Articles | Volume 23, issue 22
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14349-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14349-2023
© Author(s) 2023. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
20 Nov 2023
Research article |
| 20 Nov 2023
| 20 Nov 2023
Sources and long-term variability of carbon monoxide at Mount Kenya and in Nairobi
Leonard Kirago
Department of Environmental Science, and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
Örjan Gustafsson
Department of Environmental Science, and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
Samuel Mwaniki Gaita
Department of Environmental Science, and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
Sophie L. Haslett
Department of Environmental Science, and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
Michael J. Gatari
Institute of Nuclear Science & Technology, University of Nairobi, 31907-00100 Nairobi, Kenya
Maria Elena Popa
Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University, 3584CC Utrecht, the Netherlands
Thomas Röckmann
Institute for Marine and Atmospheric research Utrecht (IMAU), Utrecht University, 3584CC Utrecht, the Netherlands
Christoph Zellweger
Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Air Pollution/Environmental Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Martin Steinbacher
Empa, Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, Laboratory for Air Pollution/Environmental Technology, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland
Jörg Klausen
Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, 8058 Zurich, Switzerland
Christian Félix
Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, 8058 Zurich, Switzerland
David Njiru
Kenya Meteorological Department, 30259-00100 Nairobi, Kenya
August Andersson
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Department of Environmental Science, and the Bolin Centre for Climate Research, Stockholm University, 10691 Stockholm, Sweden
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Chloe A. Brashear, Maarten M. J. W. van Herpen, Sergey Gromov, Berend van de Kraats, Carina van der Veen, Xietiancheng Yu, Matthew S. Johnson, Helder Timas, Sönke Zaehle, Armin Jordan, Heiko Moossen, Africa Barreto, Natalia Pratts, Isabel Baños, Jesús Arrieta, Dickon Young, Peter Sealy, Hella van Asperen, Simonetta Montaguti, Peter Sperlich, Rowena Moss, Sylvia Nichol, Stephen Matthew Platt, Ove Hermansen, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Gabrielle Petron, Andy Crotwell, Isaac Vimont, and Thomas Röckmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5618, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5618, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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This study evaluates trends in atmospheric CO between 1995–2025 and uses the isotopic composition of CO to constrain emission shifts during this time. We find that CO from fossil fuel combustion has reduced dramatically in the Northern Hemisphere during winter, linked to global air quality regulations. Conversely, a small background rise in CO is driven by increasing atmospheric CH4 and recent extreme wildfire seasons have caused large peaks in CO, counteracting reductions from fossil emissions.
Bernard Grobety, Philippe Favreau, Juanita Rausch, David Jaramillo-Vogel, Martin Steinbacher, and Christoph Neururer
Aerosol Research, 4, 485–500, https://doi.org/10.5194/ar-4-485-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/ar-4-485-2026, 2026
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The iberulite fall was, to our knowledge, the first reported in central Europe. What was special was that the fall was observed in situ and that the meteorological conditions during the fall are well known. The meteorology and the particle size distribution inside the iberulites strongly corroborate below-cloud scavenging as a probable formation mechanism. The discovery of further iberulites Saharan dust event (SDE) samples collected since suggests that iberulites are common but overlooked by other researchers.
Cuiqi Zhang, Xiaoli Shen, Justin Jacquot, Larissa Lacher, Selvakumar Vishnupriya, Benjamin T. Brem, Robin L. Modini, Nora Nowak, Michael Sprenger, Martin Steinbacher, Stephan Henne, Martine Collaud Coen, Franz Conen, Kristina Höhler, Ottmar Möhler, Martin Gysel-Beer, Daniel J. Cziczo, and Zamin A. Kanji
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5645, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5645, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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Clouds play a key role in weather and climate, but the particles that trigger cloud ice formation are difficult to identify directly. By simulating clouds in a cloud chamber and particle measurements at a mountain station, we found that mineral dust was the main trigger of cloud ice formation. Dust from local construction and transported from higher atmospheric layers both contributed. The study shows that both human activities and atmospheric processes can influence cloud formation.
Paolo Cristofanelli, Francesca Marcucci, Claudia Roberta Calidonna, Francescopiero Calzolari, Felice Dipace, Simonetta Montaguti, Fabrizio Roccato, Maurizio Busetto, Angela Marinoni, Davide Putero, Laura Renzi, Pamela Trisolino, Marco Zanatta, and Christoph Zellweger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5833, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-5833, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
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We compared six years of carbon dioxide and methane measurements from two nearby laboratories at the high mountain station on Mount Cimone, Italy. Both recorded similar long-term and seasonal changes, but hourly readings often differed beyond limits recommended by WMO. Sampling location, data selection and moisture removal contributed to these differences; human presence may also have played a role. Standardization of sampling and procedures can make greenhouse gas measurements more consistent.
Piotr Markuszewski, Mikołaj Mazurkiewicz, Kinga Stawiarz, Małgorzata Śmiszek, Patrycja Jutrzenka-Trzebiatowska, Luca Ferrero, Krishnakant Budhavant, Mateusz Zawadzki, Anna Waleczek, Przemysław Makuch, Douglas Nilsson, Örjan Gustafsson, and Sophie L. Haslett
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4321, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4321, 2026
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We investigated the occurrence and transport of microplastics in air and coastal waters around the Maldives using air and seawater sampling and particle identification. Microplastics occurred in both environments, but their size distributions and composition differed markedly. Airborne concentrations were more closely associated with polluted air transported from South Asia than with local ocean emissions, indicating that regional atmospheric transport delivers microplastics to remote islands.
Thomas Laemmel, Dylan Geissbühler, Stephan Henne, Ryo Fujita, Heather Graven, Christophe Espic, Matthias Bantle, Negar Haghipour, Franz Conen, Dominik Brunner, Martin Steinbacher, Giulia Zazzeri, Samuel Hammer, Markus Leuenberger, and Sönke Szidat
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 12019–12036, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-12019-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-12019-2026, 2026
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Carbon dioxide and methane are the two main anthropogenic greenhouse gases responsible for current climate change. Beside the measurement of their atmospheric concentration, the analysis of the abundance of their isotope carbon-14 (14C) gives hints about their origin, either biogenic or fossil. Here we present six years of atmospheric 14CH4 and 14CO2 measurements at a high-elevation alpine site in Switzerland (Jungfraujoch) and discuss the observed trends in both local and global views.
Krishnakant Babanrao Budhavant, Ahmed Muslim, Joakim Romson, Sreedharan Krishnakumari Satheesh, and Örjan Gustafsson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4276, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-4276, 2026
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Seasonal monsoon winds transport aerosol particles across the equatorial Indian Ocean. Measurements in the Maldives show that the northeast monsoon carries polluted air from South and Southeast Asia, whereas the southwest monsoon brings cleaner marine air from the southern Indian Ocean. These observations improve our understanding of long-range pollution transport and help improve climate and air-quality models.
Gonzague Romanens, Giovanni Martucci, Marco Rosoldi, Yann Poltera, Cristina Cardós, Natalia Prats, Sunji Ambe, Gessica Cosimato, Antoine Farah, Christian Félix, Ilaria Gandolfi, Alexander Haefele, Miguel Hernández, Masami Iwabuchi, Patrick Jann, Jason Ming Chun Lam, Fabrizio Marra, José María Rodríguez, Yves-Alain Roulet, Yuta Tanaka, Ruud Dirksen, and Fabio Madonna
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3215, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3215, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Measurement Techniques (AMT).
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Automatic systems are increasingly used to launch weather balloons, raising questions about the long-term consistency of reference humidity measurements within the Global Climate Observing System Reference Upper-Air Network. We tested how storing balloon instruments inside automatic launch systems for up to two weeks affects humidity measurements under controlled conditions at six international sites. Results show that the impact strongly depends on the instrument type and storage environment.
Robbert P. J. Moonen, Getachew A. Adnew, Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, David J. Bonell Fontas, and Thomas Röckmann
Biogeosciences, 23, 5163–5184, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-5163-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-5163-2026, 2026
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We used high-frequency H₂O and CO₂ isotope measurements taken in the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) to separate water vapour and carbon dioxide fluxes into their component processes. During midday, ~95 % of evapotranspiration came from plant transpiration. Isotopes also revealed the balance between photosynthesis and respiration, showing strong sensitivity to leaf CO₂ ratios. These results improve understanding of Amazon ecosystem function.
Stephen J. Harris, Sven Krautwurst, Jorg Hacker, Mark Lunt, Jakob Borchardt, Mei Bai, Hartmut Boesch, Tarra Brain, John Philip Burrows, Shakti Chakravarty, Robert A. Field, Rebecca E. Fisher, James L. France, Konstantin Gerilowski, Oke Huhs, Wolfgang Junkermann, Bryce F. J. Kelly, Martin Kumm, Mathias Lanoisellé, Wolfgang Lieff, Andrew McGrath, Adrian Murphy, Thomas Röckmann, Zoe Salmon, Josua Schindewolf, Jakob Thoböll, Carina van der Veen, and Heinrich Bovensmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 10043–10069, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-10043-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-10043-2026, 2026
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The accuracy of methods used to estimate and report fugitive methane emissions from Australian coal mines remains unclear. This study compares airborne emission rate estimates with reported estimates from 17 coal mines in the Bowen Basin, a region accounting for 45 % of national coal production. Results show good agreement for underground coal mines, but poor agreement for surface coal mines, suggesting improvements to surface coal mine reporting methods is needed to improve inventory reporting.
Julian Weng, Yufang Hao, Benjamin T. Brem, Tianqu Cui, Peeyush Khare, Lubna Dada, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, Sophie Darfeuil, Gaëlle Uzu, Jean-Luc Jaffrezo, Martin Steinbacher, Stefan Reimann, Thaleia Gkraikou, Konstantina Oikonomou, Jean Sciare, Martine Collaud Coen, Claudia Mohr, Andre S. H. Prévôt, Martin Gysel-Beer, Imad El Haddad, and Patrik Winiger
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3660, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-3660, 2026
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Long-term observations at the Jungfraujoch High Altitude Research Station show that, alongside air mass transport, sustained oxidative processing shaped by atmospheric water vapor plays a central role in driving aerosol loading and composition. Combining detailed aerosol chemical characterization with process-level insights, we provide important observational benchmarks for improving atmospheric model performance in the remote free troposphere, where uncertainties remain particularly high.
Bibhasvata Dasgupta, Sudhanshu Pandey, Sander Houweling, Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, John Miller, Ben Riddell-Young, Sylvia Englund Michel, Peter Sperlich, Shinji Morimoto, Ryo Fujita, Stephen Platt, Christine Groot Zwaaftink, Ingeborg Levin, Cordelia Veidt, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Ceres Woolley Maisch, Rebecca Fisher, Euan G. Nisbet, James France, Rowena Moss, Nicola Warwick, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 8601–8616, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-8601-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-8601-2026, 2026
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Methane is a strong greenhouse gas, and its rise since the mid-2000s is debated in terms of sources and sinks. Using top-down and bottom-up data, along with inversion models and methane isotopes (δ13C-CH4 and δD-CH4), we find that wetlands are the primary driver of post-2006 increases, followed by agriculture and fossil fuels. Methane's lifetime has decreased by about 0.1 years. We also assess how isotope signatures and sink processes influence uncertainties.
Lison Soussaintjean, Jochen Schmitt, Joël Savarino, J. Andy Menking, Edward J. Brook, Barbara Seth, Vladimir Lipenkov, Thomas Röckmann, and Hubertus Fischer
Biogeosciences, 23, 3939–3963, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-3939-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-3939-2026, 2026
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Nitrous oxide (N2O) produced in dust-rich Antarctic ice complicates the reconstruction of past atmospheric levels from ice core records. Using isotope analysis, we show that N2O forms from two nitrogen precursors, one being nitrate. For the first time, we demonstrate that the site preference (SP) of N2O reflects the isotopic difference between these precursors, not the production pathway, which challenges the common interpretation of SP.
Peng Yao, Katja Belec, Henry Holmstrand, Josh Balacky, Abdus Salam, Krishnakant Budhavant, Mohanan Remani Manoj, Khaled Shaifullah Joy, Md. Alamin Hossain, Atinderpal Singh, Anil Patel, Neeraj Rastogi, Chinmay Mallik, Kirpa Ram, Gyanesh Kumar Singh, and Örjan Gustafsson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 7765–7787, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7765-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-7765-2026, 2026
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Methane is a powerful greenhouse gas, but its sources remain uncertain in many regions. The isotope fingerprints of methane are diagnostic of its sources, yet their source end-members are poorly constrained for South Asia. Here we determined the methane isotope signal for major sources in South Asia and found these to differ from global averages. Improved regional-specific isotope source fingerprints will help to improve top-down assessments of methane budgets and climate mitigation strategies.
Liang Feng, Paul I. Palmer, Haolin Wang, Robert Parker, Hartmut Boesch, Sébastien C. Biraud, Łukasz Chmura, Emanuel Gloor, László Haszpra, Elena Kozlova, Euan G. Nisbet, Steffen M. Noe, Thomas Röckmann, Rodrigo Augusto Ferreira de Souza, and Martin Steinbacher
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2662, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2662, 2026
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This study examines the relative roles of emissions and oxidation in recent rapid methane growth. Using an ensemble Kalman filter, we quantify global methane sources and sinks for 2018–2024. Emission changes dominate the increase, except in 2020 when a COVID‑19‑related OH decline strongly affected sinks. Atmospheric photochemistry—including OH and CH₄ variability and temperature‑dependent oxidation—also significantly shapes the methane budget.
Leonie Bernet, Benjamin T. Brem, Nicolas Bukowiecki, Stephan Henne, Jörg Klausen, Mathew Mutuku, David Njiru, Patricia Nying'uro, Christoph Zellweger, and Martin Steinbacher
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 6741–6762, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6741-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-6741-2026, 2026
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Long-term atmospheric measurements are crucial to understanding climate change but remain scarce across Africa. We monitored atmospheric species at Mt. Kenya from 2020 to 2024. Our data reveal equatorial seasonal and daily variability and show that models miss local patterns. Emissions at Mt. Kenya mainly come from households, industry, and agriculture, though with large uncertainties. These findings stress the need for more ground stations to improve climate models and emission estimates.
Albin Eriksson, Junjie Wu, Matt O'Regan, and Örjan Gustafsson
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2414, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2414, 2026
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Sea ice is an important regulator of the Arctic climate systems. Records of sea ice past instrumental records are necessary to understand how sea ice is altered during past periods of abrupt climate change, and what consequences such changes have on the polar climates. Here, we reconstructed the sea ice cover of the East Siberian Arctic and found that the sea ice extent likely was linked to protecting/eroding permafrost coastlines during the last deglaciation.
Jacoline van Es, Juan Bettinelli, Jia Chen, Carina van der Veen, Stephan Henne, and Thomas Röckmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1813, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1813, 2026
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The increase in atmospheric methane needs to be reversed to mitigate ongoing global warming. To design effective mitigation strategies at the local/regional level, we need to know what the main sources in different regions. We show that in Hamburg, Germany, biogenic sources are the main contributor to local emissions, with additional contributions from waste and fossil CH4 sources. An unexpected source is the Elbe River, with spiking emissions at low tide when the river banks are exposed.
Shuang Fu, Xuemei Qing, Kunpeng Zang, Yi Lin, Shuo Liu, Yuanyuan Chen, Bingjiang Chen, Wei Gao, Martin Steinbacher, and Shuangxi Fang
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 5477–5496, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5477-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5477-2026, 2026
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Urban carbon dynamics are critical for climate action, yet remote background monitoring often misses key details. This study utilized the unique vantage point of the 632-m Shanghai Tower to investigate carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide dynamics directly above the urban core. Our research confirms such elevated observations can effectively track metropolitan-scale footprint, revealing fossil fuels as the dominant source (85%) of excess carbon dioxide and supporting targeted reduction measures.
Sean Clarke, Henry Holmstrand, Krishnakant Budhavant, Manoj Remani, Sophie Haslett, Katerina Rodiouchkina, Ellen Kooijman, and Örjan Gustafsson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 5333–5343, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5333-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-5333-2026, 2026
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South Asia has the world's highest loadings of sulfate, scattering sunlight, altering clouds and masking greenhouse warming, yet there are large uncertainties regarding the relative contributions of natural and anthropogenic sources to the receptor atmosphere. Here we use δ34S isotopes to distinguish natural versus anthropogenic sulfate sources, revealing strong seasonal contrasts and quantifying the dominance of anthropogenic contributions.
Elinor C. Tuffnell, Emma Leedham-Elvidge, William T. Sturges, Harald Bönisch, Karina E. Adcock, Paul J. Fraser, Paul B. Krummel, David E. Oram, Ray L. Langenfelds, Thomas Röckmann, Luke M. Western, Jens Mühle, and Johannes C. Laube
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 4583–4599, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-4583-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-4583-2026, 2026
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The greater the stratospheric lifetime of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the longer they will deplete ozone. This paper investigates four longer-lived CFCs, and discovers two of them have much shorter lifetimes than previously believed. Demonstrating emissions of these compounds are higher than assumed, to account for their abundance. Unusually this paper uses stratospheric whole-air samples, rather than models or lab-based experiments, to derive policy-relevant metrics for these compounds.
Annalisa Delre, Thomas Röckmann, David J. Bonell Fontas, Julia C. Engelmann, and Helge Niemann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1582, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1582, 2026
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Estuaries are important natural sources of methane, a greenhouse gas that affects climate. We studied how methane changes along the Scheldt estuary by measuring gas concentrations, carbon isotopes and identification and quantification of methane oxidizing bacteria. We found that methane levels varied strongly and were not mainly controlled by salinity. Most methane escaped to the atmosphere, showing that estuaries may contribute more to climate change than previously thought.
Karin Stegelius, Pauline Thompson, Pia Karbiener, Piotr Markuszewski, Andre S. H. Prevot, Sachchida N. Tripathi, Claudia Mohr, Liine Heikkinen, Krishnakant Budhavant, and Sophie L. Haslett
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-914, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-914, 2026
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High-time-resolution observations in the Maldives indicate that submicron aerosol over the northern Indian Ocean is primarily composed of inorganic sulfate and highly oxidised organic matter, indicative of aged continental outflow. The consistent composition across various air mass origins, alongside identification of sulfur-containing organics, underscores the influence of long-range transport and sulfate-driven secondary chemistry on regional aerosol characteristics and their climate impacts.
Albin Eriksson, Birgit Wild, Wei-Li Hong, Henry Holmstrand, Francisco J. A. Nascimento, Stefano Bonaglia, Denis Kosmach, Igor Semiletov, Natalia Shakhova, and Örjan Gustafsson
Biogeosciences, 23, 1459–1475, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1459-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-1459-2026, 2026
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Thawing subsea permafrost in the East Siberian Arctic Seas releases methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Using molecular fossils in sediments, we traced aerobic methane oxidation as a proxy of enhanced methane cycling across the Laptev Sea, including in regions once thought low in emissions. This approach captures long-term patterns of methane cycling over years-decades , overcoming limits of short-term seawater measurements and highlights the importance of the Laptev Sea in Arctic methane cycling.
Martine Collaud Coen, Benjamin Tobias Brem, Martin Gysel-Beer, Robin Modini, Stephan Henne, Martin Steinbacher, Davide Putero, Maria I. Gini, and Kostantinos Eleftheriadis
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 1623–1645, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-1623-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-1623-2026, 2026
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Saharan dust (SD) is transported over long distances by large-scale atmospheric circulation, reaching the Jungfraujoch high-altitude station 30 to 150 times per year. This study analyses the influence of instrument types on the SD detection using the single scattering albedo spectral dependence. This optical method is then compared to those based on size distribution and back-trajectories. The 23-year climatology of dust frequency and mass as well as the source sensitivity are also examined.
Thomas Röckmann, Malika Menoud, Jacoline van Es, Carina van der Veen, Hossein Maazallahi, Pawel Jagoda, Jaroslav M. Necki, Jakub Bartyzel, Piotr Korben, Sara Defratyka, Martina Schmidt, Marius Corbu, Sebastian Iancu, Andreea Calcan, Magdalena Ardelean, Sorin Ghemulet, Cristian Pop, Andrei Radovici, Alexandru Mereuta, Horatiu Stefanie, and Calin Baciu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 723–731, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-723-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-723-2026, 2026
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We report the isotopic composition of CH4 emitted from 48 installations in the gas production region of Transylvania, Romania which confirm the biogenic origin of the Transylvanian gas, produced by hydrogenotrophic CO2 reduction. This is similar to values reported previously from natural seeps and natural gas in a major city in the region. However, is more depleted in heavy isotopes than the oil-associated gas emitted in the Southern Romanian Plain, and gas leakages in the city of Bucharest.
Lisa Ardoin, Catherine Larose, Jean-Louis Tison, Christoph Keuschnig, Vasileios Gkinis, Saïda El Amri, Pierre-Henry Blard, Paul Bierman, Thomas Blunier, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Charlotte Maistriau, Jørgen-Peder Steffensen, Thomas Röckmann, and François Fripiat
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6204, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6204, 2026
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We investigated gas dynamics at the ice–bed interface of two Greenland ice cores to assess methane and carbon dioxide behaviour beneath ice sheets. At Camp Century, methane diffuses into the ice and is partly oxidized. At GRIP, methane remains preserved despite oxygen. These contrasts suggest that methane oxidation is controlled by local basal conditions, including ice thickness and substrate availability.
Paul Waldmann, Max Eckl, Leon Knez, Klaus-Dirk Gottschaldt, Alina Fiehn, Christian Mallaun, Michał Gałkowski, Christoph Kiemle, Ronald Hutjes, Thomas Röckmann, Huilin Chen, and Anke Roiger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 19, 185–210, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-185-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-185-2026, 2026
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Nitrous oxide and methane emissions from agriculture need to be reduced, therefore emissions must be understood to effectively mitigate them. This is the first approach to measure those emissions aircraft-based, to assess their magnitude and drivers. We identified emission hotspots and temporal changes in agricultural emissions in the Netherlands. Our approach is applicable to further greenhouse gas emitters, therefore it builds a step towards more comprehensive emission quantification.
Anne M. Thompson, Ryan M. Stauffer, Debra E. Kollonige, Jerald R. Ziemke, Bryan J. Johnson, Gary A. Morris, Patrick Cullis, María Cazorla, Jorge Andres Diaz, Ankie Piters, Igor Nedeljkovic, Truus Warsodikromo, Francisco Raimundo Silva, E. Thomas Northam, Patrick Benjamin, Thumeka Mkololo, Tshidi Machinini, Christian Félix, Gonzague Romanens, Syprose Nyadida, Jérôme Brioude, Stéphanie Evan, Jean-Marc Metzger, Ambun Dindang, Yuzaimi B. Mahat, Mohan Kumar Sammathuria, Norazura Binti Zakaria, Ninong Komala, Shin-Ya Ogino, Nguyen Thi Quyen, Francis S. Mani, Miriama Vuiyasawa, David Nardini, Matthew Martinsen, Darryl T. Kuniyuki, Katrin Müller, Pawel Wolff, and Bastien Sauvage
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 18475–18507, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-18475-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-18475-2025, 2025
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Ozone profile trends from SHADOZ sondes and IAGOS aircraft show that ozone in the tropical free troposphere (FT) is not growing fast except over equatorial SE Asia. This agrees with HEGIFTOM (Van Malderen et al., 2025), Stauffer et al. (2024) and Gaudel et al. (2024) TOAR-II papers. Other findings are as follows: (1) our trends are independent of method (QR, MLR) and (2) sample number (SN) (i.e., SHADOZ sampling is sufficient), and (3) all ground-based trends constitute the gold standard for satellite-derived trends.
Sara M. Defratyka, Julianne M. Fernandez, Getachew A. Adnew, Guannan Dong, Peter M. J. Douglas, Daniel L. Eldridge, Giuseppe Etiope, Thomas Giunta, Mojhgan A. Haghnegahdar, Alexander N. Hristov, Nicole Hultquist, Iñaki Vadillo, Josue Jautzy, Ji-Hyun Kim, Jabrane Labidi, Ellen Lalk, Wil Leavitt, Jiawen Li, Li-Hung Lin, Jiarui Liu, Lucía Ojeda, Shuhei Ono, Jeemin H. Rhim, Thomas Röckmann, Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Malavika Sivan, Jiayang Sun, Gregory T. Ventura, David T. Wang, Edward D. Young, Naizhong Zhang, and Tim Arnold
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 6889–6910, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6889-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6889-2025, 2025
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Measurement of methane’s doubly substituted isotopologues at natural abundances holds promise for better constraining the Earth’s atmospheric CH4 budget. We compiled 1475 measurements from field samples and laboratory experiments, conducted since 2014, to facilitate the differentiation of CH4 formation pathways and processes, to identify existing gaps limiting application of Δ13CH3D and Δ12CH2D2, and to develop isotope ratio source signature inputs for global CH4 flux modelling.
Bibhasvata Dasgupta, Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, Ingeborg Levin, Cordelia Veidt, Heiko Moossen, Sylvia Englund Michel, Peter Sperlich, Shinji Morimoto, Ryo Fujita, Taku Umezawa, Stephen Platt, Christine Groot Zwaaftink, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Rebecca Fisher, David Lowry, Euan G. Nisbet, James France, Ceres Woolley Maisch, Gordon Brailsford, Rowena Moss, Daisuke Goto, Sudhanshu Pandey, Sander Houweling, Nicola Warwick, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6591–6607, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6591-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6591-2025, 2025
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We combined long-term methane mole fraction and isotope measurements from eight laboratories that sample high-latitude stations to compare, offset correct and harmonise the datasets into a hemisphere merged timeseries. Because each laboratory uses slightly different methods, we adjusted the data to make it directly comparable. This allowed us to create a consistent record of atmospheric methane concentration and its isotopes from 1988 to 2023.
Sina Voshtani, Dylan B. A. Jones, Debra Wunch, Drew C. Pendergrass, Paul O. Wennberg, David F. Pollard, Isamu Morino, Hirofumi Ohyama, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Frank Hase, Ralf Sussmann, Damien Weidmann, Rigel Kivi, Omaira García, Yao Té, Jack Chen, Kerry Anderson, Robin Stevens, Shobha Kondragunta, Aihua Zhu, Douglas Worthy, Senen Racki, Kathryn McKain, Maria V. Makarova, Nicholas Jones, Emmanuel Mahieu, Andrea Cadena-Caicedo, Paolo Cristofanelli, Casper Labuschagne, Elena Kozlova, Thomas Seitz, Martin Steinbacher, Reza Mahdi, and Isao Murata
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 15527–15565, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-15527-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-15527-2025, 2025
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We assess the complementarity of the greater temporal coverage provided by ground-based remote sensing data with the spatial coverage of satellite observations when these data are used together to quantify CO emissions from extreme wildfires in 2023. Our results reveal that the commonly used biomass burning emission inventories significantly underestimate the fire emissions and emphasize the importance of the ground-based remote sensing data in reducing uncertainties in the estimated emissions.
Yuri Brugnara, Martin Steinbacher, Simone Baffelli, and Lukas Emmenegger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 14221–14236, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14221-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14221-2025, 2025
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GAW-QC (Global Atmosphere Watch-Quality Control) is an interactive dashboard for the quality control of in-situ atmospheric composition measurements made at stations taking part in the Global Atmosphere Watch network. Even though it is mainly targeted at station operators who want to analyze recent, not yet published measurements, it allows anybody to verify the quality of already published measurements using various anomaly detection algorithms as well as visual comparisons.
Liang Feng, Paul I. Palmer, Luke Smallman, Jingfeng Xiao, Paolo Cristofanelli, Ove Hermansen, John Lee, Casper Labuschagne, Simonetta Montaguti, Steffen M. Noe, Stephen M. Platt, Xinrong Ren, Martin Steinbacher, and Irène Xueref-Remy
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 13053–13076, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13053-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13053-2025, 2025
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The year 2023 saw unexpectedly large global atmospheric CO2 growth. Satellite data reveal a role for increased tropical emissions. Larger emissions over eastern Brazil can be explained by warmer temperatures, which has led to exceptional drought, while hydrological changes play more of a role in emission increases elsewhere in the tropics. Broadly, we find that this situation continues into 2024.
Sophie L. Baartman, Steven M. Driever, Maarten L. J. Wassenaar, Linda M. J. Kooijmans, Nerea Ubierna, Leon Mossink, Maria E. Popa, Ara Cho, Lisa Wingate, Thomas Röckmann, Steven M. A. C. van Heuven, and Maarten C. Krol
Biogeosciences, 22, 5683–5703, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5683-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5683-2025, 2025
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Carbonyl sulfide (COS) is a proposed tracer for gross primary production. For the first time, COS and carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake fluxes and isotope discrimination were jointly measured in sunflower and papyrus plants, using a flow-through plant chamber approach and varying light availability. COS isotope discrimination did not differ significantly between the species, nor with changes in light. CO2 fluxes and isotope values provided additional valuable information for data interpretation.
Robbert P. J. Moonen, Getachew A. Adnew, Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, Oscar K. Hartogensis, David J. Bonell Fontas, Shujiro Komiya, Sam P. Jones, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 12197–12212, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12197-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12197-2025, 2025
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Understory ejections are distinct turbulent features emerging in prime tall-forest ecosystems. We share a method to isolate understory ejections based on H2O–CO2 anomaly quadrants. From these, we calculate the flux contributions of understory ejections and all flux quadrants. In addition, we show that a distinctly depleted isotopic composition can be found in the ejected water vapour. Finally, we explored the role of clouds as a potential trigger for understory ejections.
Johannes C. Laube, Tanja J. Schuck, Sophie Baartman, Huilin Chen, Markus Geldenhuys, Steven van Heuven, Timo Keber, Maria Elena Popa, Elinor Tuffnell, Florian Voet, Bärbel Vogel, Thomas Wagenhäuser, Alessandro Zanchetta, and Andreas Engel
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 4087–4102, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4087-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4087-2025, 2025
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A large balloon was launched in summer 2021 in the Arctic to carry instruments for trace gas measurements up to 32 km, above the reach of aircraft. The main aims were to evaluate different techniques and atmospheric processes. We focus on halogenated greenhouse gases and ozone-depleting substances. For this, air was collected with the AirCore technique and a cryogenic air sampler and measured after the flight. A companion paper reports observations of major greenhouse gases.
Judith Tettenborn, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Daan Stroeken, Hossein Maazallahi, Carina van der Veen, Arjan Hensen, Ilona Velzeboer, Pim van den Bulk, Felix Vogel, Lawson Gillespie, Sebastien Ars, James France, David Lowry, Rebecca Fisher, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3569–3584, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3569-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3569-2025, 2025
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Measurements of methane with vehicle-based sensors are an effective method to identify and quantify leaks from urban gas distribution systems. We deliberately released methane in different environments and calibrated the response of different methane analysers when they transected the plumes in a vehicle. We derived an improved statistical function for consistent emission estimations using different instruments. Repeated transects reduce the uncertainty in emission rate estimates.
Antti Laitinen, Hermanni Aaltonen, Christoph Zellweger, Aki Tsuruta, Tuula Aalto, and Juha Hatakka
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3109–3133, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3109-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3109-2025, 2025
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This paper presents long-term observations of atmospheric CO2 and CH4 mole fractions and a comparison of two permanent and two mobile measurement systems located in Northern Finland. Furthermore, the observed mole fractions are compared against the mean marine boundary layer product for the Northern Hemisphere. The comparisons of all the systems show good agreement in relation to the World Meteorological Organization/Global Atmosphere Watch network compatibility goal limits for CO2 and CH4.
Getachew Agmuas Adnew, Gerbrand Koren, Neha Mehendale, Sergey Gromov, Maarten Krol, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2701–2719, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2701-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2701-2025, 2025
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This study presents high-precision measurements of ∆′17O(CO2). Key findings include the extension of the N2O–∆′17O correlation to the upper troposphere and the identification of significant differences in the N2O–∆′17O slope in StratoClim samples. Additionally, the ∆′17O measurements are used to estimate global stratospheric production and surface removal of ∆′17O, providing an independent estimate of global vegetation CO2 exchange.
Lubna Dada, Benjamin T. Brem, Lidia-Marta Amarandi-Netedu, Martine Collaud Coen, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Christoph Hueglin, Nora Nowak, Robin Modini, Martin Steinbacher, and Martin Gysel-Beer
Aerosol Research, 3, 315–336, https://doi.org/10.5194/ar-3-315-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/ar-3-315-2025, 2025
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We investigated the sources of ultrafine particles (UFPs) in Payerne, Switzerland, highlighting the significant role of secondary processes in elevating UFP concentrations to levels comparable to urban areas. As the first study in rural midland Switzerland to analyze new particle formation events and secondary contributions, it offers key insights for air quality regulation and the role of agriculture in Switzerland and central Europe.
Anderson Da Silva, Louis Marelle, Jean-Christophe Raut, Yvette Gramlich, Karolina Siegel, Sophie L. Haslett, Claudia Mohr, and Jennie L. Thomas
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5331–5354, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5331-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5331-2025, 2025
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Particle sources in polar climates are unclear, affecting climate representation in models. This study introduces an evaluated method for tracking particles with backward modeling. Tests on simulated particles allowed us to show that traditional detection methods often misidentify sources. An improved method that accurately traces the origins of aerosol particles in the Arctic is presented. The study recommends using this enhanced method for better source identification of atmospheric species.
Gerrit Kuhlmann, Foteini Stavropoulou, Stefan Schwietzke, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Andrew Thorpe, Andreas Hueni, Lukas Emmenegger, Andreea Calcan, Thomas Röckmann, and Dominik Brunner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5371–5385, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5371-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5371-2025, 2025
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A measurement campaign in 2019 found that methane emissions from oil and gas in Romania were significantly higher than reported. In 2021, our follow-up campaign using airborne remote sensing showed a marked decreases in emissions by 20 %–60 % due to improved infrastructure. The study highlights the importance of measurement-based emission monitoring and illustrates the value of a multi-scale assessment integrating ground-based observations with large-scale airborne remote sensing campaigns.
Tanja J. Schuck, Johannes Degen, Timo Keber, Katharina Meixner, Thomas Wagenhäuser, Mélanie Ghysels, Georges Durry, Nadir Amarouche, Alessandro Zanchetta, Steven van Heuven, Huilin Chen, Johannes C. Laube, Sophie L. Baartman, Carina van der Veen, Maria Elena Popa, and Andreas Engel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4333–4348, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4333-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4333-2025, 2025
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A balloon was launched in 2021 in the Arctic to carry instruments for trace gas measurements up to 32 km. One purpose was to compare measurement techniques. We focus on the major greenhouse gases. To measure these, air was sampled with the AirCore technique and with flask sampling, and samples were analysed after the flight. In flight, observations were done with an optical method. In a companion paper, we report on observations of chlorine and bromine containing trace gases.
Hossein Maazallahi, Foteini Stavropoulou, Samuel Jonson Sutanto, Michael Steiner, Dominik Brunner, Mariano Mertens, Patrick Jöckel, Antoon Visschedijk, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Stijn Dellaert, Nataly Velandia Salinas, Stefan Schwietzke, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Sorin Ghemulet, Alexandru Pana, Magdalena Ardelean, Marius Corbu, Andreea Calcan, Stephen A. Conley, Mackenzie L. Smith, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1497–1511, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1497-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1497-2025, 2025
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This article presents insights from airborne in situ measurements collected during the ROmanian Methane Emissions from Oil and gas (ROMEO) campaign supported by two models. Results reveal Romania's oil and gas methane emissions were significantly under-reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2019. A large underestimation was also found in the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) v7.0 for the study domain in the same year.
Krishnakant Budhavant, Mohanan Remani Manoj, Hari Ram Chandrika Rajendran Nair, Samuel Mwaniki Gaita, Henry Holmstrand, Abdus Salam, Ahmed Muslim, Sreedharan Krishnakumari Satheesh, and Örjan Gustafsson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11911–11925, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11911-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11911-2024, 2024
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The South Asian Pollution Experiment 2018 used access to three strategically located receptor observatories. Observational constraints revealed opposing trends in the mass absorption cross sections of black carbon (BC MAC) and brown carbon (BrC MAC) during long-range transport. Models estimating the climate effects of BC aerosols may have underestimated the ambient BC MAC over distant receptor areas, leading to discrepancies in aerosol absorption predicted by observation-constrained models.
Dene Bowdalo, Sara Basart, Marc Guevara, Oriol Jorba, Carlos Pérez García-Pando, Monica Jaimes Palomera, Olivia Rivera Hernandez, Melissa Puchalski, David Gay, Jörg Klausen, Sergio Moreno, Stoyka Netcheva, and Oksana Tarasova
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 4417–4495, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4417-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-4417-2024, 2024
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GHOST (Globally Harmonised Observations in Space and Time) represents one of the biggest collections of harmonised measurements of atmospheric composition at the surface. In total, 7 275 148 646 measurements from 1970 to 2023, from 227 different components, and from 38 reporting networks are compiled, parsed, and standardised. Components processed include gaseous species, total and speciated particulate matter, and aerosol optical properties.
Susan W. Karuga, Erik M. Kelder, Michael J. Gatari, and Jan C. M. Marijnissen
Aerosol Research, 2, 245–259, https://doi.org/10.5194/ar-2-245-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/ar-2-245-2024, 2024
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Surface morphology is critical for enhanced performance in thin films. However, there is limited understanding regarding the accurate control of thin-film morphology. This work provides a systematic way of optimizing different parameters to achieve the desired surface morphologies. Key parameters for controlling thin-film morphology have been identified. Using these parameters, a systematic design schedule for electrosprayed thin films with different surface morphologies has been developed.
Hella van Asperen, Thorsten Warneke, Alessandro Carioca de Araújo, Bruce Forsberg, Sávio José Filgueiras Ferreira, Thomas Röckmann, Carina van der Veen, Sipko Bulthuis, Leonardo Ramos de Oliveira, Thiago de Lima Xavier, Jailson da Mata, Marta de Oliveira Sá, Paulo Ricardo Teixeira, Julie Andrews de França e Silva, Susan Trumbore, and Justus Notholt
Biogeosciences, 21, 3183–3199, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3183-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3183-2024, 2024
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Carbon monoxide (CO) is regarded as an important indirect greenhouse gas. Soils can emit and take up CO, but, until now, uncertainty remains as to which process dominates in tropical rainforests. We present the first soil CO flux measurements from a tropical rainforest. Based on our observations, we report that tropical rainforest soils are a net source of CO. In addition, we show that valley streams and inundated areas are likely additional hot spots of CO in the ecosystem.
Jin Ma, Linda M. J. Kooijmans, Norbert Glatthor, Stephen A. Montzka, Marc von Hobe, Thomas Röckmann, and Maarten C. Krol
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6047–6070, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6047-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6047-2024, 2024
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The global budget of atmospheric COS can be optimised by inverse modelling using TM5-4DVAR, with the co-constraints of NOAA surface observations and MIPAS satellite data. We found reduced COS biosphere uptake from inversions and improved land and ocean separation using MIPAS satellite data assimilation. Further improvements are expected from better quantification of COS ocean and biosphere fluxes.
Katrine A. Gorham, Sam Abernethy, Tyler R. Jones, Peter Hess, Natalie M. Mahowald, Daphne Meidan, Matthew S. Johnson, Maarten M. J. W. van Herpen, Yangyang Xu, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Thomas Röckmann, Chloe A. Brashear, Erika Reinhardt, and David Mann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5659–5670, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5659-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5659-2024, 2024
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Rapid reduction in atmospheric methane is needed to slow the rate of global warming. Reducing anthropogenic methane emissions is a top priority. However, atmospheric methane is also impacted by rising natural emissions and changing sinks. Studies of possible atmospheric methane removal approaches, such as iron salt aerosols to increase the chlorine radical sink, benefit from a roadmapped approach to understand if there may be viable and socially acceptable ways to decrease future risk.
Malavika Sivan, Thomas Röckmann, Carina van der Veen, and Maria Elena Popa
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2687–2705, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2687-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2687-2024, 2024
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We have set up a measurement system for methane-clumped isotopologues. We have built an extraction and purification system to extract pure methane for these measurements, for samples of various origins, including atmospheric air, for which we need to process about 1000 L of air for one measurement. We report here the technical setup for extraction and measurements, as well as the calibration, and we give an overview of the samples measured so far.
Wei Huang, Cheng Wu, Linyu Gao, Yvette Gramlich, Sophie L. Haslett, Joel Thornton, Felipe D. Lopez-Hilfiker, Ben H. Lee, Junwei Song, Harald Saathoff, Xiaoli Shen, Ramakrishna Ramisetty, Sachchida N. Tripathi, Dilip Ganguly, Feng Jiang, Magdalena Vallon, Siegfried Schobesberger, Taina Yli-Juuti, and Claudia Mohr
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2607–2624, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2607-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2607-2024, 2024
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We present distinct molecular composition and volatility of oxygenated organic aerosol particles in different rural, urban, and mountain environments. We do a comprehensive investigation of the relationship between the chemical composition and volatility of oxygenated organic aerosol particles across different systems and environments. This study provides implications for volatility descriptions of oxygenated organic aerosol particles in different model frameworks.
Davide Putero, Paolo Cristofanelli, Kai-Lan Chang, Gaëlle Dufour, Gregory Beachley, Cédric Couret, Peter Effertz, Daniel A. Jaffe, Dagmar Kubistin, Jason Lynch, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Melissa Puchalski, Timothy Sharac, Barkley C. Sive, Martin Steinbacher, Carlos Torres, and Owen R. Cooper
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15693–15709, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15693-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15693-2023, 2023
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We investigated the impact of societal restriction measures during the COVID-19 pandemic on surface ozone at 41 high-elevation sites worldwide. Negative ozone anomalies were observed for spring and summer 2020 for all of the regions considered. In 2021, negative anomalies continued for Europe and partially for the eastern US, while western US sites showed positive anomalies due to wildfires. IASI satellite data and the Carbon Monitor supported emission reductions as a cause of the anomalies.
Alina Fiehn, Maximilian Eckl, Julian Kostinek, Michał Gałkowski, Christoph Gerbig, Michael Rothe, Thomas Röckmann, Malika Menoud, Hossein Maazallahi, Martina Schmidt, Piotr Korbeń, Jarosław Neçki, Mila Stanisavljević, Justyna Swolkień, Andreas Fix, and Anke Roiger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15749–15765, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15749-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15749-2023, 2023
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During the CoMet mission in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) ground-based and airborne air samples were taken and analyzed for the isotopic composition of CH4 to derive the mean signature of the USCB and source signatures of individual coal mines. Using δ2H signatures, the biogenic emissions from the USCB account for 15 %–50 % of total emissions, which is underestimated in common emission inventories. This demonstrates the importance of δ2H-CH4 observations for methane source apportionment.
Paolo Cristofanelli, Cosimo Fratticioli, Lynn Hazan, Mali Chariot, Cedric Couret, Orestis Gazetas, Dagmar Kubistin, Antti Laitinen, Ari Leskinen, Tuomas Laurila, Matthias Lindauer, Giovanni Manca, Michel Ramonet, Pamela Trisolino, and Martin Steinbacher
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5977–5994, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5977-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5977-2023, 2023
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We investigated the application of two automatic methods for detecting spikes due to local emissions in greenhouse gas (GHG) observations at a subset of sites from the ICOS Atmosphere network. We analysed the sensitivity to the spike frequency of using different methods and settings. We documented the impact of the de-spiking on different temporal aggregations (i.e. hourly, monthly and seasonal averages) of CO2, CH4 and CO 1 min time series.
Robbert P. J. Moonen, Getachew A. Adnew, Oscar K. Hartogensis, Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, David J. Bonell Fontas, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5787–5810, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5787-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5787-2023, 2023
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Isotope fluxes allow for net ecosystem gas exchange fluxes to be partitioned into sub-components like plant assimilation, respiration and transpiration, which can help us better understand the environmental drivers of each partial flux. We share the results of a field campaign isotope fluxes were derived using a combination of laser spectroscopy and eddy covariance. We found lag times and high frequency signal loss in the isotope fluxes we derived and present methods to correct for both.
Hossein Maazallahi, Antonio Delre, Charlotte Scheutz, Anders M. Fredenslund, Stefan Schwietzke, Hugo Denier van der Gon, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5051–5073, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5051-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5051-2023, 2023
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Measurement methods are increasingly deployed to verify reported methane emissions of gas leaks. This study describes unique advantages and limitations of three methods. Two methods are rapidly deployed, but uncertainties and biases exist for some leak locations. In contrast, the suction method could accurately determine leak rates in principle. However, this method, which provides data for the German emission inventory, creates an overall low bias in our study due to non-random site selection.
Christoph Heinze, Thorsten Blenckner, Peter Brown, Friederike Fröb, Anne Morée, Adrian L. New, Cara Nissen, Stefanie Rynders, Isabel Seguro, Yevgeny Aksenov, Yuri Artioli, Timothée Bourgeois, Friedrich Burger, Jonathan Buzan, B. B. Cael, Veli Çağlar Yumruktepe, Melissa Chierici, Christopher Danek, Ulf Dieckmann, Agneta Fransson, Thomas Frölicher, Giovanni Galli, Marion Gehlen, Aridane G. González, Melchor Gonzalez-Davila, Nicolas Gruber, Örjan Gustafsson, Judith Hauck, Mikko Heino, Stephanie Henson, Jenny Hieronymus, I. Emma Huertas, Fatma Jebri, Aurich Jeltsch-Thömmes, Fortunat Joos, Jaideep Joshi, Stephen Kelly, Nandini Menon, Precious Mongwe, Laurent Oziel, Sólveig Ólafsdottir, Julien Palmieri, Fiz F. Pérez, Rajamohanan Pillai Ranith, Juliano Ramanantsoa, Tilla Roy, Dagmara Rusiecka, J. Magdalena Santana Casiano, Yeray Santana-Falcón, Jörg Schwinger, Roland Séférian, Miriam Seifert, Anna Shchiptsova, Bablu Sinha, Christopher Somes, Reiner Steinfeldt, Dandan Tao, Jerry Tjiputra, Adam Ulfsbo, Christoph Völker, Tsuyoshi Wakamatsu, and Ying Ye
Biogeosciences Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2023-182, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-2023-182, 2023
Revised manuscript not accepted
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For assessing the consequences of human-induced climate change for the marine realm, it is necessary to not only look at gradual changes but also at abrupt changes of environmental conditions. We summarise abrupt changes in ocean warming, acidification, and oxygen concentration as the key environmental factors for ecosystems. Taking these abrupt changes into account requires greenhouse gas emissions to be reduced to a larger extent than previously thought to limit respective damage.
Tim René de Groot, Anne Margriet Mol, Katherine Mesdag, Pierre Ramond, Rachel Ndhlovu, Julia Catherine Engelmann, Thomas Röckmann, and Helge Niemann
Biogeosciences, 20, 3857–3872, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3857-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3857-2023, 2023
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This study investigates methane dynamics in the Wadden Sea. Our measurements revealed distinct variations triggered by seasonality and tidal forcing. The methane budget was higher in warmer seasons but surprisingly high in colder seasons. Methane dynamics were amplified during low tides, flushing the majority of methane into the North Sea or releasing it to the atmosphere. Methanotrophic activity was also elevated during low tide but mitigated only a small fraction of the methane efflux.
Foteini Stavropoulou, Katarina Vinković, Bert Kers, Marcel de Vries, Steven van Heuven, Piotr Korbeń, Martina Schmidt, Julia Wietzel, Pawel Jagoda, Jaroslav M. Necki, Jakub Bartyzel, Hossein Maazallahi, Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, Sylvia Walter, Béla Tuzson, Jonas Ravelid, Randulph Paulo Morales, Lukas Emmenegger, Dominik Brunner, Michael Steiner, Arjan Hensen, Ilona Velzeboer, Pim van den Bulk, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Antonio Delre, Maklawe Essonanawe Edjabou, Charlotte Scheutz, Marius Corbu, Sebastian Iancu, Denisa Moaca, Alin Scarlat, Alexandru Tudor, Ioana Vizireanu, Andreea Calcan, Magdalena Ardelean, Sorin Ghemulet, Alexandru Pana, Aurel Constantinescu, Lucian Cusa, Alexandru Nica, Calin Baciu, Cristian Pop, Andrei Radovici, Alexandru Mereuta, Horatiu Stefanie, Alexandru Dandocsi, Bas Hermans, Stefan Schwietzke, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Huilin Chen, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10399–10412, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10399-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10399-2023, 2023
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In this study, we quantify CH4 emissions from onshore oil production sites in Romania at source and facility level using a combination of ground- and drone-based measurement techniques. We show that the total CH4 emissions in our studied areas are much higher than the emissions reported to UNFCCC, and up to three-quarters of the detected emissions are related to operational venting. Our results suggest that oil and gas production infrastructure in Romania holds a massive mitigation potential.
Sophie L. Haslett, David M. Bell, Varun Kumar, Jay G. Slowik, Dongyu S. Wang, Suneeti Mishra, Neeraj Rastogi, Atinderpal Singh, Dilip Ganguly, Joel Thornton, Feixue Zheng, Yuanyuan Li, Wei Nie, Yongchun Liu, Wei Ma, Chao Yan, Markku Kulmala, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, David Hadden, Urs Baltensperger, Andre S. H. Prevot, Sachchida N. Tripathi, and Claudia Mohr
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9023–9036, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9023-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9023-2023, 2023
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In Delhi, some aspects of daytime and nighttime atmospheric chemistry are inverted, and parodoxically, vehicle emissions may be limiting other forms of particle production. This is because the nighttime emissions of nitrogen oxide (NO) by traffic and biomass burning prevent some chemical processes that would otherwise create even more particles and worsen the urban haze.
Karolina Siegel, Yvette Gramlich, Sophie L. Haslett, Gabriel Freitas, Radovan Krejci, Paul Zieger, and Claudia Mohr
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7569–7587, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7569-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7569-2023, 2023
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Hydroperoxymethyl thioformate (HPMTF) is a recently discovered oxidation product of dimethyl sulfide (DMS). We present a full year of concurrent gas- and particle-phase observations of HPMTF and other DMS oxidation products from the Arctic. We did not observe significant amounts of HPMTF in the particle phase but a good agreement between gas-phase HMPTF and methanesulfonic acid in the summer. Our study provides information about the relationship between HPMTF and other DMS oxidation products.
Emelie L. Graham, Cheng Wu, David M. Bell, Amelie Bertrand, Sophie L. Haslett, Urs Baltensperger, Imad El Haddad, Radovan Krejci, Ilona Riipinen, and Claudia Mohr
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7347–7362, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7347-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7347-2023, 2023
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The volatility of an aerosol particle is an important parameter for describing its atmospheric lifetime. We studied the volatility of secondary organic aerosols from nitrate-initiated oxidation of three biogenic precursors with experimental methods and model simulations. We saw higher volatility than for the corresponding ozone system, and our simulations produced variable results with different parameterizations which warrant a re-evaluation of the treatment of the nitrate functional group.
Andreas Forstmaier, Jia Chen, Florian Dietrich, Juan Bettinelli, Hossein Maazallahi, Carsten Schneider, Dominik Winkler, Xinxu Zhao, Taylor Jones, Carina van der Veen, Norman Wildmann, Moritz Makowski, Aydin Uzun, Friedrich Klappenbach, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Stefan Schwietzke, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6897–6922, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6897-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6897-2023, 2023
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Large cities emit greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. In this study, we measured the release of one important green house gas, methane, in Hamburg. Multiple sources that contribute to methane emissions were located and quantified. Methane sources were found to be mainly caused by human activity (e.g., by release from oil and gas refineries). Moreover, potential natural sources have been located, such as the Elbe River and lakes.
Yvette Gramlich, Karolina Siegel, Sophie L. Haslett, Gabriel Freitas, Radovan Krejci, Paul Zieger, and Claudia Mohr
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6813–6834, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6813-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6813-2023, 2023
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In this study, we investigate the chemical composition of aerosol particles forming clouds in the Arctic. During year-long observations at a mountain site on Svalbard, we find a large contribution of naturally derived aerosol particles in the fraction forming clouds in the summer. Our observations indicate that most aerosol particles can serve as cloud seeds in this remote environment.
Truls Andersen, Zhao Zhao, Marcel de Vries, Jaroslaw Necki, Justyna Swolkien, Malika Menoud, Thomas Röckmann, Anke Roiger, Andreas Fix, Wouter Peters, and Huilin Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5191–5216, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5191-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5191-2023, 2023
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The Upper Silesian Coal Basin, Poland, is one of the hot spots of methane emissions in Europe. Using an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV), we performed atmospheric measurements of methane concentrations downwind of five ventilation shafts in this region and determined the emission rates from the individual shafts. We found a strong correlation between quantified shaft-averaged emission rates and hourly inventory data, which also allows us to estimate the methane emissions from the entire region.
Jing Cai, Kaspar R. Daellenbach, Cheng Wu, Yan Zheng, Feixue Zheng, Wei Du, Sophie L. Haslett, Qi Chen, Markku Kulmala, and Claudia Mohr
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1147–1165, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1147-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1147-2023, 2023
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We introduce the offline application of FIGAERO-CIMS by analyzing Teflon and quartz filter samples that were collected at a typical urban site in Beijing with the deposition time varying from 30 min to 24 h. This method provides a feasible, simple, and quantitative way to investigate the molecular composition and volatility of OA compounds by using FIGAERO-CIMS to analyze offline samples.
Bryce F. J. Kelly, Xinyi Lu, Stephen J. Harris, Bruno G. Neininger, Jorg M. Hacker, Stefan Schwietzke, Rebecca E. Fisher, James L. France, Euan G. Nisbet, David Lowry, Carina van der Veen, Malika Menoud, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15527–15558, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15527-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15527-2022, 2022
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This study explores using the composition of methane of in-flight atmospheric air samples for greenhouse gas inventory verification. The air samples were collected above one of the largest coal seam gas production regions in the world. Adjacent to these gas fields are coal mines, Australia's largest cattle feedlot, and over 1 million grazing cattle. The results are also used to identify methane mitigation opportunities.
Peter Bergamaschi, Arjo Segers, Dominik Brunner, Jean-Matthieu Haussaire, Stephan Henne, Michel Ramonet, Tim Arnold, Tobias Biermann, Huilin Chen, Sebastien Conil, Marc Delmotte, Grant Forster, Arnoud Frumau, Dagmar Kubistin, Xin Lan, Markus Leuenberger, Matthias Lindauer, Morgan Lopez, Giovanni Manca, Jennifer Müller-Williams, Simon O'Doherty, Bert Scheeren, Martin Steinbacher, Pamela Trisolino, Gabriela Vítková, and Camille Yver Kwok
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 13243–13268, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13243-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-13243-2022, 2022
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We present a novel high-resolution inverse modelling system, "FLEXVAR", and its application for the inverse modelling of European CH4 emissions in 2018. The new system combines a high spatial resolution of 7 km x 7 km with a variational data assimilation technique, which allows CH4 emissions to be optimized from individual model grid cells. The high resolution allows the observations to be better reproduced, while the derived emissions show overall good consistency with two existing models.
Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, Dave Lowry, Julianne M. Fernandez, Semra Bakkaloglu, James L. France, Rebecca E. Fisher, Hossein Maazallahi, Mila Stanisavljević, Jarosław Nęcki, Katarina Vinkovic, Patryk Łakomiec, Janne Rinne, Piotr Korbeń, Martina Schmidt, Sara Defratyka, Camille Yver-Kwok, Truls Andersen, Huilin Chen, and Thomas Röckmann
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4365–4386, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4365-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4365-2022, 2022
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Emission sources of methane (CH4) can be distinguished with measurements of CH4 stable isotopes. We present new measurements of isotope signatures of various CH4 sources in Europe, mainly anthropogenic, sampled from 2017 to 2020. The present database also contains the most recent update of the global signature dataset from the literature. The dataset improves CH4 source attribution and the understanding of the global CH4 budget.
Simone M. Pieber, Béla Tuzson, Stephan Henne, Ute Karstens, Christoph Gerbig, Frank-Thomas Koch, Dominik Brunner, Martin Steinbacher, and Lukas Emmenegger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10721–10749, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10721-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10721-2022, 2022
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Understanding regional greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere is a prerequisite to mitigate climate change. In this study, we investigated the regional contributions of carbon dioxide (CO2) at the location of the high Alpine observatory Jungfraujoch (JFJ, Switzerland, 3580 m a.s.l.). To this purpose, we combined receptor-oriented atmospheric transport simulations for CO2 concentration in the period 2009–2017 with stable carbon isotope (δ13C–CO2) information.
Andrea Mazzeo, Michael Burrow, Andrew Quinn, Eloise A. Marais, Ajit Singh, David Ng'ang'a, Michael J. Gatari, and Francis D. Pope
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 10677–10701, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10677-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-10677-2022, 2022
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A modelling system for meteorology and chemistry transport processes, WRF–CHIMERE, has been tested and validated for three East African conurbations using the most up-to-date anthropogenic emissions available. Results show that the model is able to reproduce hourly and daily temporal variabilities in aerosol concentrations that are close to observations in both urban and rural environments, encouraging the adoption of numerical modelling as a tool for air quality management in East Africa.
Matthias Schneider, Benjamin Ertl, Qiansi Tu, Christopher J. Diekmann, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Amelie N. Röhling, Frank Hase, Darko Dubravica, Omaira E. García, Eliezer Sepúlveda, Tobias Borsdorff, Jochen Landgraf, Alba Lorente, André Butz, Huilin Chen, Rigel Kivi, Thomas Laemmel, Michel Ramonet, Cyril Crevoisier, Jérome Pernin, Martin Steinbacher, Frank Meinhardt, Kimberly Strong, Debra Wunch, Thorsten Warneke, Coleen Roehl, Paul O. Wennberg, Isamu Morino, Laura T. Iraci, Kei Shiomi, Nicholas M. Deutscher, David W. T. Griffith, Voltaire A. Velazco, and David F. Pollard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4339–4371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4339-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4339-2022, 2022
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We present a computationally very efficient method for the synergetic use of level 2 remote-sensing data products. We apply the method to IASI vertical profile and TROPOMI total column space-borne methane observations and thus gain sensitivity for the tropospheric methane partial columns, which is not achievable by the individual use of TROPOMI and IASI. These synergetic effects are evaluated theoretically and empirically by inter-comparisons to independent references of TCCON, AirCore, and GAW.
Varun Kumar, Stamatios Giannoukos, Sophie L. Haslett, Yandong Tong, Atinderpal Singh, Amelie Bertrand, Chuan Ping Lee, Dongyu S. Wang, Deepika Bhattu, Giulia Stefenelli, Jay S. Dave, Joseph V. Puthussery, Lu Qi, Pawan Vats, Pragati Rai, Roberto Casotto, Rangu Satish, Suneeti Mishra, Veronika Pospisilova, Claudia Mohr, David M. Bell, Dilip Ganguly, Vishal Verma, Neeraj Rastogi, Urs Baltensperger, Sachchida N. Tripathi, André S. H. Prévôt, and Jay G. Slowik
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7739–7761, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7739-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7739-2022, 2022
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Here we present source apportionment results from the first field deployment in Delhi of an extractive electrospray ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (EESI-TOF). The EESI-TOF is a recently developed instrument capable of providing uniquely detailed online chemical characterization of organic aerosol (OA), in particular the secondary OA (SOA) fraction. Here, we are able to apportion not only primary OA but also SOA to specific sources, which is performed for the first time in Delhi.
Cyril Brunner, Benjamin T. Brem, Martine Collaud Coen, Franz Conen, Martin Steinbacher, Martin Gysel-Beer, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 7557–7573, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7557-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-7557-2022, 2022
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Microscopic particles called ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are essential for ice crystals to form in clouds. INPs are a tiny proportion of atmospheric aerosol, and their abundance is poorly constrained. We study how the concentration of INPs changes diurnally and seasonally at a mountaintop station in central Europe. Unsurprisingly, a diurnal cycle is only found when considering air masses that have had lower-altitude ground contact. The highest INP concentrations occur in spring.
Makoto Saito, Tomohiro Shiraishi, Ryuichi Hirata, Yosuke Niwa, Kazuyuki Saito, Martin Steinbacher, Doug Worthy, and Tsuneo Matsunaga
Biogeosciences, 19, 2059–2078, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2059-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2059-2022, 2022
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This study tested combinations of two sources of AGB data and two sources of LCC data and used the same burned area satellite data to estimate BB CO emissions. Our analysis showed large discrepancies in annual mean CO emissions and explicit differences in the simulated CO concentrations among the BB emissions estimates. This study has confirmed that BB emissions estimates are sensitive to the land surface information on which they are based.
Stephen M. Platt, Øystein Hov, Torunn Berg, Knut Breivik, Sabine Eckhardt, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Markus Fiebig, Rebecca Fisher, Georg Hansen, Hans-Christen Hansson, Jost Heintzenberg, Ove Hermansen, Dominic Heslin-Rees, Kim Holmén, Stephen Hudson, Roland Kallenborn, Radovan Krejci, Terje Krognes, Steinar Larssen, David Lowry, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Chris Lunder, Euan Nisbet, Pernilla B. Nizzetto, Ki-Tae Park, Christina A. Pedersen, Katrine Aspmo Pfaffhuber, Thomas Röckmann, Norbert Schmidbauer, Sverre Solberg, Andreas Stohl, Johan Ström, Tove Svendby, Peter Tunved, Kjersti Tørnkvist, Carina van der Veen, Stergios Vratolis, Young Jun Yoon, Karl Espen Yttri, Paul Zieger, Wenche Aas, and Kjetil Tørseth
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3321–3369, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3321-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3321-2022, 2022
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Here we detail the history of the Zeppelin Observatory, a unique global background site and one of only a few in the high Arctic. We present long-term time series of up to 30 years of atmospheric components and atmospheric transport phenomena. Many of these time series are important to our understanding of Arctic and global atmospheric composition change. Finally, we discuss the future of the Zeppelin Observatory and emerging areas of future research on the Arctic atmosphere.
Roland Vernooij, Ulrike Dusek, Maria Elena Popa, Peng Yao, Anupam Shaikat, Chenxi Qiu, Patrik Winiger, Carina van der Veen, Thomas Callum Eames, Natasha Ribeiro, and Guido R. van der Werf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2871–2890, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2871-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2871-2022, 2022
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Landscape fires are a major source of greenhouse gases and aerosols, particularly in sub-tropical savannas. Stable carbon isotopes in emissions can be used to trace the contribution of C3 plants (e.g. trees or shrubs) and C4 plants (e.g. savanna grasses) to greenhouse gases and aerosols if the process is well understood. This helps us to link individual vegetation types to emissions, identify biomass burning emissions in the atmosphere, and improve the reconstruction of historic fire regimes.
Juhi Nagori, Narcisa Nechita-Bândă, Sebastian Oscar Danielache, Masumi Shinkai, Thomas Röckmann, and Maarten Krol
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-68, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-68, 2022
Publication in ACP not foreseen
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The sulfur isotopes (32S and 34S) were studied to understand the sources, sinks and processes of carbonyl sulphide (COS) in the atmosphere. COS is an important source of sulfur aerosol in the stratosphere (SSA). Few measurements of COS and SSA exist, but with our 1D model, we were able to match them and show the importance of COS to sulfate formation. Moreover, we are able to highlight some important processes for the COS budget and where measurements may fill a gap in current knowledge.
Cyril Brunner, Benjamin T. Brem, Martine Collaud Coen, Franz Conen, Maxime Hervo, Stephan Henne, Martin Steinbacher, Martin Gysel-Beer, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18029–18053, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18029-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18029-2021, 2021
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Special microscopic particles called ice-nucleating particles (INPs) are essential for ice crystals to form in the atmosphere. INPs are sparse and their atmospheric concentration and properties are not well understood. Mineral dust particles make up a significant fraction of INPs but how much remains unknown. Here, we address this knowledge gap by studying periods when mineral particles are present in large quantities at a mountaintop station in central Europe.
Daan Hubert, Klaus-Peter Heue, Jean-Christopher Lambert, Tijl Verhoelst, Marc Allaart, Steven Compernolle, Patrick D. Cullis, Angelika Dehn, Christian Félix, Bryan J. Johnson, Arno Keppens, Debra E. Kollonige, Christophe Lerot, Diego Loyola, Matakite Maata, Sukarni Mitro, Maznorizan Mohamad, Ankie Piters, Fabian Romahn, Henry B. Selkirk, Francisco R. da Silva, Ryan M. Stauffer, Anne M. Thompson, J. Pepijn Veefkind, Holger Vömel, Jacquelyn C. Witte, and Claus Zehner
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7405–7433, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7405-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7405-2021, 2021
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We assess the first 2 years of TROPOMI tropical tropospheric ozone column data. Comparisons to reference measurements by ozonesonde and satellite sensors show that TROPOMI bias (−0.1 to +2.3 DU) and precision (1.5 to 2.5 DU) meet mission requirements. Potential causes of bias and its spatio-temporal structure are discussed, as well as ways to identify sampling errors. Our analysis of known geophysical patterns demonstrates the improved performance of TROPOMI with respect to its predecessors.
Larissa Lacher, Hans-Christian Clemen, Xiaoli Shen, Stephan Mertes, Martin Gysel-Beer, Alireza Moallemi, Martin Steinbacher, Stephan Henne, Harald Saathoff, Ottmar Möhler, Kristina Höhler, Thea Schiebel, Daniel Weber, Jann Schrod, Johannes Schneider, and Zamin A. Kanji
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16925–16953, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16925-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16925-2021, 2021
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We investigate ice-nucleating particle properties at Jungfraujoch during the 2017 joint INUIT/CLACE field campaign, to improve the knowledge about those rare particles in a cloud-relevant environment. By quantifying ice-nucleating particles in parallel to single-particle mass spectrometry measurements, we find that mineral dust and aged sea spray particles are potential candidates for ice-nucleating particles. Our findings are supported by ice residual analysis and source region modeling.
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Short summary
This study provides ground-observational evidence that supports earlier suggestions that savanna fires are the main emitters and modulators of carbon monoxide gas in Africa. Using isotope-based techniques, the study has shown that about two-thirds of this gas is emitted from savanna fires, while for urban areas, in this case Nairobi, primary sources approach 100 %. The latter has implications for air quality policy, suggesting primary emissions such as traffic should be targeted.
This study provides ground-observational evidence that supports earlier suggestions that savanna...
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