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Alfonso Saiz-Lopez

Bio: Alfonso Saiz-Lopez is an academic researcher from Spanish National Research Council. The author has contributed to research in topics: Ozone & Stratosphere. The author has an hindex of 48, co-authored 221 publications receiving 8305 citations. Previous affiliations of Alfonso Saiz-Lopez include University of Castilla–La Mancha & Fudan University.


Papers
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Atmospheric Chemistry of Iodine Alfonso Saiz-Lopez,* John M. C. Plane,* Alex R. Baker, Lucy J. Carpenter, Roland von Glasow, Juan C. G omez Martín, Gordon McFiggans, and Russell W. Smith.
Abstract: Atmospheric Chemistry of Iodine Alfonso Saiz-Lopez,* John M. C. Plane,* Alex R. Baker, Lucy J. Carpenter, Roland von Glasow, Juan C. G omez Martín, Gordon McFiggans, and Russell W. Saunders Laboratory for Atmospheric and Climate Science (CIAC), CSIC, Toledo, Spain School of Chemistry, University of Leeds, Leeds, LS2 9JT, United Kingdom School of Environmental Sciences, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, United Kingdom Department of Chemistry, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD, United Kingdom School of Earth, Atmospheric & Environmental Sciences, University of Manchester, Manchester, M13 9PL, United Kingdom

429 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
26 Jun 2008-Nature
TL;DR: Results show that halogen chemistry has a significant and extensive influence on photochemical ozone loss in the tropical Atlantic Ocean boundary layer and the omission of halogen sources and their chemistry in atmospheric models may lead to significant errors in calculations of global ozone budgets, tropospheric oxidizing capacity and methane oxidation rates.
Abstract: Increasing tropospheric ozone levels over the past 150 years have led to a significant climate perturbation; the prediction of future trends in tropospheric ozone will require a full understanding of both its precursor emissions and its destruction processes. A large proportion of tropospheric ozone loss occurs in the tropical marine boundary layer and is thought to be driven primarily by high ozone photolysis rates in the presence of high concentrations of water vapour. A further reduction in the tropospheric ozone burden through bromine and iodine emitted from open-ocean marine sources has been postulated by numerical models, but thus far has not been verified by observations. Here we report eight months of spectroscopic measurements at the Cape Verde Observatory indicative of the ubiquitous daytime presence of bromine monoxide and iodine monoxide in the tropical marine boundary layer. A year-round data set of co-located in situ surface trace gas measurements made in conjunction with low-level aircraft observations shows that the mean daily observed ozone loss is approximately 50 per cent greater than that simulated by a global chemistry model using a classical photochemistry scheme that excludes halogen chemistry. We perform box model calculations that indicate that the observed halogen concentrations induce the extra ozone loss required for the models to match observations. Our results show that halogen chemistry has a significant and extensive influence on photochemical ozone loss in the tropical Atlantic Ocean boundary layer. The omission of halogen sources and their chemistry in atmospheric models may lead to significant errors in calculations of global ozone budgets, tropospheric oxidizing capacity and methane oxidation rates, both historically and in the future.

396 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Reactive halogen species are potent oxidizers for organic and inorganic compounds throughout the troposphere and are powerful climate forcing agents through direct and indirect radiative effects.
Abstract: In the past 40 years, atmospheric chemists have come to realize that halogens exert a powerful influence on the chemical composition of the troposphere and through that influence affect the fate of pollutants and may affect climate. Of particular note for climate is that halogen cycles affect methane, ozone, and particles, all of which are powerful climate forcing agents through direct and indirect radiative effects. This influencecomes from the high reactivity of atomic halogen radicals (e.g.,Cl, Br, I) and halogen oxides (e.g., ClO, BrO, IO, and higher oxides), known as reactive halogen species in this review. These reactive halogens are potent oxidizers for organic and inorganic compounds throughout the troposphere.

329 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This critical review summarises the current understanding and uncertainties of the main halogen photochemistry processes, including the current knowledge of the atmospheric impact of halogen chemistry as well as open questions and future research needs.
Abstract: Halogen chemistry is well known for ozone destruction in the stratosphere, however reactive halogens also play an important role in the chemistry of the troposphere. In the last two decades, an increasing number of reactive halogen species have been detected in a wide range of environmental conditions from the polar to the tropical troposphere. Growing observational evidence suggests a regional to global relevance of reactive halogens for the oxidising capacity of the troposphere. This critical review summarises our current understanding and uncertainties of the main halogen photochemistry processes, including the current knowledge of the atmospheric impact of halogen chemistry as well as open questions and future research needs.

290 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
20 Jul 2007-Science
TL;DR: Surprisingly, both halogens and iodine oxides are present throughout the sunlit period and exhibit similar seasonal cycles and concentrations, and the springtime peak of iodine oxide (20 parts per trillion) is the highest concentration recorded anywhere in the atmosphere.
Abstract: Halogens influence the oxidizing capacity of Earth's troposphere, and iodine oxides form ultrafine aerosols, which may have an impact on climate. We report year-round measurements of boundary layer iodine oxide and bromine oxide at the near-coastal site of Halley Station, Antarctica. Surprisingly, both species are present throughout the sunlit period and exhibit similar seasonal cycles and concentrations. The springtime peak of iodine oxide (20 parts per trillion) is the highest concentration recorded anywhere in the atmosphere. These levels of halogens cause substantial ozone depletion, as well as the rapid oxidation of dimethyl sulfide and mercury in the Antarctic boundary layer.

262 citations


Cited by
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The new HITRAN is greatly extended in terms of accuracy, spectral coverage, additional absorption phenomena, added line-shape formalisms, and validity, and molecules, isotopologues, and perturbing gases have been added that address the issues of atmospheres beyond the Earth.
Abstract: This paper describes the contents of the 2016 edition of the HITRAN molecular spectroscopic compilation. The new edition replaces the previous HITRAN edition of 2012 and its updates during the intervening years. The HITRAN molecular absorption compilation is composed of five major components: the traditional line-by-line spectroscopic parameters required for high-resolution radiative-transfer codes, infrared absorption cross-sections for molecules not yet amenable to representation in a line-by-line form, collision-induced absorption data, aerosol indices of refraction, and general tables such as partition sums that apply globally to the data. The new HITRAN is greatly extended in terms of accuracy, spectral coverage, additional absorption phenomena, added line-shape formalisms, and validity. Moreover, molecules, isotopologues, and perturbing gases have been added that address the issues of atmospheres beyond the Earth. Of considerable note, experimental IR cross-sections for almost 300 additional molecules important in different areas of atmospheric science have been added to the database. The compilation can be accessed through www.hitran.org. Most of the HITRAN data have now been cast into an underlying relational database structure that offers many advantages over the long-standing sequential text-based structure. The new structure empowers the user in many ways. It enables the incorporation of an extended set of fundamental parameters per transition, sophisticated line-shape formalisms, easy user-defined output formats, and very convenient searching, filtering, and plotting of data. A powerful application programming interface making use of structured query language (SQL) features for higher-level applications of HITRAN is also provided.

7,638 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present a document, redatto, voted and pubblicato by the Ipcc -Comitato intergovernativo sui cambiamenti climatici - illustra la sintesi delle ricerche svolte su questo tema rilevante.
Abstract: Cause, conseguenze e strategie di mitigazione Proponiamo il primo di una serie di articoli in cui affronteremo l’attuale problema dei mutamenti climatici. Presentiamo il documento redatto, votato e pubblicato dall’Ipcc - Comitato intergovernativo sui cambiamenti climatici - che illustra la sintesi delle ricerche svolte su questo tema rilevante.

4,187 citations

01 Jan 1989
TL;DR: In this article, a two-dimensional version of the Pennsylvania State University mesoscale model has been applied to Winter Monsoon Experiment data in order to simulate the diurnally occurring convection observed over the South China Sea.
Abstract: Abstract A two-dimensional version of the Pennsylvania State University mesoscale model has been applied to Winter Monsoon Experiment data in order to simulate the diurnally occurring convection observed over the South China Sea. The domain includes a representation of part of Borneo as well as the sea so that the model can simulate the initiation of convection. Also included in the model are parameterizations of mesoscale ice phase and moisture processes and longwave and shortwave radiation with a diurnal cycle. This allows use of the model to test the relative importance of various heating mechanisms to the stratiform cloud deck, which typically occupies several hundred kilometers of the domain. Frank and Cohen's cumulus parameterization scheme is employed to represent vital unresolved vertical transports in the convective area. The major conclusions are: Ice phase processes are important in determining the level of maximum large-scale heating and vertical motion because there is a strong anvil componen...

3,813 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an overview of the atmospheric degradation mechanisms for SOA precursors, gas-particle partitioning theory and analytical techniques used to determine the chemical composition of SOA is presented.
Abstract: Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) accounts for a significant fraction of ambient tropospheric aerosol and a detailed knowledge of the formation, properties and transformation of SOA is therefore required to evaluate its impact on atmospheric processes, climate and human health. The chemical and physical processes associated with SOA formation are complex and varied, and, despite considerable progress in recent years, a quantitative and predictive understanding of SOA formation does not exist and therefore represents a major research challenge in atmospheric science. This review begins with an update on the current state of knowledge on the global SOA budget and is followed by an overview of the atmospheric degradation mechanisms for SOA precursors, gas-particle partitioning theory and the analytical techniques used to determine the chemical composition of SOA. A survey of recent laboratory, field and modeling studies is also presented. The following topical and emerging issues are highlighted and discussed in detail: molecular characterization of biogenic SOA constituents, condensed phase reactions and oligomerization, the interaction of atmospheric organic components with sulfuric acid, the chemical and photochemical processing of organics in the atmospheric aqueous phase, aerosol formation from real plant emissions, interaction of atmospheric organic components with water, thermodynamics and mixtures in atmospheric models. Finally, the major challenges ahead in laboratory, field and modeling studies of SOA are discussed and recommendations for future research directions are proposed.

3,324 citations

Journal Article
TL;DR: Denman et al. as discussed by the authors presented the Couplings between changes in the climate system and biogeochemistry Coordinating Lead Authors: Kenneth L. Denman (Canada), Guy Brasseur (USA, Germany), Amnat Chidthaisong (Thailand), Philippe Ciais (France), Peter M. Cox (UK), Robert E. Austin (USA), D.B. Wofsy (USA) and Xiaoye Zhang (China).
Abstract: Couplings Between Changes in the Climate System and Biogeochemistry Coordinating Lead Authors: Kenneth L. Denman (Canada), Guy Brasseur (USA, Germany) Lead Authors: Amnat Chidthaisong (Thailand), Philippe Ciais (France), Peter M. Cox (UK), Robert E. Dickinson (USA), Didier Hauglustaine (France), Christoph Heinze (Norway, Germany), Elisabeth Holland (USA), Daniel Jacob (USA, France), Ulrike Lohmann (Switzerland), Srikanthan Ramachandran (India), Pedro Leite da Silva Dias (Brazil), Steven C. Wofsy (USA), Xiaoye Zhang (China) Contributing Authors: D. Archer (USA), V. Arora (Canada), J. Austin (USA), D. Baker (USA), J.A. Berry (USA), R. Betts (UK), G. Bonan (USA), P. Bousquet (France), J. Canadell (Australia), J. Christian (Canada), D.A. Clark (USA), M. Dameris (Germany), F. Dentener (EU), D. Easterling (USA), V. Eyring (Germany), J. Feichter (Germany), P. Friedlingstein (France, Belgium), I. Fung (USA), S. Fuzzi (Italy), S. Gong (Canada), N. Gruber (USA, Switzerland), A. Guenther (USA), K. Gurney (USA), A. Henderson-Sellers (Switzerland), J. House (UK), A. Jones (UK), C. Jones (UK), B. Karcher (Germany), M. Kawamiya (Japan), K. Lassey (New Zealand), C. Le Quere (UK, France, Canada), C. Leck (Sweden), J. Lee-Taylor (USA, UK), Y. Malhi (UK), K. Masarie (USA), G. McFiggans (UK), S. Menon (USA), J.B. Miller (USA), P. Peylin (France), A. Pitman (Australia), J. Quaas (Germany), M. Raupach (Australia), P. Rayner (France), G. Rehder (Germany), U. Riebesell (Germany), C. Rodenbeck (Germany), L. Rotstayn (Australia), N. Roulet (Canada), C. Sabine (USA), M.G. Schultz (Germany), M. Schulz (France, Germany), S.E. Schwartz (USA), W. Steffen (Australia), D. Stevenson (UK), Y. Tian (USA, China), K.E. Trenberth (USA), T. Van Noije (Netherlands), O. Wild (Japan, UK), T. Zhang (USA, China), L. Zhou (USA, China) Review Editors: Kansri Boonpragob (Thailand), Martin Heimann (Germany, Switzerland), Mario Molina (USA, Mexico) This chapter should be cited as: Denman, K.L., G. Brasseur, A. Chidthaisong, P. Ciais, P.M. Cox, R.E. Dickinson, D. Hauglustaine, C. Heinze, E. Holland, D. Jacob, U. Lohmann, S Ramachandran, P.L. da Silva Dias, S.C. Wofsy and X. Zhang, 2007: Couplings Between Changes in the Climate System and Biogeochemistry. In: Climate Change 2007: The Physical Science Basis. Contribution of Working Group I to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [Solomon, S., D. Qin, M. Manning, Z. Chen, M. Marquis, K.B. Averyt, M.Tignor and H.L. Miller (eds.)]. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

2,208 citations