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https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1887
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1887
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
28 Jun 2024
| 28 Jun 2024
Status: this preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
Age of air from in situ trace gas measurements: Insights from a new technique
Abstract. The age of air is an important transport diagnostic that can be derived from trace gas measurements and compared to global chemistry climate model output. We describe a new technique to calculate the age of air, measuring transport times from the Earth’s surface to any location in the atmosphere based on simultaneous in situ measurements of multiple key long-lived trace gases. The primary benefits of this new technique include (1) optimized ages of air consistent with simultaneously measured SF6 and CO2, (2) age of air from the upper troposphere through the stratosphere, (3) estimates of the second moment of age spectra that have not been well constrained from measurements and (4) flexibility to be used with measurements across multiple instruments, platforms and decades. We demonstrate the technique on aircraft and balloon measurements from the 1990s, the last period of extensive stratospheric in situ sampling, and several recent missions from the 2020s, and compare the results with previously published and modeled values.
How to cite. Ray, E. A., Moore, F. L., Garny, H., Hintsa, E. J., Hall, B. D., Dutton, G. S., Nance, D., Elkins, J. W., Wofsy, S. C., Pittman, J., Daube, B., Baier, B. C., Li, J., and Sweeney, C.: Age of air from in situ trace gas measurements: Insights from a new technique, EGUsphere [preprint], https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-1887, 2024.
Publisher's note: Copernicus Publications remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims made in the text, published maps, institutional affiliations, or any other geographical representation in this preprint. The responsibility to include appropriate place names lies with the authors.
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NOAA Chemical Sciences Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science, CU Boulder, CO, USA
Fred L. Moore
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science, CU Boulder, CO, USA
NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
Hella Garny
Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institut für Physik der Atmosphäre, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, Meteorological Institute, Munich, Germany
Eric J. Hintsa
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science, CU Boulder, CO, USA
NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
Bradley D. Hall
NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
Geoff S. Dutton
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science, CU Boulder, CO, USA
NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
David Nance
Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Science, CU Boulder, CO, USA
NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
James W. Elkins
NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
retired
Steven C. Wofsy
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Jasna Pittman
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Bruce Daube
Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA
Bianca C. Baier
NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
Jianghanyang Li
Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, CU Boulder, CO, USA
Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, CU Boulder, CO, USA
Colm Sweeney
NOAA Global Monitoring Laboratory, Boulder, CO, USA
Short summary
In this study we describe new techniques to derive age of air from multiple simultaneous measurements of long-lived trace gases in order to improve the fidelity of the age of air estimates and to be able to compare age of air from measurements taken from different instruments, platforms and decades. This technique also allows new transport information to be obtained from the measurements such as the primary source latitude that can also be compared to models.
In this study we describe new techniques to derive age of air from multiple simultaneous...