Skip to main content

Satellite evidence for a large source of formic acid from boreal and tropical forests

2011-12-19

Formic acid contributes significantly to acid rain in remote environments. Direct sources of formic acid include human activities, biomass burning and plant leaves. Aside from these direct sources, sunlight-induced oxidation of non-methane hydrocarbons (largely of biogenic origin) is probably the largest source.

However, model simulations substantially underpredict atmospheric formic acid levels indicating that not all sources have been included in the models. Here, we use satellite measurements of formic acid concentrations to constrain model simulations of the global formic acid budget.

According to our simulations, 100–120Tg of formic acid is produced annually, which is two to three times more than that estimated from known sources. We show that 90% of the formic acid produced is biogenic in origin, and largely sourced from tropical and boreal forests. We suggest that terpenoids—volatile organic compounds released by plants—are the predominant precursors. Model comparisons with independent observations of formic acid strengthen our conclusions, and provide indirect validation for the satellite measurements.

Finally, we show that the larger formic acid emissions have a substantial impact on rainwater acidity, especially over boreal forests in the summer, where formic acid reduces pH by 0.25–0.5.

 

Bibliographie
Satellite evidence for a large source of formic acid from boreal and tropical forests, T. Stavrakou, J.-F. Müller, J. Peeters, A. Razavi, L. Clarisse, C. Clerbaux, P.-F. Coheur, D. Hurtmans, M. De Mazière, C. Vigouroux, N. M. Deutscher, D. W. T. Griffith, N. Jones, C. Paton-Walsh, Nature Geoscience, online op 18 december 2011.

Contact
Dr. Jenny Stavrakou | Belgian Institute for Space Aeronomy (BIRA-IASB)

News image 1
News image legend 1
Formic acid contributes significantly to acid rain in remote environments. Direct sources of formic acid include human activities, biomass burning and plant leaves.
News image 2
News image legend 2
Formic acid as percentage of the total rainwater acidity.