Detection of outflow of formaldehyde and glyoxal from the African continent to the Atlantic Ocean with a MAX-DOAS instrument

Behrens, Lisa K.; Hilboll, Andreas; Richter, Andreas; Peters, Enno; Alvarado, Leonardo M. A.; Kalisz Hedegaard, Anna B.; Wittrock, Folkard; Burrows, John P.; Vrekoussis, Mihalis

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10257-2019

Articles | Volume 19, issue 15

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10257-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-19-10257-2019

© Author(s) 2019. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 15

Research article

|

13 Aug 2019

Research article |

| 13 Aug 2019

Detection of outflow of formaldehyde and glyoxal from the African continent to the Atlantic Ocean with a MAX-DOAS instrument

Lisa K. Behrens, Andreas Hilboll, Andreas Richter, Enno Peters, Leonardo M. A. Alvarado, Anna B. Kalisz Hedegaard, Folkard Wittrock, John P. Burrows, and Mihalis Vrekoussis

Data sets

GOME-2 spectra (lv1b) EUMETSAT https://www.eumetsat.int/website/home/Data/Products/Level1Data/index.html

OMI spectra (lv1) NASA https://disc.gsfc.nasa.gov/datasets?page=1&source=AURA OMI

MOZART-4 global model output UCAR http://www.acom.ucar.edu/wrf-chem/mozart.shtml

AERONET data NASA https://aeronet.gsfc.nasa.gov/new_web/maritime_aerosol_network.html

Short summary

MAX-DOAS measurements were conducted on the research vessel Maria S. Merian during a cruise from the Azores to South Africa in October 2016. The measurements indicate enhanced levels of HCHO and CHOCHO over the remote Atlantic Ocean, which is unexpected due to their short lifetime. Precursors of these gases or gas–aerosol combinations might be transported. Model simulations indicate potential source regions over the African continent, probably related to biomass burning or biogenic emissions.