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The combined impact of canopy stability and soil NOx exchange on ozone removal in a temperate deciduous forest
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  • Auke Visser,
  • Laurens Ganzeveld,
  • Angelo Finco,
  • Maarten C. Krol,
  • Riccardo Marzuoli,
  • K. F. Boersma
Auke Visser
Wageningen University

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Laurens Ganzeveld
Wageningen University and Research Centre
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Angelo Finco
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
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Maarten C. Krol
Utrecht University
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Riccardo Marzuoli
Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore
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K. F. Boersma
Wageningen University
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Abstract

Dry deposition is an important ozone sink that impacts ecosystem carbon and water cycling. Ozone dry deposition in forests is regulated by vertical transport, stomatal uptake, and non-stomatal processes including chemical removal. However, accurate descriptions of these processes in deposition parameterizations are hindered by sparse observational constraints on individual sink terms. Here we quantify the contribution of canopy-atmosphere turbulent exchange and chemical ozone removal by soil-emitted nitric oxide (NO) to ozone deposition in a North-Italian broadleaf deciduous forest. We apply a multi-layer canopy exchange model to interpret campaign observations of nitrogen oxides (NOx=NO+NO2) and ozone exchange above and inside the forest canopy. Two state-of-science parameterizations of in-canopy vertical diffusivity, based on above-canopy wind speed or stability, do not reproduce the observed exchange suppressed by canopy-top radiative heating, resulting in overestimated dry deposition velocities of 10-19\% during daytime. Applying observation-derived vertical diffusivities in our simulations largely resolves this overestimation. Soil emissions are an important NOx source despite the observed high background NOx levels. Soil NOx emissions decrease the gradient between canopy and surface layer NOx mixing ratios, which suppresses simulated NOx deposition by 80% compared to a sensitivity simulation without soil emissions. However, a sensitivity analysis shows that the enhanced chemical ozone sink by reaction with soil-emitted NO is offset by increased vertical ozone transport from aloft and suppressed dry deposition. Our results highlight the need for targeted observations of non-stomatal ozone removal and turbulence-resolving deposition simulations to improve quantification and model representation of forest ozone deposition.