Atmospheric Science

Increasing atmospheric burden of ethanol in the United States

  1. J. A. de Gouw1,2,*,
  2. J. B. Gilman1,2,
  3. A. Borbon1,2,3,
  4. C. Warneke1,2,
  5. W. C. Kuster1,2,
  6. P. D. Goldan1,
  7. J. S. Holloway1,2,
  8. J. Peischl1,2,
  9. T. B. Ryerson1,
  10. D. D. Parrish1,
  11. D. R. Gentner4,
  12. A. H. Goldstein4,5,
  13. R. A. Harley4

Article first published online: 4 AUG 2012

DOI: 10.1029/2012GL052109

Issue

Geophysical Research Letters

Geophysical Research Letters

Additional Information

How to Cite

deGouw, J. A., et al. (2012), Increasing atmospheric burden of ethanol in the United States, Geophys. Res. Lett., 39, L15803, doi:10.1029/2012GL052109.

Author Information

  1. 1

    Earth System Research Laboratory, NOAA, Boulder, Colorado, USA

  2. 2

    Also at Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, Colorado, USA

  3. 3

    Now at Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques, UMR CNRS 7583, Universités Paris Diderot and Paris Est-Créteil, Créteil, France

  4. 4

    Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

  5. 5

    Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, California, USA

*Corresponding author: J. A. de Gouw, Earth System Research Laboratory, NOAA, 325 Broadway, Boulder, CO 80305, USA. (joost.degouw@noaa.gov)

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 4 AUG 2012
  2. Article first published online: 4 AUG 2012
  3. Manuscript Accepted: 1 JUL 2012
  4. Manuscript Revised: 25 JUN 2012
  5. Manuscript Received: 20 APR 2012

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Keywords:

  • air quality;
  • ethanol

[1] The use of ethanol as a transportation fuel in the U.S. increased significantly from 2000–2009, and in 2010 nearly all gasoline contained 10% ethanol. In accordance with this increased use, atmospheric measurements of volatile organic compounds in Los Angeles in 2010 were significantly enriched in ethanol compared to measurements in urban outflow in the Northeast U.S. in 2002 and 2004. Mixing ratios of acetaldehyde, an atmospheric oxidation product of ethanol, decreased between 2002 and 2010 in Los Angeles. Previous work has suggested that large-scale use of ethanol may have detrimental effects on air quality. While we see no evidence for this in the U.S., our study indicates that ethanol has become a ubiquitous compound in urban air and that better measurements are required to monitor its increase and effects.

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