Preprints
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3279
https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3279
25 Oct 2024
 | 25 Oct 2024
Status: this preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).

Measurement report: Greenhouse gas profiles and age of air from the 2021 HEMERA-TWIN balloon launch

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 Baartman, Carina van der Veen, Maria Elena Popa, and Andreas Engel

Abstract. Within the HEMERA balloon infrastructure project, a stratospheric balloon carrying a multi-instrument payload to a maximum altitude of 31.2 km was launched on 12th August 2021. Aboard the openly constructed TWIN gondola, several types of instruments were used for simultaneous air sampling and in-flight measurements to characterize climate relevant trace gases in the stratosphere and in the troposphere, and to compare and evaluate different instrumental approaches and sampling techniques. For observations of the main greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), sampling with AirCores, flask sampling and in-flight spectrometry were deployed. Overall, results from different methods agree well. While better precision is achieved for the post-flight measurements of AirCores and flask sampling, in-situ spectrometry provides a higher degree of detail on the vertical structure of the CH4 profile. Age of air was derived from mixing ratios of CO2 and SF6. As seen in previous studies, higher values were obtained from SF6 than from CO2. Correcting for chemical losses, maximum values of 4.4–5.1 years were derived from SF6 mixing ratios at altitudes above 20 km compared to 4.2–5.0 years from CO2 mixing ratios. The resulting dataset should be well suited for multi-tracer approaches to derive age of air, in particular in combination with a large suite of halocarbons measured from flask samples and one more AirCore which are reported by a companion publication.

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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 Baartman, Carina van der Veen, Maria Elena Popa, and Andreas Engel

Status: open (until 06 Dec 2024)

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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 Baartman, Carina van der Veen, Maria Elena Popa, and Andreas Engel

Data sets

Draft October 21, 2022 (v1) Dataset Open Greenhouse gas profiles from the 2021 HEMERA-TWIN balloon launch Tanja J. Schuck, Johannes C. Laube, Alessandro Zanchetta, Steven van Heuven, Johannes Degen, and Mélanie Ghysels-Dubois https://zenodo.org/records/13918431

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 Baartman, Carina van der Veen, Maria Elena Popa, and Andreas Engel

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Short summary
A balloon was launched in 2021 in the Arctic to carry instruments for trace gase 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 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.