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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">EGUsphere</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>EGUsphere</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">EGUsphere</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub"></issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/egusphere-2025-1442</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Extension of the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) over the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East: The Nicosia site in Cyprus</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Rousogenous</surname>
<given-names>Constantina</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9505-5239</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Petri</surname>
<given-names>Christof</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7010-5532</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Quehe</surname>
<given-names>Pierre-Yves</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Laemmel</surname>
<given-names>Thomas</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6110-954X</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff6">
<sup>6</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Laughner</surname>
<given-names>Joshua L.</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8599-4555</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff4">
<sup>4</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Desservettaz</surname>
<given-names>Maximilien</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff7">
<sup>7</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Pikridas</surname>
<given-names>Michael</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8131-2369</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Ramonet</surname>
<given-names>Michel</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1157-1186</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Bourtsoukidis</surname>
<given-names>Efstratios</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5578-9414</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Buschmann</surname>
<given-names>Matthias</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5077-9524</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Notholt</surname>
<given-names>Justus</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Warneke</surname>
<given-names>Thorsten</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Paris</surname>
<given-names>Jean-Daniel</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2164-4916</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Sciare</surname>
<given-names>Jean</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Vrekoussis</surname>
<given-names>Mihalis</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8292-8352</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff5">
<sup>5</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>Climate and Atmosphere Research Centre (CARE-C), The Cyprus Institute, Nicosia, 2121, Cyprus</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP), University of Bremen, Bremen, 28359, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Laboratoire des Sciences du Climat et de l’Environnement (LSCE/IPSL), Université Paris-Saclay, CEA, CNRS, UVSQ, Gif-sur-Yvette, 91191, France</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff4">
<label>4</label>
<addr-line>Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 91109, USA</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff5">
<label>5</label>
<addr-line>Center of Marine Environmental Sciences (MARUM), University of Bremen, Bremen, 28359, Germany</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff6">
<label>6</label>
<addr-line>now at: University of Bern, Department of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Oeschger Center for Climate Change Research, Bern, Switzerland</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff7">
<label>7</label>
<addr-line>now at: Environmental Futures, School of Science, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>08</day>
<month>08</month>
<year>2025</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>2025</volume>
<fpage>1</fpage>
<lpage>30</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2025 Constantina Rousogenous et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2025</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1442/">This article is available from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1442/</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1442/egusphere-2025-1442.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://egusphere.copernicus.org/preprints/2025/egusphere-2025-1442/egusphere-2025-1442.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Long-term greenhouse gas (GHG) measurements are essential for understanding the carbon cycle, detecting trends in atmospheric composition, and assessing the efficiency of climate change mitigation strategies. However, observational gaps over large geographic areas such as the Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East (EMME), a well-known regional GHG hotspot, are likely to increase uncertainties in estimations of their sources and sinks. Here, we describe a new Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) observatory for solar absorption spectroscopy measurements that has been operating in Nicosia, Cyprus, since September 2019. The site helps bridge a regional observational gap in the EMME, a strategic location at the crossroads of air masses from Europe, Asia, and Africa. Using near-infrared (NIR, InGaAs detector) solar absorption spectra, TCCON-Nicosia measures total column average dry-air mole fractions (X&lt;sub&gt;gas&lt;/sub&gt;) of key trace gases, including carbon dioxide (CO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;), methane (CH&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;), nitrous oxide (N&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrogen fluoride (HF), water vapor (H&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;O), and semi-heavy water (HDO). These continuous observations, spanning more than four years, are presented along with a description of the quality control procedures, compliant with the TCCON standards, to ensure total column atmospheric data with minimal errors.&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;In 2023, observations were extended into the mid-infrared (MIR) spectrum with the addition of a liquid-nitrogen-cooled InSb (LN&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;-InSb) detector enabling the retrieval of additional trace gases such as formaldehyde (HCHO), carbonyl sulfide (OCS), nitrogen monoxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;), and ethane (C&lt;sub&gt;2&lt;/sub&gt;H&lt;sub&gt;6&lt;/sub&gt;), herewith further contributing to the global Network for the Detection of Atmospheric Composition Change (NDACC).&lt;/p&gt;
&lt;p&gt;To tie the TCCON Nicosia with the WMO reference scale, an AirCore (AC) campaign conducted in June 2020 over Cyprus provided vertical in situ profiles, which were converted into total column quantities (AC.X&lt;sub&gt;gas&lt;/sub&gt;) and compared to TCCON observations (X&lt;sub&gt;gas&lt;/sub&gt;). The TCCON/in situ comparison showed agreement well within their respective error budget.</p>
</abstract>
<counts><page-count count="30"/></counts>
<funding-group>
<award-group id="gs1">
<funding-source>Horizon 2020</funding-source>
<award-id>856612</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs2">
<funding-source>HORIZON EUROPE Framework Programme</funding-source>
<award-id>101071247</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs3">
<funding-source>Universität Bremen</funding-source>
<award-id>-</award-id>
</award-group>
<award-group id="gs4">
<funding-source>Jet Propulsion Laboratory</funding-source>
<award-id>80NM0018D0004</award-id>
</award-group>
</funding-group>
</article-meta>
</front>
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<back>
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</article>