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Science 30 April 2004:
Vol. 304. no. 5671, pp. 722 - 725
DOI: 10.1126/science.1094392
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Reports

Missing OH Reactivity in a Forest: Evidence for Unknown Reactive Biogenic VOCs

Piero Di Carlo,1,2* William H. Brune,1 Monica Martinez,1{dagger} Hartwig Harder,1{dagger} Robert Lesher,1 Xinrong Ren,1 Troy Thornberry,3,4{ddagger} Mary Anne Carroll,3,4 Valerie Young,5 Paul B. Shepson,6 Daniel Riemer,7 Eric Apel,8 Colleen Campbell4

Forest emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), such as isoprene and other terpenes, play a role in the production of tropospheric ozone and aerosols. In a northern Michigan forest, the direct measurement of total OH reactivity, which is the inverse of the OH lifetime, was significantly greater than expected. The difference between measured and expected OH reactivity, called the missing OH reactivity, increased with temperature, as did emission rates for terpenes and other BVOCs. These measurements are consistent with the hypothesis that unknown reactive BVOCs, perhaps terpenes, provide the missing OH reactivity.

1 Department of Meteorology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA.
2 CETEMPS–Dipartimento di Fisica, Università di L'Aquila, 67010 Coppito, L'Aquila, Italy.
3 Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic, and Space Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
4 Department of Chemistry, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA.
5 Department of Chemical Engineering, Ohio University, Athens, OH 45701, USA.
6 Department of Chemistry, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47301, USA.
7 Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33124, USA.
8 National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80305, USA.



{dagger} Present address: Max-Planck-Institut für Chemie, D-55128 Mainz, Germany.

{ddagger} Present address: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Aeronomy Lab, Boulder, CO, USA

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: piero.dicarlo{at}aquila.infn.it

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