Increased northern hemispheric tropospheric CO burden in 2002 and 2003 detected from the ground and

1
Increased northern hemispheric tropospheric CO
burden in 2002 and 2003 detected from the ground
and from a satellite.

• 2004 JOINT ASSEMBLY of AGU, CGU, SEG, and EEGS,
  Montreal, 19 May, 2004.
• L. N. Yurganov
• (Frontier Research System for Global Change,
  Yokohama, Japan),
• T. Blumenstock(1), P. Dechatellet (2), D. P.
  Edwards (3), E. I. Grechko (4), F. Hase (1), I.
  Kramer (1), E. Mahieu (2), J. Mellqvist (5) , P.
  C. Novelli (6), J. Notholt (7), H.-E. Scheel (8),
  A. Strandberg (5), R. Sussmann (8),
• H. Tanimoto (9), V. Velazco (7), J.R. Drummond
  (10), J.C. Gille (3)

(1) IMK-ISF, Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe,
Karlsruhe, Germany (2) University of Liège,
Liège, Belgium (3) ACD, NCAR, Boulder, CO,
USA (4) Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics,
Moscow, Russia (5) Chalmers University of
Technology, Göteborg, Sweden (6) CMDL, NOAA,
Boulder, Colorado, USA
(7) University of Bremen, Bremen, Germany (8)
IMK-IFU, Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany (9)
National Institute for Environmental Studies,
Tsukuba, Japan (10) University of Toronto,
Toronto, Canada.
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Introduction
? Atmospheric carbon monoxide (CO) has a
life-time of around 2 months and a budget with
comparable contributions from anthropogenic and
natural sources. Any combustion is a source of
CO. Boreal and temporal forest fires emit
normally (at quiet years) 68 Tg CO versus 1004 Tg
of CO2 (14.7 times less), according to Andreae
Merlet 2001. However, background CO
concentrations are 4700 times less than those of
CO2. This is a reason of using CO as an indicator
of forest fires (and other combustions). ? Forest
fires of mid latitudes (mostly Northern)
contribute normally 10 of Global biomass burning
(690 Tg, Andreae Merlet 2001), increasing
during catastrophic fires up to 20 this
report. ? CO atmospheric measurements allow to
estimate the variations in forest fires emissions
and make some speculations about emissions of
other gases (CO2 and CH4, in particular).
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Measurements
10 km
mol/cm 2
FT
FTIR
1.5 km
Sampling
BL
BL
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Location and methods
LOCATIONS
NOAA CMDL Carbon Cycle Greenhouse Gases
Other in situ programs
Spectroscopic stations (Hokkaido until 2001,
Tenerife after 1999)
MOPITT full coverage
(operational since 1996 or earlier)
FTIR spectrometers (7 sites) are parts of the
NDSC (Network for Detection of Stratospheric
Change). Grating spectrometer is in use at
Zvenigorod, Russia,
Data from two Japanese stations are supplied by
Dr. H. Tanimoto (NIES) and Japanese
Meteorological Agency, stations at Shetland Isl.
and near Vancouver are managed by CSIRO,
measurements at Zugspitze (Germany) are conducted
by Dr. Scheel (FZK, IMK-IFU), in situ data from
Jungfraujoch are supplied by EMPA. Most of the
data are based on weekly sampling.
5
Total column CO in the Northern
Hemisphere(mol/cm2, monthly averages, solid
lines are averages over 2000-2001)
6
Relative anomalies of CO abundance
Symbols are for spectroscopic total column
measurements, orange line is for CMDL data in the
BL, MOPITT total column measurements were
averaged for 30º N 90º N.
2.1 (Sept., 2002, Zvenigorod)
Peatland fires occurred near Moscow in July
September, 2002. Extreme values were omitted for
hemispheric estimates of emissions.
Reference period
Hokkaido data until December 2001 according to
Yurganov et al., 2004
7
CO in situ anomalies for low altitude stations in
HNH (Novelli et al., 2003, JGR Yurganov et al.,
2004, JGR, submitted)
Reference period
8
CO anomalies expressed as mean mixing ratio for
boundary layer (below 1.5 km), free troposphere
(1.5 10 km), and total column (0 10 km), 30º
N 90º N.
Indonesia
Siberia
Mexico
?
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Box model
High Northern Hemisphere (HNH)
Low Northern Hemisphere (LNH) (volumes of two
boxes are equal)
CO OH ? CO2 H
MLNH
MHNH
Ltransp
90º N
10 km
Equator
30º N
0 km
P'HNH dM'HNH/dt M'HNH / TAU chem (M'HNH
M'LNH)/ TAU trans TAU chem. 1/ k OH k 1.5
E-13 x (10.6 atm)cm3 mol-1 s-1 Demore et al.,
1997 OH Spivakovsky et al. 2000
TAU trans was calculated using the GEOS-CHEM
model
10
Anomalies of total tropospheric CO burden in the
HNH (top panel) were calculated from CMDL BL data
added by FT data (both in situ and Alpine FTIRs),
directly from low altitude FTIRs, and from
MOPITT. Box model was applied and emission
anomalies are displayed on bottom panel.
(Yurganov et al., GRL, 2004, submitted)
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Emission anomaly, retrieved from atmospheric
measurements using the box model, can be
converted in absolute emission if we assume some
reference normal emissions from independent
inventories. Here we used the inventory for
MOZART-2 model (M.Schultz, personal
communication) with 50.7 Tg CO emitted in 2000.
A comparison with 1998 inventories
A comparison of emissions during four years with
strong fires.
CO emissions from forest fires in the HNH,
derived from different measurements
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ESTIMATES OF CARBON DIOXIDE AND METHANE
PERTURBATIONS. Forest fires emit directly 14.7
times more CO2 and 22.7 times less CH4, than CO.
In 2002 2003 CO excess emission was (98 142)
240 Tg. It was almost immediately chemically
converted into 240 x 44/28 377 Tg CO2. Direct
emission of CO2 was 3530 Tg. If we assume that
20 of CO2 was removed during two years, then
global CO2 burden increased by 0.14. Methane
global burden increased by 0.20.
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CONCLUSIONS
? Carbon monoxide total column measurements,
being in accordance both with in situ sampling
data and satellite measurements, reveal enhanced
CO abundance in the NH mid latitudes in 2002 and
2003 in comparison to 2000-2001. Similar
enhancements were measured also in 1996 and 1998.
The most likely source of the extra CO is
abnormally strong forest fires.
? A simple box model was applied to anomalies of
CO burden (total mass) in the HNH. Seasonal
maxima of emission in 1996, 1998 and 2002 were
observed in July August. In 2003 maximum
emissions occurred in June and July with a little
bit less emissions in August.
? Tropospheric CO burdens measured direct by
MOPITT were appr. 40 less than those measured
from the ground. There are two possible errors
1) underestimation of the boundary layer
pollution by MOPITT and 2) overestimation of
hemispheric burden by ground-based instruments
due to incomplete spatial coverage.
? Ground-based and satellite instruments are
complementary and allow to monitor interannual
variations of CO emission.