Beryllium-7 measurements in the Houston and Phoenix urban areas: an estimation of upper atmospheric ozone contributions.

Abstract Natural radionuclides have been proposed as a means of assessing the transport of ozone (O3) and aerosols in the troposphere. Beryllium-7 (7Be) is produced in the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere by the interaction of cosmogenic particles with atmospheric nitrogen and oxygen. 7Be has a 53.29-day half-life (478 keV γ) and is known to attach to fine particles in the atmosphere once it is formed. It has been suggested that O3 from aloft can be transported into rural and urban regions during stratospheric–tropospheric folding events leading to increased background levels of O3 at the surface. 7Be can be used as a tracer of upper atmospheric air parcels and the O3 associated with them. Aerosol samples with a 2.5-µm cutoff were collected during 12-hr cycles (day/night) for a 30-day period at Deer Park, TX, near Houston, in August– September of 2000, and at Waddell, AZ, near Phoenix, in June–July of 2001. A comparison of 7Be levels with 12-hr O3 averages and maxima shows little correlation. Comp...