References

ACP

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

ACP

1680-7324

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acp-12-8865-2012

Variation of CO2 mole fraction in the lower free troposphere, in the boundary layer and at the surface

Haszpra

¹ Ramonet

² Schmidt

² Barcza

³ Pátkai

Zs.

⁴ Tarczay

⁴ Yver

⁵ Tarniewicz

² Ciais

Hungarian Meteorological Service, 1675 Budapest, P.O. Box 39, Hungary

Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l'Environnement, UMR8212 CEA-CNRS-UVSQ, 91191 Gif-sur-Yvette, France

Department of Meteorology, Eötvös Loránd University, 1117 Budapest, Pázmány P. sétány 1/A, Hungary

Hungarian Meteorological Service, 1525 Budapest, P.O. Box 38, Hungary

Scripps Institution of Oceanography, UC San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA 92093 - 0244, USA

28 09 2012

12 18 8865 8875

This is an open-access article ditributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

This article is available from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/12/8865/2012/acp-12-8865-2012.html

The full text article is available as a PDF file from http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/12/8865/2012/acp-12-8865-2012.pdf

Eight years of occasional flask air sampling and 3 years of frequent in situ measurements of carbon dioxide (CO2) vertical profiles on board of a small aircraft, over a tall tower greenhouse gases monitoring site in Hungary are used for the analysis of the variations of vertical profile of CO2 mole fraction. Using the airborne vertical profiles and the measurements along the 115 m tall tower it is shown that the measurements at the top of the tower estimate the mean boundary layer CO2 mole fraction during the mid-afternoon fairly well, with an underestimation of 0.27–0.85 μmol mol−1 in summer, and an overestimation of 0.66–1.83 μmol mol−1 in winter. The seasonal cycle of CO2 mole fraction is damped with elevation. While the amplitude of the seasonal cycle is 28.5 μmol mol−1 at 10 m above the ground, it is only 10.7 μmol mol−1 in the layer of 2500–3000 m corresponding to the lower free atmosphere above the well-mixed boundary layer. The maximum mole fraction in the layer of 2500–3000 m can be observed around 25 March on average, two weeks ahead of that of the marine boundary layer reference (GLOBALVIEW). By contrast, close to the ground, the maximum CO2 mole fraction is observed late December, early January. The specific seasonal behavior is attributed to the climatology of vertical mixing of the atmosphere in the Carpathian Basin.

References 1

Acevedo, O. C., da Silva, R., Fitzjarrald, D. R., Moraes, O. L. L., Sakai, R. K., and Czikowsky, M. J.: Nocturnal vertical CO2 accumulation in two Amazonian ecosystems, J. Geophys. Res., 113G, G00B04, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007jg000612doi:10.1029/2007jg000612, 2008.

Bakwin, P. S., Tans, P. P., Zhao, C., Ussler, W. I., and Quesnell, E.: Measurements of carbon dioxide on a very tall tower, Tellus, 47B, 535–549, 1995.

Bakwin, P. S., Tans, P. P., Stephens, B. B., Wofsy, S. C., Gerbig, C., and Grainger, A.: Strategies for measurement of atmospheric column means of carbon dioxide from aircraft using discrete sampling., J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4514, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2002JD003306doi:10.1029/2002JD003306, 2003.

Bakwin, P. S., Davis, K. J., Yi, C., Wofsy, S. C., Munger, J. W., Haszpra, L., and Barcza, Z.: Regional carbon dioxide fluxes from mixing ratio data, Tellus, 56B, 301–311, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1600-0889.2004.00111.xdoi:10.1111/j.1600-0889.2004.00111.x, 2004.

Beljaars, A., Jakob, C., and Morcrette, J.-J.: New physics parameters in the MARS archive, ECMWF Newsletter, 90, 17–21, 2001.

Chen, H., Winderlich, J., Gerbig, C., Katrynski, K., Jordan, A., and Heimann, M.: Validation of routine continuous airborne CO2 observations near the Bialystok Tall Tower, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 5, 873–889, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/amt-5-873-2012doi:10.5194/amt-5-873-2012, 2012.

Crevoisier, C., Sweeney, C., Gloor, M., Sarmiento, J. L., and Tans, P. P.: Regional US carbon sinks from three-dimensional atmospheric CO2 sampling, PNAS, 107, 18348–18353, http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0900062107doi:10.1073/pnas.0900062107, 2010.

Engelen, R. J. and McNally, A. P.: Estimating atmospheric CO2 from advanced infrared satellite radiances within an operational four-dimensional variational (4D-Var) data assimilation system: Results and validation, J. Geophys. Res., 110, D18305, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2005JD005982doi:10.1029/2005JD005982, 2005.

Engelen, R. J., Serrar, S., and Chevallier, F.: Four-dimensional data assimilation of atmospheric CO2 using AIRS observations, J. Geophys. Res., 114D, D03303, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2008JD010739doi:10.1029/2008JD010739, 2009.

Feng, L., Palmer, P. I., Yang, Y., Yantosca, R. M., Kawa, S. R., Paris, J. D., Matsueda, H., and Machida, T.: Evaluating a 3-D transport model of atmospheric CO2 using ground-based, aircraft, and space-borne data, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 2789–2803, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-2789-2011doi:10.5194/acp-11-2789-2011, 2011.

Font, A., Morguí, J. A., and Rodó, X.: Atmospheric CO2 in situ measurements: Two examples of Crown Design flights in NE Spain, J. Geophys. Res., 113D, D12308, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007JD009111doi:10.1029/2007JD009111, 2008.

Geels, C., Gloor, M., Ciais, P., Bousquet, P., Peylin, P., Vermeulen, A. T., Dargaville, R., Aalto, T., Brandt, J., Christensen, J. H., Frohn, L. M., Haszpra, L., Karstens, U., Rödenbeck, C., Ramonet, M., Carboni, G., and Santaguida, R.: Comparing atmospheric transport models for future regional inversions over Europe – Part-1: mapping the atmospheric CO2 signals, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 7, 3461–3479, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-7-3461-2007doi:10.5194/acp-7-3461-2007, 2007.

Gerbig, C., Lin, J. C., Wofsy, S. C., Daube, B. C., Andrews, A. E., Stephens, B. B., Bakwin, P. S., and Grainger, C. A.: Toward constraining regional-scale fluxes of CO2 with atmospheric observations over a continent: 1. Observed spatial variability from airborne platforms, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 4756, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2002JD003018doi:10.1029/2002JD003018, 2003.

GLOBALVIEW-CO2: Cooperative Atmospheric Data Integration Project - Carbon Dioxide, CD-ROM, NOAA ESRL, Boulder, Colorado [Also available on Internet via anonymous FTP to ftp.cmdl.noaa.gov, Path: ccg/co2/GLOBALVIEW], 2010.

Gloor, M., Bakwin, P., Hurst, D., Lock, L., Draxler, R., and Tans, P.: What is the concentration footprint of a tall tower? J. Geophys. Res., 106, 17831–17840, 2001.

Haszpra, L., Barcza, Z., Bakwin, P. S., Berger, B. W., Davis, K. J., and Weidinger, T.: Measuring system for the long-term monitoring of biosphere/atmosphere exchange of carbon dioxide, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 3057–3070, 2001.

Haszpra, L., Barcza, Z., Davis, K. J., and Tarczay, K.: Long term tall tower carbon dioxide flux monitoring over an area of mixed vegetation, Agr. Forest Meteorol., 132, 58–77, 2005.

Haszpra, L., Barcza, Z., Hidy, D., Szilágyi, I., Dlugokencky, E., and Tans, P.: Trends and temporal variations of major greenhouse gases at a rural site in Central Europe, Atmos. Environ., 42, 8707–8716, 2008.

Haszpra, L., Barcza, Z., and Szilágyi, I.: Atmospheric trends and fluctuations - History and sites of atmospheric greenhouse gas monitoring in Hungary, in: Atmospheric greenhouse gases: The Hungarian perspective, Springer, Dordrecht-Heidelberg-London-New York, 9–23, 2010.

Manning, A. C., Jordan, A., Levin, I., Schmidt, M., Neubert, R. E. M., Etchells, A., Steinberg, B., Ciais, P., Aalto, T., Apadula, F., Brand, W. A., Delmotte, M., Giorgio di Sarra, A., Hall, B., Haszpra, L., Huang, L., Kitzis, D., van der Laan, S., Langenfelds, R. L., Leuenberger, M., Lindroth, A., Machida, T., Meinhardt, F., Moncrieff, J., Morguí, J. A., Necki, J., Patecki, M., Popa, E., Ries, L., Rozanski, K., Santaguida, R., Steele, L. P., Strom, J., Tohjima, Y., Thompson, R. L., Vermeulen, A., Vogel, F., and Worth, D.: Final report on CarboEurope "Cucumber" intercomparison programme, available at: http://cucumbers.webapp2.uea.ac.uk/documents/CucumberFinalReport_Final.pdf, 2009.

Patra, P. K., Niwa, Y., Schuck, T. J., Brenninkmeijer, C. A. M., Machida, T., Matsueda, H., and Sawa, Y.: Carbon balance of South Asia constrained by passenger aircraft CO2 measurements, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 11, 4163–4175, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-11-4163-2011doi:10.5194/acp-11-4163-2011, 2011.

Peters, W., Jacobson, A. R., Sweeney, C., Andrews, A. E., Conway, T. J., Masarie, K., Miller, J. B., Bruhwiler, L. M. P., Pétron, G., Hirsch, A. I., Worthy, D. E. J., Werf, G. R. v. d., Randerson, J. T., Wennberg, P. O., Krol, M. C., and Tans, P. P.: An atmospheric perspective on North American carbon dioxide exchange: CarbonTracker, PNAS, 104, 18925–18930, 2007.

Pickett-Heaps, C. A., Rayner, P. J., Law, R. M., Ciais, P., Patra, P. K., Bousquet, P., Peylin, P., Maksyutov, S., Marshall, J., Rödenbeck, C., Langenfelds, R. L., Steele, L. P., Francey, R. J., Tans, P., and Sweeney, C.: Atmospheric CO2 inversion validation using vertical profile measurements: Analysis of four independent inversion models, J. Geophys. Res., 116, D12305, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2010jd014887doi:10.1029/2010jd014887, 2011.

Stephens, B. B., Gurney, K. R., Tans, P. P., Sweeney, C., Peters, W., Bruhwiler, L., Ciais, P., Ramonet, M., Bousquet, P., Nakazawa, T., Aoki, S., Machida, T., Inoue, G., Vinnichenko, N., Lloyd, J., Jordan, A., Heimann, M., Shibistova, O., Langenfelds, R. L., Steele, L. P., Francey, R. J., and Denning, A. S.: Weak northern and strong tropical land carbon uptake from vertical profiles of atmospheric CO2, Science, 316, 1732–1735, 2007.

Stone, R.: A lofty idea for atmospheric research, Science, 254, 1732, http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.254.5039.1732doi:10.1126/science.254.5039.1732, 1991.

Thoning, K. W., Tans, P. P., and Komhyr, W. D.: Atmospheric carbon dioxide at Mauna Loa Observatory, 2, Analysis of the NOAA GMCC data, 1974–1985, J. Geophys. Res., 94, 8549–8566, 1989.

Vermeulen, A.: CHIOTTO Final Report, ECN-E–07-052, 2007.

Watai, T., Machida, T., Ishizaki, N., and Inoue, G.: A lightweight observation system for atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration using a small unmanned aerial vehicle, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 23, 700–710, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/jtech1866.1doi:10.1175/jtech1866.1, 2006.

Watai, T., Machida, T., Shimoyama, K., Krasnov, O., Yamamoto, M., and Inoue, G.: Development of an atmospheric carbon dioxide standard gas saving system and its application to a measurement at a site in the West Siberian forest, J. Atmos. Ocean. Tech., 27, 843–855, http://dx.doi.org/10.1175/2009jtecha1265.1doi:10.1175/2009jtecha1265.1, 2009.

Wunch, D., Toon, G. C., Wennberg, P. O., Wofsy, S. C., Stephens, B. B., Fischer, M. L., Uchino, O., Abshire, J. B., Bernath, P., Biraud, S. C., Blavier, J. F. L., Boone, C., Bowman, K. P., Browell, E. V., Campos, T., Connor, B. J., Daube, B. C., Deutscher, N. M., Diao, M., Elkins, J. W., Gerbig, C., Gottlieb, E., Griffith, D. W. T., Hurst, D. F., Jiménez, R., Keppel-Aleks, G., Kort, E. A., Macatangay, R., Machida, T., Matsueda, H., Moore, F., Morino, I., Park, S., Robinson, J., Roehl, C. M., Sawa, Y., Sherlock, V., Sweeney, C., Tanaka, T., and Zondlo, M. A.: Calibration of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network using aircraft profile data, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 3, 1351–1362, http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/amt-3-1351-2010doi:10.5194/amt-3-1351-2010, 2010.

Yang, Z., Washenfelder, R. A., Keppel-Aleks, G., Krakauer, N. Y., Randerson, J. T., Tans, P. P., Sweeney, C., and Wennberg, P. O.: New constraints on Northern Hemisphere growing season net flux, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L12807, http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007GL029742doi:10.1029/2007GL029742, 2007.