An Observationally Constrained Evaluation of the Oxidative Capacity in the Tropical Western Pacific Troposphere

Abstract: Hydroxyl radical (OH) is the main daytime oxidant in the troposphere and determines the atmospheric lifetimes of many compounds. We use aircraft measurements of O3, H2O, NO, and other species from the Convective Transport of Active Species in the Tropics (CONTRAST) field campaign, which occurred in the tropical western Pacific (TWP) during January-February 2014, to constrain a photochemical box model and estimate concentrations of OH throughout the troposphere. We find that tropospheric colum…