoprene surface flux. Similar results are obtained if we neglect the influence of warm or cold advection in the development of the CBL. We show that all the above-mentioned processes are non-linear, for which reason the dynamic and chemical evolutions of the CBL must be solved simultaneously. Based on the discussion of our results, we suggest the measurements needed to correctly apply the mixed-layer technique in order to minimize the uncertainties associated with the diurnal variability of the convective boundary layer.

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