• \
    Start Submission Become a Reviewer

    Reading: Aircraft observation of carbon dioxide at 8–13 km altitude over the western Pacific from 199...

    Download

     A- A+
    Alt. Display

    Original Research Papers

    Aircraft observation of carbon dioxide at 8–13 km altitude over the western Pacific from 1993 to 1999

    Authors:

    Hidekazu Matsueda ,

    Geochemical Research Department, Meteorological Research Institute, JP
    X close

    Hisayuki Yoshikawa Inoue,

    Geochemical Research Department, Meteorological Research Institute, JP
    X close

    Masao Ishii

    Geochemical Research Department, Meteorological Research Institute, JP
    X close

    Abstract

    The spatial and temporal variations of atmospheric CO2 at 8–13 km from April 1993 to April 1999 were observed by measuring CO2 mixing ratios in samples collected biweekly from a commercial airliner between Australia and Japan. The CO2 growth rate showed a considerable interannual variation, with a maximum of about 3 ppm yr−1 during late 1997. This variation is related to the El Niöo/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) events. A year-to-year change related to the ENSO events was also found in the latitudinal distribution pattern of the CO2 annual mean between 30°N and 30°S. The averaged CO2 seasonal cycle in the Northern Hemisphere gradually decayed toward the equator, and a relatively complicated variation with a double seasonal maximum appeared in the Southern Hemisphere. A significant yearly change of the seasonal cycle pattern was observed in the Southern Hemisphere. The impact of a tropical biomass-burning injection on the upper tropospheric CO2 was estimated on the basis of the CO data from the same airliner observation.

    How to Cite: Matsueda, H., Inoue, H.Y. and Ishii, M., 2002. Aircraft observation of carbon dioxide at 8–13 km altitude over the western Pacific from 1993 to 1999. Tellus B: Chemical and Physical Meteorology, 54(1), pp.1–21. DOI: http://doi.org/10.3402/tellusb.v54i1.16645
      Published on 01 Jan 2002
    Peer Reviewed
     CC BY 4.0
     Accepted on 10 Sep 2001            Submitted on 27 Mar 2001

    References

    1. Anderson , B. E. , Collins , J. E. , Sachse , G. W. , Whiting , G. W. , Blake , D. R. and Rowland , F. S . 1993 . AASE-II observations of trace carbon species distributions in the mid to upper troposphere. Geophys. Res. Lett . 20 , 2539 – 2542 .  

    2. Anderson , B. E. , Gregory , G. L. , Collins Jr., J. E. , Sachse , G. W. , Conway , T. J. and Whiting , G. P. 1996. Air-borne observations of spatial and temporal variability of tropospheric carbon dioxide. J. Geophys. Res . 101 , 1985 – 1997 .  

    3. Andreae , M . 0. 1993 . Global distribution of fires seen from space (abstract). Eos Trans. AGU 74 , 129 - 135 .  

    4. Bacastow , R. B. 1976 . Modulation of atmospheric carbon dioxide by the Southern Oscillation . Nature 261 , 116 – 118 .  

    5. Bacastow , R. B. , Adams , J. A. , Keeling , C. D. , Moss , D. J. and Whorf , T. P . 1980 . Atmospheric carbon dioxide, the Southern Oscillation, and the weak 1975 El Nirio. Science 210 , 66 – 68 .  

    6. Bacastow , R. B. , Keeling , C. D. and Whorf , T. P . 1985 . Seasonal amplitude increase in atmospheric CO2 concentration at Mauna Loa, Hawaii, 1959-1982. J. Geophys. Res . 90 , 10,529 - 10,540 .  

    7. Battle , M. , Bender , M. L. , Tans , P. P. , White , J. W. C. , Ellis , J. T. , Conway , T. and Francey , R. J . 2000 . Global carbon sinks and their variability inferred from atmo-spheric 02 and S“C. Science 287 , 2467 – 2470 .  

    8. Bell , G. D. , Halpert , M. S. , Ropelewski , C. F. , Kousky , V. E. , Douglas , A. V. , Schnell , R. C. and Gelman , M. E. 1999. Climate assessment for 1998. Bull. Am. Meteorol. Soc . 80 , S1—S48 .  

    9. Bischof , W . 1962 . Variations in concentration of carbon dioxide in the free troposphere. Tellus 14 , 87 – 90 .  

    10. Bischof , W . 1971 . Carbon dioxide in the upper tropo-sphere and lower stratosphere. II. Tellus 23 , 558 - 561 .  

    11. Bischof , W. , Borchers , R. , Fabian , P. and Kruger , B. C. 1985 . Increased concentration and vertical distribution of carbon dioxide in the stratosphere . Nature 316 , 708 – 710 .  

    12. Boering , K. A. , Wofsy , S. C. , Daube , B. C. , Schneider , H. R. , Loewenstein , M. , Podolske , J. R. and Conway , T. J . 1996 . Stratospheric mean ages and transport rates from observations of carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. Science 274 , 1340 – 1343 .  

    13. Bolin , B. and Bischof , W . 1970 . Variations of the carbon dioxide content of the atmosphere in the northern hemisphere. Tellus 22 , 431 – 442 .  

    14. Bousquet , P. , Peylin , P. , Ciais , P. , Le Quéré , C. , Friedling-stein , P. and Tans , P. P . 2000 . Regional changes in carbon dioxide fluxes of land and oceans since 1980. Science 290 , 1342 – 1346 .  

    15. Brenninkmeijer , C. A. M. , Crutzen , P. J. , Fischer , H. , Glisten , H. , Hans , H. , Heinrich , G. , Heintzenberg , J. , Hermann , M. , Immelmann , T. , Kersting , D. , Maiss , M. , Nolle , M. , Pitscheider , A. , Pohlkamp , H. , Scharffe , D. , Specht , K. and Wiedensohler , A. 1999. CARIBIC - Civil aircraft for global measurement of trace gases and aerosols in the tropopause region. J. Atmos. Oceanic Technol . 16 , 1373 - 1383 .  

    16. Cleveland , W. S. , Freeny , A. E. and Graedel , T. E . 1983 . The seasonal component of atmospheric CO2: information from new approaches to the decomposi-tion of seasonal time series. J. Geophys. Res . 88 , 10,934 - 10,946 .  

    17. Conway , T. J. and Steele , L. P . 1989 . Carbon dioxide and methane in the Arctic atmosphere. J. Atmos. Chem . 9 , 81 – 99 .  

    18. Conway , T. J. , Raatz , W. E. and Gammon , R. H . 1985 . Airborne CO2 measurements in the Arctic during spring 1983. Atmos. Environ . 19 , 2195 – 2201 .  

    19. Conway , T. J. , Tans , P. , Waterman , L. S. , Thoning , K. W. , Masarie , K. A. and Gammon , R. H . 1988 . Atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements in the remote global troposphere, 1981-1984. Tellus 40B , 81 – 115 .  

    20. Conway , T. J. , Tans. , P. P. , Waterman , L. S. , Thoning , K. W. , Kitzis , D. R. , Masarie , K. A. and Zhang , N . 1994 . Evidence for interannual variability of the carbon cycle from the National Oceanic and Atmo-spheric Administration/Climate Monitoring and Diagnostics Laboratory global air sampling network. J. Geophys. Res . 99 , 22,831 - 22,855 .  

    21. Craig , S. G. , Holmén , K. J. , Bonan , G. B. and Rasch , P. J . 1998 . Atmospheric CO2 simulated by the National Center for Atmospheric Research Commun-ity Climate Model 1. Mean fields and seasonal cycles. J. Geophys. Res . 103 , 13,213 - 13,235 .  

    22. Crutzen , P. J. and Andreae , M. O. 1990. Biomass burning in the tropics: impact on atmospheric chemistry and biogeochemical cycles. Science 250 , 1669 – 1678 .  

    23. Elliott , W. P. , Angell , J. K. and Thoning , K. W . 1991 . Relation of atmospheric CO2 to tropical sea and air temperatures and precipitation. Tellus 43B , 144 – 155 .  

    24. Fan , S. , Gloor , M. , Mahlman , J. , Pacala , S. , Sarmiento , J. , Takahashi , T. and Tans , P . 1998 . A large terrestrial carbon sink in North America implied by atmospheric and oceanic carbon dioxide data and models. Science 282 , 442 – 446 .  

    25. Feely , R. A. , Wanninkhof , R. , Takahashi , T. and Tans , P . 1999 . Influence of El Nirio on the equatorial Pacific contribution to atmospheric CO2 accumulation. Nature 398 , 597 – 601 .  

    26. Francey , R. J. , Tans , P. P. , Allison , C. E. , Enting , I. G. , White , J. W. C. and Trolier , M . 1995 . Changes in oceanic and terrestrial carbon uptake since 1982. Nature 373 , 326 – 330 .  

    27. Harnisch , J. , Bischof , W. , Borchers , R. , Fabian , P. and Maiss , M . 1998 . A stratospheric excess of CO2 - due to tropical deep convection? Geophys. Res. Lett . 25 , 63 – 66 .  

    28. Hintsa , E. J. , Boering , K. A. , Weinstock , E. M. , Anderson , J. G. , Gary , B. L. , Pfister , L. , Daube , B. C. , Wofsy , S. C. , Loewenstein , M. , Podolske , J. R. , Margitan , J. J. and Bui , T. P . 1998 . Troposphere-to-stratosphere transport in the lowermost stratosphere from measure-ments of H20, CO2, N20 and 03 . Geophys. Res. Lett . 25 , 2655 – 2658 .  

    29. Iacobellis , S. F. , Frouin , R. , Razafimpanilo , H. , Somer-ville , R. C. J. and Piper S. C . 1994 . North Africa savanna fires and atmospheric carbon dioxide. J. Geo-phys. Res . 99 , 8321 – 8334 .  

    30. Inoue , H. Y. , Ishii , M. , Matsueda , H. and Ahoyama , M . 1996 . Changes in longitudinal distribution of the par-tial pressure of CO2 ( pCO2) in the central and western equatorial Pacific, west of 160°W. Geophys. Res. Lett . 23 , 1781 – 1784 .  

    31. Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) 1999. Monthly Report on Climate System No. 99-11 (ed. JMA). JMA, Tokyo. Keeling, C. D., Harris, T. B. and Wilkins, E. M. 1968. Concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide at 500 and 700 millibars. J. Geophys. Res. 73 , 4511 - 4528 .  

    32. Keeling , C. D. , Whorf , T. P. , Wong , C. S. and Bellagay , R. D. 1985 . The concentration of atmospheric carbon dioxide at Ocean Weather Station P from 1969 to 1981. J. Geophys. Res . 90 , 10,511 - 10,528 .  

    33. Keeling , C. D. , Bacastow , R. B. , Carter , A. F. , Piper , S. C. Whorf , T. P. , Heimann , M. , Mook , W. G. and Roeloffzen , H. 1989. A three-dimensional model of atmospheric CO2 transport based on observed winds. (1) Analysis of observational data. In: AGU Mono-graph 55 . American Geophysical Union, Washington, USA , 165 - 362 .  

    34. Keeling , C. D. , Whorf , T. P. , Wahlen , M. and van der Plicht , J. 1995. Interannual extremes in the rate of rise of atmospheric carbon dioxide since 1980. Nature 375 , 666 - 670 .  

    35. Keeling , C. D. , Chin , J. F. S. and Whorf , T. P. 1996. Increased activity of northern vegetation inferred from atmospheric CO2 measurements. Nature 382 , 146 - 149 .  

    36. Komhyr , W. D. , Gammon , R. H. , Harris , T. B. , Waterman , L. S. , Conway , T. J. , Taylor , W. R. and Thoning , K. W. 1985. Global atmospheric CO, distribution and variations from 1968-1982 NOAA/GMCC CO2 flask sampling data. J. Geophys. Res . 90 , 5567 - 5596 .  

    37. Law , R. and Simmonds , I . 1996 . The sensitivity of deduced CO2 sources and sinks to variations in trans-port and imposed surface concentrations. Tellus 48B , 613 – 625 .  

    38. Lee , K. , Wanninkhof , R. , Takahashi , T. , Doney , S. C. and Feely , R. A . 1998 . Low interannual variability in recent oceanic uptake of atmospheric carbon dioxide. Nature 396 , 155 – 159 .  

    39. Matsueda , H. , Inoue , H. Y. and Ishii , M . 1993 . Latitud-inal distributions of methane in the upper troposphere and marine boundary air over the Pacific in 1990. Geophys. Res. Lett . 20 , 695 – 698 .  

    40. Matsueda , H. and Inoue , H. Y . 1996 . Measurements of atmospheric CO, and CH4 using a commercial airliner from 1993 to 1994. Atmos. Environ . 30 , 1647 – 1655 .  

    41. Matsueda , H. , Inoue , H. Y. , Sawa , Y. , Tsutsumi , Y. and Ishii , M . 1998 . Carbon monoxide in the upper tropo-sphere over the western Pacific between 1993 and 1996. J. Geophys. Res . 103 , 19,093 - 19,110 .  

    42. Matsueda , H. , Inoue , H. Y. , Ishii , M. and Tsutsumi , Y . 1999 . Large injection of carbon monoxide into the upper troposphere due to intense biomass burning in 1997. J. Geophys. Res . 104 , 26,867 - 26,879 .  

    43. Murayama , S. , Nakazawa , T. , Yamazaki , K. , Aoki , S. , Makino , Y. , Shiobara , M. , Fukabori , M. , Yamanou-chi , T. , Shimizu , A. , Hayashi , M. , Kawaguchi , S. and Tanaka , M . 1995 . Concentration variations of atmo-spheric CO2 over Syowa Station, Antarctica and their interpretation. Tellus 47B , 375 – 390 .  

    44. Myneni , R. B. , Keeling , C. D. , Tucker , C. J. , Asrar , G. and Nemani , R. R. 1997. Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991. Nature 386 , 698 - 702 .  

    45. Nakazawa , T. , Miyashita , K. , Aoki , S. and Tanaka , M . 1991 . Temporal and spatial variations of upper tropo-spheric and lower stratospheric carbon dioxide. Tellus 43B , 106 – 117 .  

    46. Nakazawa , T. , Murayama , S. , Miyashita , K. , Aoki , S. and Tanaka , M . 1992 . Longitudinally different vari-ations of lower tropospheric carbon dioxide concen-trations over the North Pacific Ocean. Tellus 44B , 161 – 172 .  

    47. Nakazawa , T. , Morimoto , S. , Aoki , S. and Tanaka , M . 1993 . Time and space variations of the carbon isotopic ratio of tropospheric carbon dioxide over Japan. Tellus 45B , 258 – 274 .  

    48. Nakazawa , T. , Machida , T. , Sugawara , S. , Murayama , S. , Morimoto , S. , Hashida , G. , Honda , H. and Itoh , T . 1995 . Measurements of the stratospheric carbon diox-ide concentration over Japan using a balloon-borne cryogenic sampler. Geophys. Res. Lett . 22 , 1229 – 1232 .  

    49. Nakazawa , T. , Sugawara , S. , Inoue , G. , Machida , T. , Makshyutov , S. and Mukai , H . 1997a . Aircraft meas-urements of the concentrations of CO2, CH4, N20 and CO and the carbon and oxygen isotopic ratios of CO2 in the troposphere over Russia. J. Geophys. Res . 102 , 3843 – 3859 .  

    50. Nakazawa , T. , Morimoto , S. , Aoki , S. and Tanaka , M . 1997b . Temporal and spatial variations of the carbon isotopic ratio of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the western Pacific region. J. Geophys. Res . 102 , 1271 – 1285 .  

    51. Pak , B. C. , Langenfelds , R. L. , Francey , R. J. , Steele , L. P. and Simmonds , I . 1996 . A climatology of trace gases from the Cape Grim over-flights , 1992-1995 . In: Base-line Atmospheric Program Australia 1994-95 (eds. R. J. Francey , A. L. Dick and N. Derek ). Bureau of Meteorology and CSIRO Devision of Atmospheric Research, Australia , 41 - 52 .  

    52. Pak , B. C . 2000 . Vertical structure of atmospheric trace gases over southeast Australia. PhD Thesis , University of Melbourne , 59 – 72 .  

    53. Pearman , G. I. and Garratt , J. R . 1973 . Space and time variations of tropospheric carbon dioxide in the south-ern hemisphere. Tellus 25 , 309 – 311 .  

    54. Pearman , G. I. and Beardsmore D. J . 1984 . Atmospheric carbon dioxide measurements in the Australian region: Ten years of aircraft data. Tellus 36B , 1 – 24 .  

    55. Ray , E. A. , Moore , F. L. , Elkins , J. W. , Dutton , G. S. , Fahey , D. W. , Vömel , H. , Oltmans , S. J. and Rosenlof , K. H . 1999 . Transport into the Northern Hemisphere lowermost stratosphere revealed by in situ tracer measurements. J. Geophys. Res . 104 , 26,565 - 26,580 .  

    56. Rayner , P. J. , Enting , I. G. , Francey , R. J. and Langen-felds , R . 1999a . Reconstructing the recent carbon cycle from atmospheric CO2, S“C and 02/N2 observations. Tellus 51B , 213 – 232 .  

    57. Rayner , P. J. , Law , R. M. and Dargaville , R . 1999b . The relationship between tropical CO2 fluxes and the El Nino—Southern Oscillation. Geophys. Res. Lett . 26 , 493 – 496 .  

    58. Schmidt , U. and Khedim , A . 1991 . In situ measurements of carbon dioxide in the winter Arctic vortex and at midlatitudes: an indicator of the ‘age’ of stratospheric air. Geophys. Res. Lett . 18 , 763 – 766 .  

    59. Strahan , S. E. , Douglass , A. R. , Nielsen , J. E. and Boering , K. A . 1998 . The CO2 seasonal cycle as a tracer of transport. J. Geophys. Res . 103 , 13,729 - 13,741 .  

    60. Strunk , M. , Engel , A. , Schmidt , U. , Volk , C. M. , Wetter , T. , Levine , I. and Glatzel-Mattheier , H . 2000 . CO2 and SF6 as stratospheric age tracers: consistency and the effect of mesospheric 5F6-loss. Geophys. Res. Lett . 27 , 341 – 344 .  

    61. Taguchi , S . 1996 . A three-dimensional model of atmo-spheric CO2 transport based on analyzed winds: model description and simulation results for TRANSCOM. J. Geophys. Res . 101 , 15,099 - 15,109 .  

    62. Tanaka , M. , Nakazawa , T. and Aoki , S . 1987a . Time and space variations of tropospheric carbon dioxide over Japan. Tellus 39B , 3 – 12 .  

    63. Tanaka , M. , Nakazawa , T. and Aoki , S . 1987b . Seasonal and meridional variations of atmospheric carbon dioxide in the lower troposphere of the northern and southern hemispheres. Tellus 39B , 29 – 41 .  

    64. Tans , P. P. , Conway , T. J. and Nakazawa , T . 1989 . Latitudinal distribution of the sources and sinks of atmospheric carbon dioxide derived from surface observations and an atmospheric transport model. J. Geophys. Res . 94 , 5151 – 5172 .  

    65. Tans , P. P. , Bakwin , P. S. , Conway , T. J. , Dissly , R. W. , Dlugokencky , E. J. , Geller , L. S. , Guenther , D. W. , Hurst , D. F. , Kitzis , D. R. , Lang , P. M. , Masarie , K. A. , Miller , J. B. , Novelli , P. C. , Prostko-Bell , C. , Ramonet , M. , Thoning , K. W. , Trolier , M. , Waterman , L. S. , Zhang , N. and Zhao , C . 1996 . Carbon cycle. In: Climate monitoring and diagnostics laboratory summary report No . 23 , 1994-95 (eds. D. J. Hofmann, J. T. Peterson and R. M. Rosson). US Department of Com-merce, 29 - 49 .  

    66. Tans , P. P. , Bakwin , P. S. , Bruhwiler , L. , Conway , T. J. , Dlugokencky , E. J. , Guenther , D. W. , Hurst , D. F. , Kitzis , D. R. , Lang , P. M. , Masarie , K. A. , Miller , J. B. , Novelli , P. C. , Prostko-Bell , C. , Thoning , K. W. , Vaughn , B. H. , White , J. W. C. , Yakir , D. and Zhao , C . 1998 . Carbon cycle. In: Climate monitoring and diag-nostics laboratory summary report No . 24 , 1996-1997 (eds. D. J. Hofmann, J. T. Peterson and R. M. Rosson). US Department of Commerce, 30 - 51 .  

    67. Thompson , M. L. , Enting , I. G. , Pearman , G. I. and Hyson , P . 1986 . Interannual variation of atmospheric CO2 concentration. J. Atmos. Chem . 4 , 125 - 155 .  

    68. Waliser , D. E. and Gautier , C. 1993. A satellite-derived climatology of the ITCZ. J. Climate 6 , 2162 – 2174 .  

    69. Watanabe , F ., Uchino , O. , Joo , Y. , Aono , M. , Higashijima , K. , Hirano , Y. , Tsuboi , K. and Suda , K. 2000. Interannual variation of growth rate of atmospheric carbon dioxide concentration observed at the JMA's three monitoring stations: large increase in concentra-tion of atmospheric carbon dioxide in 1998. J. Meteor. Soc. Jpn 78 , 673 - 682 .  

    70. Wessel , P. and Smith , W. H. F . 1991 . Free software helps map and display data. EOS Trans. AGU 72 , 445 - 446 .  

    71. Wittenberg , U. , Heimann , M. , Esser , G. , McGuire , A. D. and Sauf , W. 1998 . On the influence of biomass burn-ing on the seasonal CO2 signal as observed at monitoring stations . Glob. Biogeochem. Cyc . 12 , 531 – 544 .  

    72. Wofsy , S. C. , Harriss , R. C. and Kaplan , W. A . 1988 . Carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over the Amazon Basin. J. Geophys. Res . 93 , 1377 – 1387 .  

    73. Zahn , A. , Neubert , R. , Maiss , M. and Platt , U . 1999 . Fate of long-lived trace species near the Northern Hemispheric tropopause: carbon dioxide, methane, ozone, and sulfur hexafluoride J. Geophys. Res . 104 , 13,923 - 13,942 .  

    Jump to Discussions Related content
    comments powered by Disqus