Preindustrial-to-present-day changes in atmospheric carbon monoxide: agreement and gaps between ice archives and global model reconstructions

Faïn, Xavier; Szopa, Sophie; Naïk, Vaishali; Martinerie, Patricia; Etheridge, David M.; Rhodes, Rachael H.; Trudinger, Cathy M.; Petrenko, Vasilii V.; Fourteau, Kévin; Place, Philip

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1105-2025

Articles | Volume 25, issue 2

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1105-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1105-2025

© Author(s) 2025. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 25, issue 2

Research article

|

28 Jan 2025

Research article |

| 28 Jan 2025

Preindustrial-to-present-day changes in atmospheric carbon monoxide: agreement and gaps between ice archives and global model reconstructions

Xavier Faïn, Sophie Szopa, Vaishali Naïk, Patricia Martinerie, David M. Etheridge, Rachael H. Rhodes, Cathy M. Trudinger, Vasilii V. Petrenko, Kévin Fourteau, and Philip Place

Supplement

https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1105-2025-supplement

Data sets

Carbon monoxide (CO) Antarctic records from ice cores (DC12, ABN, Taldice), firn air (DE08-2, DSSW19K, DSSW20K, South Pole, ABN, Lock-In), and Mawson Station atmospheric history from -835 to 2021 CE X. Faïn et al. https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.960615

The model data outputs from the Atmospheric Chemistry {\&} Climate Model Intercomparison Project (ACCMIP) D. Shindell et al. http://catalogue.ceda.ac.uk/uuid/ded523bf23d59910e5d73f1703a2d540/

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Short summary

Carbon monoxide (CO) plays a crucial role in the atmosphere's oxidizing capacity. In this study, we analyse how historical (1850–2014) [CO] outputs from state-of-the-art global chemistry–climate models over Greenland and Antarctica are able to capture both absolute values and trends recorded in multi-site ice archives. A disparity in [CO] growth rates emerges in the Northern Hemisphere between models and observations from 1920–1975 CE, possibly linked to uncertainties in CO emission factors.