Articles | Volume 21, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-21-3183-2024
© 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/bg-21-3183-2024
© Author(s) 2024. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Research article
| 
10 Jul 2024
Research article |
| 10 Jul 2024
| 10 Jul 2024
The emission of CO from tropical rainforest soils
Hella van Asperen
CORRESPONDING AUTHOR
Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP), University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany
Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC), Hans-Knöll-Strasse 10, Jena, 07745, Germany
Thorsten Warneke
Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP), University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany
Alessandro Carioca de Araújo
Programa de Grande Escala da Biosfera-Atmosfera na Amazônia (LBA), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, AM 69067-375, Manaus, Brazil
Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), Embrapa Amazônia Oriental, Tv. Dr. Enéas Piheiro, s/n, Marco, PA 66095-903, Caixa postal 48, Belém, Brazil
Bruce Forsberg
Programa de Grande Escala da Biosfera-Atmosfera na Amazônia (LBA), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, AM 69067-375, Manaus, Brazil
Sávio José Filgueiras Ferreira
Coordenação de Dinâmica Ambiental (CODAM), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, AM 69067-375, Manaus, Brazil
Thomas Röckmann
Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Carina van der Veen
Institute for Marine and Atmospheric Research Utrecht, Utrecht University, Princetonplein 5, 3584, Utrecht, the Netherlands
Sipko Bulthuis
Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Hahn-Meitner-Weg 1, Mainz, 55128, Germany
Leonardo Ramos de Oliveira
Programa de Grande Escala da Biosfera-Atmosfera na Amazônia (LBA), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, AM 69067-375, Manaus, Brazil
Thiago de Lima Xavier
Programa de Grande Escala da Biosfera-Atmosfera na Amazônia (LBA), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, AM 69067-375, Manaus, Brazil
Jailson da Mata
Programa de Grande Escala da Biosfera-Atmosfera na Amazônia (LBA), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, AM 69067-375, Manaus, Brazil
Marta de Oliveira Sá
Postgraduate Program in Climate and Environment (CLIAMB) – INPA/UEA, Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, AM 69067-375, Manaus, Brazil
Paulo Ricardo Teixeira
Programa de Grande Escala da Biosfera-Atmosfera na Amazônia (LBA), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, AM 69067-375, Manaus, Brazil
Julie Andrews de França e Silva
Programa de Grande Escala da Biosfera-Atmosfera na Amazônia (LBA), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas da Amazônia (INPA), Av. André Araújo, 2936, Petrópolis, AM 69067-375, Manaus, Brazil
Susan Trumbore
Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry (MPI-BGC), Hans-Knöll-Strasse 10, Jena, 07745, Germany
Justus Notholt
Institute of Environmental Physics (IUP), University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, Bremen, 28359, Germany
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Mariano A. B. da Rocha, Cléo Q. Dias-Júnior, Anne C. S. Mendonça, Julia C. P. Cohen, Flávio A. F. D'Oliveira, Christopher Pöhlker, Subha Raj, Alessandro C. de Araujo, Marco A. Franco, Paulo Artaxo, Carlos A. Quesada, and Rafael S. Palácios
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Liang Feng, Paul I. Palmer, Haolin Wang, Robert Parker, Hartmut Boesch, Sébastien C. Biraud, Łukasz Chmura, Emanuel Gloor, László Haszpra, Elena Kozlova, Euan G. Nisbet, Steffen M. Noe, Thomas Röckmann, Rodrigo Augusto Ferreira de Souza, and Martin Steinbacher
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2662, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-2662, 2026
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This study examines the relative roles of emissions and oxidation in recent rapid methane growth. Using an ensemble Kalman filter, we quantify global methane sources and sinks for 2018–2024. Emission changes dominate the increase, except in 2020 when a COVID‑19‑related OH decline strongly affected sinks. Atmospheric photochemistry—including OH and CH₄ variability and temperature‑dependent oxidation—also significantly shapes the methane budget.
Jacoline van Es, Juan Bettinelli, Jia Chen, Carina van der Veen, Stephan Henne, and Thomas Röckmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1813, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1813, 2026
This preprint is open for discussion and under review for Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics (ACP).
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Maximiliano González-Sosa, Carlos A. Sierra, J. Andrés Quincke, Walter E. Baethgen, Andrés Tangarife-Escobar, Susan Trumbore, and M. Virginia Pravia
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Débora Pinheiro-Oliveira, Hella van Asperen, Murielli Garcia Caetano, Michelle Robin, Achim Edtbauer, Nora Zannoni, Joseph Byron, Jonathan Williams, Layon Oreste Demarchi, Maria Teresa Fernandez Piedade, Jochen Schöngart, Florian Wittmann, Sergio Duvoisin-Junior, Carla Batista, Rodrigo Augusto Ferreira de Souza, and Eliane Gomes Alves
Biogeosciences, 23, 2451–2476, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2451-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-23-2451-2026, 2026
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Forests release trace gases that influence air and climate. While plants are the main source, soil and leaf litter can also release significant amounts, especially in tropical forests like the Amazon. We measured these fluxes in different forest types and found soil and litter to be active sources and sinks. This can improves climate models by including realistic forest processes, vital for understanding and protecting the Amazon.
Oliver Schneising, Heinrich Bovensmann, Michael Buchwitz, Matthias Buschmann, Nicholas M. Deutscher, David W. T. Griffith, Jonas Hachmeister, Frank Hase, Laura T. Iraci, Rigel Kivi, Isamu Morino, Hirofumi Ohyama, Christof Petri, Maximilian Reuter, John Robinson, Coleen Roehl, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Kei Shiomi, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Voltaire A. Velazco, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Wei Wang, Thorsten Warneke, Damien Weidmann, Debra Wunch, Minqiang Zhou, and Hartmut Bösch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 19, 2407–2435, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-2407-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-2407-2026, 2026
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We present an improved version of the TROPOMI/WFMD (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument/Weighting Function Modified Differential) algorithm for the simultaneous retrieval of atmospheric methane and carbon monoxide from satellite observations. The updated data product combines higher data yield with better precision and accuracy, expanding its suitability for a wider range of scientific applications. These substantial advances are mainly due to refined quality filtering, enabling more reliable identification of cloudy scenes and mitigating specific aerosol-related issues.
Xiaoyu Sun, Mathias Palm, Katrin Müller, Denghui Ji, Sharon Patris, and Justus Notholt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 4841–4861, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-4841-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-4841-2026, 2026
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Near-surface ozone over the tropical Pacific is among the lowest on Earth. This study provides rare observations from this key region. Using sunlight measurements with an infrared spectrometer in Palau, we found that ozone rises in the morning and falls after noon. This daily rhythm and very low levels show how clean ocean air and weak thunderstorms shape atmospheric chemistry and affect Earth's climate.
Noelia R. Benavente, Santiago Botía, Luciana V. Rizzo, Angel Vara-Vela, Paulo Artaxo, Hella van Asperen, Felipe Santos da Silva, Flavio A. F. D'Oliveira, Horst Fischer, Michał Gałkowski, Theo Glauch, Alice Henkes, David Ho, Cléo Q. Dias-Júnior, Amauri C. P. Junior, Julia Marshall, Linda Ort, Ben-Hur M. Portella, and Luiz A. T. Machado
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-979, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-979, 2026
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The Amazon Basin plays a vital role in regulating Earth's climate by absorbing and releasing carbon dioxide and methane. We studied how a high-resolution atmospheric transport model captures these gases, comparing it with measurements from towers and aircraft over the forest. Adjusting for forest carbon exchange improved carbon dioxide results, while methane levels were heavily dependent on emission estimates. Remaining errors were linked to winds and atmospheric mixing.
Elinor C. Tuffnell, Emma Leedham-Elvidge, William T. Sturges, Harald Bönisch, Karina E. Adcock, Paul J. Fraser, Paul B. Krummel, David E. Oram, Ray L. Langenfelds, Thomas Röckmann, Luke M. Western, Jens Mühle, and Johannes C. Laube
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 4583–4599, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-4583-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-4583-2026, 2026
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The greater the stratospheric lifetime of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), the longer they will deplete ozone. This paper investigates four longer-lived CFCs, and discovers two of them have much shorter lifetimes than previously believed. Demonstrating emissions of these compounds are higher than assumed, to account for their abundance. Unusually this paper uses stratospheric whole-air samples, rather than models or lab-based experiments, to derive policy-relevant metrics for these compounds.
Annalisa Delre, Thomas Röckmann, David J. Bonell Fontas, Julia C. Engelmann, and Helge Niemann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1582, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-1582, 2026
Preprint archived
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Estuaries are important natural sources of methane, a greenhouse gas that affects climate. We studied how methane changes along the Scheldt estuary by measuring gas concentrations, carbon isotopes and identification and quantification of methane oxidizing bacteria. We found that methane levels varied strongly and were not mainly controlled by salinity. Most methane escaped to the atmosphere, showing that estuaries may contribute more to climate change than previously thought.
Anna C. Huitema, Vincent S. de Feiter, Raquel González-Armas, Oscar K. Hartogensis, Hella van Asperen, Cleo Quaresma Dias-Júnior, and Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-684, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2026-684, 2026
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We investigated nighttime CO2 exchange within and above the Amazon rainforest canopy using observations from the CloudRoots-Amazon22 campaign. Two atmospheric regimes were identified: a turbulent state, in which CO2 exchange between the within- and above-canopy layers was enhanced, and a calm state, with little turbulence and minimal exchange between the layers. Our results indicate that accounting for these two regimes is essential to reproduce nighttime CO2 dynamics correctly.
Constantina Rousogenous, Christof Petri, Pierre-Yves Quéhé, Thomas Laemmel, Joshua L. Laughner, Maximilien Desservettaz, Michael Pikridas, Michel Ramonet, Efstratios Bourtsoukidis, Matthias Buschmann, Justus Notholt, Thorsten Warneke, Jean-Daniel Paris, Jean Sciare, and Mihalis Vrekoussis
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 19, 565–581, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-565-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-565-2026, 2026
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The Eastern Mediterranean and Middle East is a greenhouse gas emission hotspot but lacks atmospheric monitoring. Our study introduces the first Total Carbon Column Observing Network site in this region, in Cyprus, providing high-precision columnar measurement of key greenhouse gases. This new dataset enhances global climate monitoring efforts, supports the validation of satellites, will help assess regional emission trends, filling a critical observational gap in this climate-sensitive region.
Denghui Ji, Xiaoyu Sun, Christoph Ritter, and Justus Notholt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 19, 421–436, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-421-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-421-2026, 2026
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We have developed a new method that uses machine learning to analyse aerosols by combining different instruments measuring at different wavelengths. This method can identify the composition of these aerosols faster and more accurately. We tested it using ground-based data. Our results show that this method can help monitor air quality and better understand the impact of aerosols on the climate.
Thomas Röckmann, Malika Menoud, Jacoline van Es, Carina van der Veen, Hossein Maazallahi, Pawel Jagoda, Jaroslav M. Necki, Jakub Bartyzel, Piotr Korben, Sara Defratyka, Martina Schmidt, Marius Corbu, Sebastian Iancu, Andreea Calcan, Magdalena Ardelean, Sorin Ghemulet, Cristian Pop, Andrei Radovici, Alexandru Mereuta, Horatiu Stefanie, and Calin Baciu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 723–731, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-723-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-723-2026, 2026
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We report the isotopic composition of CH4 emitted from 48 installations in the gas production region of Transylvania, Romania which confirm the biogenic origin of the Transylvanian gas, produced by hydrogenotrophic CO2 reduction. This is similar to values reported previously from natural seeps and natural gas in a major city in the region. However, is more depleted in heavy isotopes than the oil-associated gas emitted in the Southern Romanian Plain, and gas leakages in the city of Bucharest.
Lisa Ardoin, Catherine Larose, Jean-Louis Tison, Christoph Keuschnig, Vasileios Gkinis, Saïda El Amri, Pierre-Henry Blard, Paul Bierman, Thomas Blunier, Dorthe Dahl-Jensen, Charlotte Maistriau, Jørgen-Peder Steffensen, Thomas Röckmann, and François Fripiat
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6204, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6204, 2026
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We investigated gas dynamics at the ice–bed interface of two Greenland ice cores to assess methane and carbon dioxide behaviour beneath ice sheets. At Camp Century, methane diffuses into the ice and is partly oxidized. At GRIP, methane remains preserved despite oxygen. These contrasts suggest that methane oxidation is controlled by local basal conditions, including ice thickness and substrate availability.
Maximiliano González-Sosa, Carlos A. Sierra, Juan A. Quincke, Walter E. Baethgen, Susan Trumbore, and M. Virginia Pravia
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6451, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-6451, 2026
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Through the analysis and modeling of SOC and isotope (Δ14C and δ13C) data from contrasting treatments in a 60-year agricultural experiment, we found that mineral-associated SOC is highly isolated from recent atmospheric CO₂ inputs, with isolation increasing with soil depth. Integrated crop-pasture rotational systems have not been able to sequester substantial new carbon along the profile, particularly at depth, but they are relevant to preserve the natural carbon legacy of these soils.
Paul Waldmann, Max Eckl, Leon Knez, Klaus-Dirk Gottschaldt, Alina Fiehn, Christian Mallaun, Michał Gałkowski, Christoph Kiemle, Ronald Hutjes, Thomas Röckmann, Huilin Chen, and Anke Roiger
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 19, 185–210, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-185-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-185-2026, 2026
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Nitrous oxide and methane emissions from agriculture need to be reduced, therefore emissions must be understood to effectively mitigate them. This is the first approach to measure those emissions aircraft-based, to assess their magnitude and drivers. We identified emission hotspots and temporal changes in agricultural emissions in the Netherlands. Our approach is applicable to further greenhouse gas emitters, therefore it builds a step towards more comprehensive emission quantification.
Denis Leppla, Stefanie Hildmann, Nora Zannoni, Leslie A. Kremper, Bruna A. Holanda, Jonathan Williams, Christopher Pöhlker, Stefan Wolff, Marta Sà, Maria Christina Solci, Ulrich Pöschl, and Thorsten Hoffmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 26, 365–390, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-365-2026, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-26-365-2026, 2026
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The chemical composition of organic particles in the Amazon rainforest was investigated to understand how biogenic and human emissions influence the atmosphere in this unique ecosystem. Seasonal patterns were found where wet seasons were dominated by biogenic compounds from natural sources while dry seasons showed increased fire-related pollutants. These findings reveal how emissions, fires and long-range transport affect atmospheric chemistry, with implications for climate models.
Sara M. Defratyka, Julianne M. Fernandez, Getachew A. Adnew, Guannan Dong, Peter M. J. Douglas, Daniel L. Eldridge, Giuseppe Etiope, Thomas Giunta, Mojhgan A. Haghnegahdar, Alexander N. Hristov, Nicole Hultquist, Iñaki Vadillo, Josue Jautzy, Ji-Hyun Kim, Jabrane Labidi, Ellen Lalk, Wil Leavitt, Jiawen Li, Li-Hung Lin, Jiarui Liu, Lucía Ojeda, Shuhei Ono, Jeemin H. Rhim, Thomas Röckmann, Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Malavika Sivan, Jiayang Sun, Gregory T. Ventura, David T. Wang, Edward D. Young, Naizhong Zhang, and Tim Arnold
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 6889–6910, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6889-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-6889-2025, 2025
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Measurement of methane’s doubly substituted isotopologues at natural abundances holds promise for better constraining the Earth’s atmospheric CH4 budget. We compiled 1475 measurements from field samples and laboratory experiments, conducted since 2014, to facilitate the differentiation of CH4 formation pathways and processes, to identify existing gaps limiting application of Δ13CH3D and Δ12CH2D2, and to develop isotope ratio source signature inputs for global CH4 flux modelling.
Jonas Hachmeister, Debra Wunch, Erin McGee, Kimberly Strong, Rigel Kivi, Justus Notholt, Thorsten Warneke, and Matthias Buschmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 7105–7128, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-7105-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-7105-2025, 2025
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Methane measurements from the Total Carbon Column Observing Network (TCCON) are important for climate research, especially in the Arctic, where few measurements are available. We show that during early spring systematic errors are present in these data that are correlated to the presence of the polar vortex. These errors occur due to the usage of wrong methane prior shapes in the retrieval and can be alleviated by modifying the prior shape accordingly.
Bibhasvata Dasgupta, Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, Ingeborg Levin, Cordelia Veidt, Heiko Moossen, Sylvia Englund Michel, Peter Sperlich, Shinji Morimoto, Ryo Fujita, Taku Umezawa, Stephen Platt, Christine Groot Zwaaftink, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Rebecca Fisher, David Lowry, Euan G. Nisbet, James France, Ceres Woolley Maisch, Gordon Brailsford, Rowena Moss, Daisuke Goto, Sudhanshu Pandey, Sander Houweling, Nicola Warwick, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6591–6607, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6591-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6591-2025, 2025
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We combined long-term methane mole fraction and isotope measurements from eight laboratories that sample high-latitude stations to compare, offset correct and harmonise the datasets into a hemisphere merged timeseries. Because each laboratory uses slightly different methods, we adjusted the data to make it directly comparable. This allowed us to create a consistent record of atmospheric methane concentration and its isotopes from 1988 to 2023.
Carlos A. Sierra, Ingrid Chanca, Meinrat O. Andreae, Alessandro Carioca de Araújo, Hella van Asperen, Lars Borchardt, Santiago Botía, Luiz Antonio Candido, Caio S. C. Correa, Cléo Quaresma Dias-Junior, Markus Eritt, Annica Fröhlich, Luciana V. Gatti, Marcus Guderle, Samuel Hammer, Martin Heimann, Viviana Horna, Armin Jordan, Steffen Knabe, Richard Kneißl, Jost Valentin Lavric, Ingeborg Levin, Kita Macario, Juliana Menger, Heiko Moossen, Carlos Alberto Quesada, Michael Rothe, Christian Rödenbeck, Yago Santos, Axel Steinhof, Bruno Takeshi, Susan Trumbore, and Sönke Zaehle
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 17, 5871–5884, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5871-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-17-5871-2025, 2025
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We present here a unique dataset of atmospheric observations of greenhouse gases and isotopes that provide key information on land-atmosphere interactions for the Amazon forests of central Brazil. The data show a relatively large level of variability, but also important trends in greenhouse gases, and signals from fires as well as seasonal biological activity.
Andrew Gerald Barr, Jochen Landgraf, Mari Martinez-Velarte, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Ralf Sussmann, Isamu Morino, Kimberly Strong, Minqiang Zhou, Voltaire A. Velazco, Hirofumi Ohyama, Thorsten Warneke, Frank Hase, and Tobias Borsdorff
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 6093–6123, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6093-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-6093-2025, 2025
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The Greenhouse Gases Observing Satellite-2 (GOSAT-2) is a satellite dedicated to measuring concentrations of greenhouse gases from space. Since its launch, the increase of CH4 and CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere is clear. The datasets obtained from GOSAT-2 are used in the Copernicus atmospheric services to monitor the climate, in light of the Paris Agreement. Here we present robust datasets of these gases from GOSAT-2, including a novel machine learning approach to data quality filtering.
Denghui Ji, Christoph Ritter, Xiaoyu Sun, Manuel Moser, Christiane Voigt, Mathias Palm, and Justus Notholt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 13037–13052, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13037-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-13037-2025, 2025
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We discovered a process where large aerosols help small water droplets in Arctic clouds grow, even when conditions normally favor ice. Unlike the traditional view, this process may explain how liquid and ice can coexist in cold clouds. Based on theory and aircraft data, our findings provide new insight into the microphysics of mixed-phase clouds, which could improve understanding of how Arctic clouds affect climate.
Sophie L. Baartman, Steven M. Driever, Maarten L. J. Wassenaar, Linda M. J. Kooijmans, Nerea Ubierna, Leon Mossink, Maria E. Popa, Ara Cho, Lisa Wingate, Thomas Röckmann, Steven M. A. C. van Heuven, and Maarten C. Krol
Biogeosciences, 22, 5683–5703, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5683-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-5683-2025, 2025
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Carbonyl sulfide (COS) is a proposed tracer for gross primary production. For the first time, COS and carbon dioxide (CO2) uptake fluxes and isotope discrimination were jointly measured in sunflower and papyrus plants, using a flow-through plant chamber approach and varying light availability. COS isotope discrimination did not differ significantly between the species, nor with changes in light. CO2 fluxes and isotope values provided additional valuable information for data interpretation.
Robbert P. J. Moonen, Getachew A. Adnew, Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, Oscar K. Hartogensis, David J. Bonell Fontas, Shujiro Komiya, Sam P. Jones, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 12197–12212, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12197-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-12197-2025, 2025
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Understory ejections are distinct turbulent features emerging in prime tall-forest ecosystems. We share a method to isolate understory ejections based on H2O–CO2 anomaly quadrants. From these, we calculate the flux contributions of understory ejections and all flux quadrants. In addition, we show that a distinctly depleted isotopic composition can be found in the ejected water vapour. Finally, we explored the role of clouds as a potential trigger for understory ejections.
Roeland Van Malderen, Zhou Zang, Kai-Lan Chang, Robin Björklund, Owen R. Cooper, Jane Liu, Eliane Maillard Barras, Corinne Vigouroux, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Thierry Leblanc, Valérie Thouret, Pawel Wolff, Peter Effertz, Audrey Gaudel, David W. Tarasick, Herman G. J. Smit, Anne M. Thompson, Ryan M. Stauffer, Debra E. Kollonige, Deniz Poyraz, Gérard Ancellet, Marie-Renée De Backer, Matthias M. Frey, James W. Hannigan, José L. Hernandez, Bryan J. Johnson, Nicholas Jones, Rigel Kivi, Emmanuel Mahieu, Isamu Morino, Glen McConville, Katrin Müller, Isao Murata, Justus Notholt, Ankie Piters, Maxime Prignon, Richard Querel, Vincenzo Rizi, Dan Smale, Wolfgang Steinbrecht, Kimberly Strong, and Ralf Sussmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 9905–9935, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-9905-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-9905-2025, 2025
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Tropospheric ozone is an important greenhouse gas and an air pollutant whose distribution and time variability are mainly governed by anthropogenic emissions and dynamics. In this paper, we assess regional trends of tropospheric ozone column amounts, based on two different approaches of merging or synthesizing ground-based observations and their trends within specific regions. Our findings clearly demonstrate regional trend differences but also consistently higher pre-COVID than post-COVID trends.
Lukas Heizmann, Mathias Palm, Justus Notholt, and Matthias Buschmann
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3691, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2025-3691, 2025
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Fourier transform infrared emission spectroscopy measures the infrared radiation originating from the thermal emission of the atmosphere. The measured interferograms are transformed into spectra via Fourier transformation. The established method for calibration is strictly speaking only valid for infinitely long interferograms. We quantify the errors caused by this idealization in a case study and find that they are generally below 0.05 % in spectral regions that are of interest for retrievals.
Judith Tettenborn, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Daan Stroeken, Hossein Maazallahi, Carina van der Veen, Arjan Hensen, Ilona Velzeboer, Pim van den Bulk, Felix Vogel, Lawson Gillespie, Sebastien Ars, James France, David Lowry, Rebecca Fisher, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 3569–3584, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3569-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-3569-2025, 2025
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Measurements of methane with vehicle-based sensors are an effective method to identify and quantify leaks from urban gas distribution systems. We deliberately released methane in different environments and calibrated the response of different methane analysers when they transected the plumes in a vehicle. We derived an improved statistical function for consistent emission estimations using different instruments. Repeated transects reduce the uncertainty in emission rate estimates.
Aki Tsuruta, Akihiko Kuze, Kei Shiomi, Fumie Kataoka, Nobuhiro Kikuchi, Tuula Aalto, Leif Backman, Ella Kivimäki, Maria K. Tenkanen, Kathryn McKain, Omaira E. García, Frank Hase, Rigel Kivi, Isamu Morino, Hirofumi Ohyama, David F. Pollard, Mahesh K. Sha, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Te, Voltaire A. Velazco, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Thorsten Warneke, Minqiang Zhou, and Hiroshi Suto
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7829–7862, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7829-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7829-2025, 2025
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Satellite data bring invaluable information about greenhouse gas emissions globally. We found that a new type of data from the Greenhouse Gas Observing Satellite (GOSAT), which contains information about methane in the lowest layer of Earth's atmosphere, could provide reliable estimates of recent methane emissions when combined with atmospheric modelling. Therefore, the use of such data is encouraged to improve emission quantification methods and advance our understanding of methane cycles.
Roeland Van Malderen, Anne M. Thompson, Debra E. Kollonige, Ryan M. Stauffer, Herman G. J. Smit, Eliane Maillard Barras, Corinne Vigouroux, Irina Petropavlovskikh, Thierry Leblanc, Valérie Thouret, Pawel Wolff, Peter Effertz, David W. Tarasick, Deniz Poyraz, Gérard Ancellet, Marie-Renée De Backer, Stéphanie Evan, Victoria Flood, Matthias M. Frey, James W. Hannigan, José L. Hernandez, Marco Iarlori, Bryan J. Johnson, Nicholas Jones, Rigel Kivi, Emmanuel Mahieu, Glen McConville, Katrin Müller, Tomoo Nagahama, Justus Notholt, Ankie Piters, Natalia Prats, Richard Querel, Dan Smale, Wolfgang Steinbrecht, Kimberly Strong, and Ralf Sussmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 7187–7225, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7187-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-7187-2025, 2025
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Tropospheric ozone is an important greenhouse gas and is an air pollutant. The time variability of tropospheric ozone is mainly driven by anthropogenic emissions. In this paper, we study the distribution and time variability of ozone from harmonized ground-based observations from five different measurement techniques. Our findings provide clear standard references for atmospheric models and evolving tropospheric ozone satellite data for the 2000–2022 period.
Xiaoyu Sun, Katrin Müller, Mathias Palm, Christoph Ritter, Denghui Ji, Tim Balthasar Röpke, and Justus Notholt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 6881–6902, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6881-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-6881-2025, 2025
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We studied how air moves from the lower atmosphere to the stratosphere over the tropical western Pacific. Using observations and air tracking, we found that, in winter, air ascends and cold temperatures freeze water out, drying it before it enters the stratosphere. In summer, air tends to sink after cloud formation. This process affects water vapor amounts in the stratosphere, influencing the greenhouse effect and climate.
Getachew Agmuas Adnew, Gerbrand Koren, Neha Mehendale, Sergey Gromov, Maarten Krol, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 2701–2719, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2701-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-2701-2025, 2025
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This study presents high-precision measurements of ∆′17O(CO2). Key findings include the extension of the N2O–∆′17O correlation to the upper troposphere and the identification of significant differences in the N2O–∆′17O slope in StratoClim samples. Additionally, the ∆′17O measurements are used to estimate global stratospheric production and surface removal of ∆′17O, providing an independent estimate of global vegetation CO2 exchange.
Gerrit Kuhlmann, Foteini Stavropoulou, Stefan Schwietzke, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Andrew Thorpe, Andreas Hueni, Lukas Emmenegger, Andreea Calcan, Thomas Röckmann, and Dominik Brunner
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 5371–5385, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5371-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-5371-2025, 2025
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A measurement campaign in 2019 found that methane emissions from oil and gas in Romania were significantly higher than reported. In 2021, our follow-up campaign using airborne remote sensing showed a marked decreases in emissions by 20 %–60 % due to improved infrastructure. The study highlights the importance of measurement-based emission monitoring and illustrates the value of a multi-scale assessment integrating ground-based observations with large-scale airborne remote sensing campaigns.
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 L. Baartman, Carina van der Veen, Maria Elena Popa, and Andreas Engel
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 4333–4348, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4333-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-4333-2025, 2025
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A balloon was launched in 2021 in the Arctic to carry instruments for trace gas 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 samples were 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.
Denghui Ji, Mathias Palm, Matthias Buschmann, Kerstin Ebell, Marion Maturilli, Xiaoyu Sun, and Justus Notholt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 3889–3904, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3889-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-3889-2025, 2025
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Our study explores how certain aerosols, like sea salt, affect infrared heat radiation in the Arctic, potentially speeding up warming. We used advanced technology to measure aerosol composition and found that these particles grow with humidity, significantly increasing their heat-trapping effect in the infrared region, especially in winter. Our findings suggest these aerosols could be a key factor in Arctic warming, emphasizing the importance of understanding aerosols for climate prediction.
Frank Hase, Paolo Castracane, Angelika Dehn, Omaira Elena García, David W. T. Griffith, Lukas Heizmann, Nicholas B. Jones, Tomi Karppinen, Rigel Kivi, Martine de Mazière, Justus Notholt, and Mahesh Kumar Sha
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1257–1267, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1257-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1257-2025, 2025
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The primary measurement result delivered by a Fourier transform spectrometer is an interferogram, and the spectrum required for further analysis needs to be calculated from the interferogram by Fourier analysis. The paper deals with technical aspects of this process and shows how the reconstruction of the spectrum can be optimized.
Jamal Makkor, Mathias Palm, Matthias Buschmann, Emmanuel Mahieu, Martyn P. Chipperfield, and Justus Notholt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 1105–1114, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1105-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-1105-2025, 2025
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During the years 1950 and 1951, Marcel Migeotte took regular solar measurements in the form of paper rolls at the Jungfraujoch site. These historical spectra proved to be valuable for atmospheric research and needed to be saved for posterity. Therefore, a digitization method which used image-processing techniques was developed to extract them from the historical paper rolls. This allowed them to be saved in a machine-readable format that is easily accessible to the scientific community.
Hossein Maazallahi, Foteini Stavropoulou, Samuel Jonson Sutanto, Michael Steiner, Dominik Brunner, Mariano Mertens, Patrick Jöckel, Antoon Visschedijk, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Stijn Dellaert, Nataly Velandia Salinas, Stefan Schwietzke, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Sorin Ghemulet, Alexandru Pana, Magdalena Ardelean, Marius Corbu, Andreea Calcan, Stephen A. Conley, Mackenzie L. Smith, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 25, 1497–1511, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1497-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-1497-2025, 2025
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This article presents insights from airborne in situ measurements collected during the ROmanian Methane Emissions from Oil and gas (ROMEO) campaign supported by two models. Results reveal Romania's oil and gas methane emissions were significantly under-reported to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 2019. A large underestimation was also found in the Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) v7.0 for the study domain in the same year.
Ingrid Chanca, Ingeborg Levin, Susan Trumbore, Kita Macario, Jost Lavric, Carlos Alberto Quesada, Alessandro Carioca de Araújo, Cléo Quaresma Dias Júnior, Hella van Asperen, Samuel Hammer, and Carlos A. Sierra
Biogeosciences, 22, 455–472, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-455-2025, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-22-455-2025, 2025
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Assessing the net carbon (C) budget of the Amazon entails considering the magnitude and timing of C absorption and losses through respiration (transit time of C). Radiocarbon-based estimates of the transit time of C in the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory (ATTO) suggest a change in the transit time from 6 ± 2 years and 18 ± 4 years within 2 years (October 2019 and December 2021, respectively). This variability indicates that only a fraction of newly fixed C can be stored for decades or longer.
Luciano Emmert, Susan Trumbore, Joaquim dos Santos, Adriano Lima, Niro Higuchi, Robinson Negrón-Juárez, Cléo Dias-Júnior, Tarek El-Madany, Olaf Kolle, Gabriel Ribeiro, and Daniel Marra
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3234, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3234, 2024
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For the first time, we documented wind gusts with the potential to damage trees in a forest in the Central Amazon. We used meteorological data collected at crown height over 24 months. We recorded 424 gusts, which occur more frequently and intensely in higher elevated areas and during the transition from the dry to the wet season. More intense rains showed the strongest relationship with extreme winds, highlighting the role of extreme events in tree mortality.
Akima Ringsdorf, Achim Edtbauer, Bruna Holanda, Christopher Poehlker, Marta O. Sá, Alessandro Araújo, Jürgen Kesselmeier, Jos Lelieveld, and Jonathan Williams
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 11883–11910, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11883-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-11883-2024, 2024
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We show the average height distribution of separately observed aldehydes and ketones over a day and discuss their rainforest-specific sources and sinks as well as their seasonal changes above the Amazon. Ketones have much longer atmospheric lifetimes than aldehydes and thus different implications for atmospheric chemistry. However, they are commonly observed together, which we overcome by measuring with a NO+ chemical ionization mass spectrometer for the first time in the Amazon rainforest.
Henk Eskes, Athanasios Tsikerdekis, Melanie Ades, Mihai Alexe, Anna Carlin Benedictow, Yasmine Bennouna, Lewis Blake, Idir Bouarar, Simon Chabrillat, Richard Engelen, Quentin Errera, Johannes Flemming, Sebastien Garrigues, Jan Griesfeller, Vincent Huijnen, Luka Ilić, Antje Inness, John Kapsomenakis, Zak Kipling, Bavo Langerock, Augustin Mortier, Mark Parrington, Isabelle Pison, Mikko Pitkänen, Samuel Remy, Andreas Richter, Anja Schoenhardt, Michael Schulz, Valerie Thouret, Thorsten Warneke, Christos Zerefos, and Vincent-Henri Peuch
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 9475–9514, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9475-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-9475-2024, 2024
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The Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) provides global analyses and forecasts of aerosols and trace gases in the atmosphere. On 27 June 2023 a major upgrade, Cy48R1, became operational. Comparisons with in situ, surface remote sensing, aircraft, and balloon and satellite observations show that the new CAMS system is a significant improvement. The results quantify the skill of CAMS to forecast impactful events, such as wildfires, dust storms and air pollution peaks.
Luiz A. T. Machado, Jürgen Kesselmeier, Santiago Botía, Hella van Asperen, Meinrat O. Andreae, Alessandro C. de Araújo, Paulo Artaxo, Achim Edtbauer, Rosaria R. Ferreira, Marco A. Franco, Hartwig Harder, Sam P. Jones, Cléo Q. Dias-Júnior, Guido G. Haytzmann, Carlos A. Quesada, Shujiro Komiya, Jost Lavric, Jos Lelieveld, Ingeborg Levin, Anke Nölscher, Eva Pfannerstill, Mira L. Pöhlker, Ulrich Pöschl, Akima Ringsdorf, Luciana Rizzo, Ana M. Yáñez-Serrano, Susan Trumbore, Wanda I. D. Valenti, Jordi Vila-Guerau de Arellano, David Walter, Jonathan Williams, Stefan Wolff, and Christopher Pöhlker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 8893–8910, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8893-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-8893-2024, 2024
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Composite analysis of gas concentration before and after rainfall, during the day and night, gives insight into the complex relationship between trace gas variability and precipitation. The analysis helps us to understand the sources and sinks of trace gases within a forest ecosystem. It elucidates processes that are not discernible under undisturbed conditions and contributes to a deeper understanding of the trace gas life cycle and its intricate interactions with cloud dynamics in the Amazon.
Maximiliano González-Sosa, Carlos A. Sierra, J. Andrés Quincke, Walter E. Baethgen, Susan Trumbore, and M. Virginia Pravia
SOIL, 10, 467–486, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-467-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/soil-10-467-2024, 2024
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Based on an approach that involved soil organic carbon (SOC) monitoring, radiocarbon measurement in bulk soil, and incubations from a long-term 60-year experiment, it was concluded that the avoidance of old carbon losses in the integrated crop–pasture systems is the main reason that explains their greater carbon storage capacities compared to continuous cropping. A better understanding of these processes is essential for making agronomic decisions to increase the carbon sequestration capacity.
Jin Ma, Linda M. J. Kooijmans, Norbert Glatthor, Stephen A. Montzka, Marc von Hobe, Thomas Röckmann, and Maarten C. Krol
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 6047–6070, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6047-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-6047-2024, 2024
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The global budget of atmospheric COS can be optimised by inverse modelling using TM5-4DVAR, with the co-constraints of NOAA surface observations and MIPAS satellite data. We found reduced COS biosphere uptake from inversions and improved land and ocean separation using MIPAS satellite data assimilation. Further improvements are expected from better quantification of COS ocean and biosphere fluxes.
Katrine A. Gorham, Sam Abernethy, Tyler R. Jones, Peter Hess, Natalie M. Mahowald, Daphne Meidan, Matthew S. Johnson, Maarten M. J. W. van Herpen, Yangyang Xu, Alfonso Saiz-Lopez, Thomas Röckmann, Chloe A. Brashear, Erika Reinhardt, and David Mann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 5659–5670, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5659-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-5659-2024, 2024
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Rapid reduction in atmospheric methane is needed to slow the rate of global warming. Reducing anthropogenic methane emissions is a top priority. However, atmospheric methane is also impacted by rising natural emissions and changing sinks. Studies of possible atmospheric methane removal approaches, such as iron salt aerosols to increase the chlorine radical sink, benefit from a roadmapped approach to understand if there may be viable and socially acceptable ways to decrease future risk.
Malavika Sivan, Thomas Röckmann, Carina van der Veen, and Maria Elena Popa
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 17, 2687–2705, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2687-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-17-2687-2024, 2024
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We have set up a measurement system for methane-clumped isotopologues. We have built an extraction and purification system to extract pure methane for these measurements, for samples of various origins, including atmospheric air, for which we need to process about 1000 L of air for one measurement. We report here the technical setup for extraction and measurements, as well as the calibration, and we give an overview of the samples measured so far.
Joshua L. Laughner, Geoffrey C. Toon, Joseph Mendonca, Christof Petri, Sébastien Roche, Debra Wunch, Jean-Francois Blavier, David W. T. Griffith, Pauli Heikkinen, Ralph F. Keeling, Matthäus Kiel, Rigel Kivi, Coleen M. Roehl, Britton B. Stephens, Bianca C. Baier, Huilin Chen, Yonghoon Choi, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Joshua P. DiGangi, Jochen Gross, Benedikt Herkommer, Pascal Jeseck, Thomas Laemmel, Xin Lan, Erin McGee, Kathryn McKain, John Miller, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Hirofumi Ohyama, David F. Pollard, Markus Rettinger, Haris Riris, Constantina Rousogenous, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Kei Shiomi, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Voltaire A. Velazco, Steven C. Wofsy, Minqiang Zhou, and Paul O. Wennberg
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 16, 2197–2260, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2197-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-16-2197-2024, 2024
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This paper describes a new version, called GGG2020, of a data set containing column-integrated observations of greenhouse and related gases (including CO2, CH4, CO, and N2O) made by ground stations located around the world. Compared to the previous version (GGG2014), improvements have been made toward site-to-site consistency. This data set plays a key role in validating space-based greenhouse gas observations and in understanding the carbon cycle.
Alexandra Klemme, Thorsten Warneke, Heinrich Bovensmann, Matthias Weigelt, Jürgen Müller, Tim Rixen, Justus Notholt, and Claus Lämmerzahl
Hydrol. Earth Syst. Sci., 28, 1527–1538, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1527-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/hess-28-1527-2024, 2024
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Satellite data help estimate groundwater depletion, but earlier assessments missed mass loss from river sediment. In the Ganges–Brahmaputra–Meghna (GBM) river system, sediment accounts for 4 % of the depletion. Correcting for sediment in the GBM mountains reduces estimated depletion by 14 %. It's important to note that the Himalayas' uplift may offset some sediment-induced mass loss. This understanding is vital for accurate water storage trend assessments and sustainable groundwater management.
Jean-François Müller, Trissevgeni Stavrakou, Glenn-Michael Oomen, Beata Opacka, Isabelle De Smedt, Alex Guenther, Corinne Vigouroux, Bavo Langerock, Carlos Augusto Bauer Aquino, Michel Grutter, James Hannigan, Frank Hase, Rigel Kivi, Erik Lutsch, Emmanuel Mahieu, Maria Makarova, Jean-Marc Metzger, Isamu Morino, Isao Murata, Tomoo Nagahama, Justus Notholt, Ivan Ortega, Mathias Palm, Amelie Röhling, Wolfgang Stremme, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, and Alan Fried
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2207–2237, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2207-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2207-2024, 2024
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Formaldehyde observations from satellites can be used to constrain the emissions of volatile organic compounds, but those observations have biases. Using an atmospheric model, aircraft and ground-based remote sensing data, we quantify these biases, propose a correction to the data, and assess the consequence of this correction for the evaluation of emissions.
Katrin Müller, Jordis S. Tradowsky, Peter von der Gathen, Christoph Ritter, Sharon Patris, Justus Notholt, and Markus Rex
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 2169–2193, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2169-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-2169-2024, 2024
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The Palau Atmospheric Observatory is introduced as an ideal site to detect changes in atmospheric composition and dynamics above the remote tropical western Pacific. We focus on the ozone sounding program from 2016–2021, including El Niño 2016. The year-round high convective activity is reflected in dominant low tropospheric ozone and high relative humidity. Their seasonal distributions are unique compared to other tropical sites and are modulated by the Intertropical Convergence Zone.
Victoria A. Flood, Kimberly Strong, Cynthia H. Whaley, Kaley A. Walker, Thomas Blumenstock, James W. Hannigan, Johan Mellqvist, Justus Notholt, Mathias Palm, Amelie N. Röhling, Stephen Arnold, Stephen Beagley, Rong-You Chien, Jesper Christensen, Makoto Deushi, Srdjan Dobricic, Xinyi Dong, Joshua S. Fu, Michael Gauss, Wanmin Gong, Joakim Langner, Kathy S. Law, Louis Marelle, Tatsuo Onishi, Naga Oshima, David A. Plummer, Luca Pozzoli, Jean-Christophe Raut, Manu A. Thomas, Svetlana Tsyro, and Steven Turnock
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 1079–1118, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1079-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-1079-2024, 2024
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It is important to understand the composition of the Arctic atmosphere and how it is changing. Atmospheric models provide simulations that can inform policy. This study examines simulations of CH4, CO, and O3 by 11 models. Model performance is assessed by comparing results matched in space and time to measurements from five high-latitude ground-based infrared spectrometers. This work finds that models generally underpredict the concentrations of these gases in the Arctic troposphere.
Jonas Hachmeister, Oliver Schneising, Michael Buchwitz, John P. Burrows, Justus Notholt, and Matthias Buschmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 24, 577–595, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-577-2024, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-24-577-2024, 2024
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We quantified changes in atmospheric methane concentrations using satellite data and a dynamic linear model approach. We calculated global annual methane increases for the years 2019–2022, which are in good agreement with other sources. For zonal methane growth rates, we identified strong inter-hemispheric differences in 2019 and 2022. For 2022, we could attribute decreases in the global growth rate to the Northern Hemisphere, possibly related to a reduction in anthropogenic emissions.
Alina Fiehn, Maximilian Eckl, Julian Kostinek, Michał Gałkowski, Christoph Gerbig, Michael Rothe, Thomas Röckmann, Malika Menoud, Hossein Maazallahi, Martina Schmidt, Piotr Korbeń, Jarosław Neçki, Mila Stanisavljević, Justyna Swolkień, Andreas Fix, and Anke Roiger
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 15749–15765, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15749-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-15749-2023, 2023
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During the CoMet mission in the Upper Silesian Coal Basin (USCB) ground-based and airborne air samples were taken and analyzed for the isotopic composition of CH4 to derive the mean signature of the USCB and source signatures of individual coal mines. Using δ2H signatures, the biogenic emissions from the USCB account for 15 %–50 % of total emissions, which is underestimated in common emission inventories. This demonstrates the importance of δ2H-CH4 observations for methane source apportionment.
Robbert P. J. Moonen, Getachew A. Adnew, Oscar K. Hartogensis, Jordi Vilà-Guerau de Arellano, David J. Bonell Fontas, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5787–5810, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5787-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5787-2023, 2023
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Isotope fluxes allow for net ecosystem gas exchange fluxes to be partitioned into sub-components like plant assimilation, respiration and transpiration, which can help us better understand the environmental drivers of each partial flux. We share the results of a field campaign isotope fluxes were derived using a combination of laser spectroscopy and eddy covariance. We found lag times and high frequency signal loss in the isotope fluxes we derived and present methods to correct for both.
Minqiang Zhou, Bavo Langerock, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Christian Hermans, Nicolas Kumps, Rigel Kivi, Pauli Heikkinen, Christof Petri, Justus Notholt, Huilin Chen, and Martine De Mazière
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5593–5608, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5593-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5593-2023, 2023
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Atmospheric N2O and CH4 columns are successfully retrieved from low-resolution FTIR spectra recorded by a Bruker VERTEX 70. The 1-year measurements at Sodankylä show that the N2O total columns retrieved from 125HR and VERTEX 70 spectra are −0.3 ± 0.7 % with an R value of 0.93. The relative differences between the CH4 total columns retrieved from the 125HR and VERTEX spectra are 0.0 ± 0.8 % with an R value of 0.87. Such a technique can help to fill the gap in NDACC N2O and CH4 measurements.
Leonard Kirago, Örjan Gustafsson, Samuel Mwaniki Gaita, Sophie L. Haslett, Michael J. Gatari, Maria Elena Popa, Thomas Röckmann, Christoph Zellweger, Martin Steinbacher, Jörg Klausen, Christian Félix, David Njiru, and August Andersson
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 14349–14357, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14349-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-14349-2023, 2023
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This study provides ground-observational evidence that supports earlier suggestions that savanna fires are the main emitters and modulators of carbon monoxide gas in Africa. Using isotope-based techniques, the study has shown that about two-thirds of this gas is emitted from savanna fires, while for urban areas, in this case Nairobi, primary sources approach 100 %. The latter has implications for air quality policy, suggesting primary emissions such as traffic should be targeted.
Hossein Maazallahi, Antonio Delre, Charlotte Scheutz, Anders M. Fredenslund, Stefan Schwietzke, Hugo Denier van der Gon, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 5051–5073, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5051-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-5051-2023, 2023
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Measurement methods are increasingly deployed to verify reported methane emissions of gas leaks. This study describes unique advantages and limitations of three methods. Two methods are rapidly deployed, but uncertainties and biases exist for some leak locations. In contrast, the suction method could accurately determine leak rates in principle. However, this method, which provides data for the German emission inventory, creates an overall low bias in our study due to non-random site selection.
Tim René de Groot, Anne Margriet Mol, Katherine Mesdag, Pierre Ramond, Rachel Ndhlovu, Julia Catherine Engelmann, Thomas Röckmann, and Helge Niemann
Biogeosciences, 20, 3857–3872, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3857-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3857-2023, 2023
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This study investigates methane dynamics in the Wadden Sea. Our measurements revealed distinct variations triggered by seasonality and tidal forcing. The methane budget was higher in warmer seasons but surprisingly high in colder seasons. Methane dynamics were amplified during low tides, flushing the majority of methane into the North Sea or releasing it to the atmosphere. Methanotrophic activity was also elevated during low tide but mitigated only a small fraction of the methane efflux.
Foteini Stavropoulou, Katarina Vinković, Bert Kers, Marcel de Vries, Steven van Heuven, Piotr Korbeń, Martina Schmidt, Julia Wietzel, Pawel Jagoda, Jaroslav M. Necki, Jakub Bartyzel, Hossein Maazallahi, Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, Sylvia Walter, Béla Tuzson, Jonas Ravelid, Randulph Paulo Morales, Lukas Emmenegger, Dominik Brunner, Michael Steiner, Arjan Hensen, Ilona Velzeboer, Pim van den Bulk, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Antonio Delre, Maklawe Essonanawe Edjabou, Charlotte Scheutz, Marius Corbu, Sebastian Iancu, Denisa Moaca, Alin Scarlat, Alexandru Tudor, Ioana Vizireanu, Andreea Calcan, Magdalena Ardelean, Sorin Ghemulet, Alexandru Pana, Aurel Constantinescu, Lucian Cusa, Alexandru Nica, Calin Baciu, Cristian Pop, Andrei Radovici, Alexandru Mereuta, Horatiu Stefanie, Alexandru Dandocsi, Bas Hermans, Stefan Schwietzke, Daniel Zavala-Araiza, Huilin Chen, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 10399–10412, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10399-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-10399-2023, 2023
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In this study, we quantify CH4 emissions from onshore oil production sites in Romania at source and facility level using a combination of ground- and drone-based measurement techniques. We show that the total CH4 emissions in our studied areas are much higher than the emissions reported to UNFCCC, and up to three-quarters of the detected emissions are related to operational venting. Our results suggest that oil and gas production infrastructure in Romania holds a massive mitigation potential.
Adriana Simonetti, Raquel Fernandes Araujo, Carlos Henrique Souza Celes, Flávia Ranara da Silva e Silva, Joaquim dos Santos, Niro Higuchi, Susan Trumbore, and Daniel Magnabosco Marra
Biogeosciences, 20, 3651–3666, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3651-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3651-2023, 2023
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We combined 2 years of monthly drone-acquired RGB (red–green–blue) imagery with field surveys in a central Amazon forest. Our results indicate that small gaps associated with branch fall were the most frequent. Biomass losses were partially controlled by gap area, with branch fall and snapping contributing the least and greatest relative values, respectively. Our study highlights the potential of drone images for monitoring canopy dynamics in dense tropical forests.
Rafaella Chiarella, Matthias Buschmann, Joshua Laughner, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Christof Petri, Geoffrey Toon, Voltaire A. Velazco, and Thorsten Warneke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 3987–4007, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3987-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-3987-2023, 2023
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The goal is to establish a window and strategy for xCO2 retrieval from ground-based Fourier transform spectrometers for NDACC. In the study we describe the spectroscopy of the region, the locations and instruments used, and the methods of calculating the retrieved xCO2. We performed tests to assess the sensitivity to diverse factors and sources of errors while comparing the retrieval to a well-established xCO2 retrieval from TCCON.
Amelie U. Schmitt, Felix Ament, Alessandro C. de Araújo, Marta Sá, and Paulo Teixeira
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 9323–9346, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9323-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-9323-2023, 2023
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Tall vegetation in forests affects the exchange of heat and moisture between the atmosphere and the land surface. We compared measurements from the Amazon Tall Tower Observatory to results from a land surface model to identify model shortcomings. Our results suggest that soil temperatures in the model could be improved by incorporating a separate canopy layer which represents the heat storage within the forest.
Shane W. Stoner, Marion Schrumpf, Alison Hoyt, Carlos A. Sierra, Sebastian Doetterl, Valier Galy, and Susan Trumbore
Biogeosciences, 20, 3151–3163, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3151-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-20-3151-2023, 2023
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Soils store more carbon (C) than any other terrestrial C reservoir, but the processes that control how much C stays in soil, and for how long, are very complex. Here, we used a recent method that involves heating soil in the lab to measure the range of C ages in soil. We found that most C in soil is decades to centuries old, while some stays for much shorter times (days to months), and some is thousands of years old. Such detail helps us to estimate how soil C may react to changing climate.
Xiaoyu Sun, Mathias Palm, Katrin Müller, Jonas Hachmeister, and Justus Notholt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 7075–7090, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7075-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-7075-2023, 2023
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The tropical western Pacific (TWP) is an active interhemispheric transport region contributing significantly to the global climate. A method to determine the chemical equator was developed by model simulations of a virtual passive tracer to analyze transport in the tropics, with a focus on the TWP region. We compare the chemical equator with tropical rain belts and wind fields and obtain a vertical pattern of interhemispheric transport processes which shows tilt structure in certain seasons.
Andreas Forstmaier, Jia Chen, Florian Dietrich, Juan Bettinelli, Hossein Maazallahi, Carsten Schneider, Dominik Winkler, Xinxu Zhao, Taylor Jones, Carina van der Veen, Norman Wildmann, Moritz Makowski, Aydin Uzun, Friedrich Klappenbach, Hugo Denier van der Gon, Stefan Schwietzke, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 6897–6922, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6897-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-6897-2023, 2023
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Large cities emit greenhouse gases which contribute to global warming. In this study, we measured the release of one important green house gas, methane, in Hamburg. Multiple sources that contribute to methane emissions were located and quantified. Methane sources were found to be mainly caused by human activity (e.g., by release from oil and gas refineries). Moreover, potential natural sources have been located, such as the Elbe River and lakes.
Yifan Guan, Gretchen Keppel-Aleks, Scott C. Doney, Christof Petri, Dave Pollard, Debra Wunch, Frank Hase, Hirofumi Ohyama, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Kei Shiomi, Kim Strong, Rigel Kivi, Matthias Buschmann, Nicholas Deutscher, Paul Wennberg, Ralf Sussmann, Voltaire A. Velazco, and Yao Té
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5355–5372, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5355-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5355-2023, 2023
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We characterize spatial–temporal patterns of interannual variability (IAV) in atmospheric CO2 based on NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2). CO2 variation is strongly impacted by climate events, with higher anomalies during El Nino years. We show high correlation in IAV between space-based and ground-based CO2 from long-term sites. Because OCO-2 has near-global coverage, our paper provides a roadmap to study IAV where in situ observation is sparse, such as open oceans and remote lands.
Truls Andersen, Zhao Zhao, Marcel de Vries, Jaroslaw Necki, Justyna Swolkien, Malika Menoud, Thomas Röckmann, Anke Roiger, Andreas Fix, Wouter Peters, and Huilin Chen
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 5191–5216, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5191-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-5191-2023, 2023
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The Upper Silesian Coal Basin, Poland, is one of the hot spots of methane emissions in Europe. Using an uncrewed aerial vehicle (UAV), we performed atmospheric measurements of methane concentrations downwind of five ventilation shafts in this region and determined the emission rates from the individual shafts. We found a strong correlation between quantified shaft-averaged emission rates and hourly inventory data, which also allows us to estimate the methane emissions from the entire region.
Antonio G. Bruno, Jeremy J. Harrison, Martyn P. Chipperfield, David P. Moore, Richard J. Pope, Christopher Wilson, Emmanuel Mahieu, and Justus Notholt
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 4849–4861, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4849-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-4849-2023, 2023
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A 3-D chemical transport model, TOMCAT; satellite data; and ground-based observations have been used to investigate hydrogen cyanide (HCN) variability. We found that the oxidation by O(1D) drives the HCN loss in the middle stratosphere and the currently JPL-recommended OH reaction rate overestimates HCN atmospheric loss. We also evaluated two different ocean uptake schemes. We found them to be unrealistic, and we need to scale these schemes to obtain good agreement with HCN observations.
Denghui Ji, Mathias Palm, Christoph Ritter, Philipp Richter, Xiaoyu Sun, Matthias Buschmann, and Justus Notholt
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 16, 1865–1879, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1865-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-16-1865-2023, 2023
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To measuring aerosol components, a Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIS) and a lidar are operated in Ny-Ålesund, Spitsbergen (78° N, 11° E). Using the FTIS, a retrieval algorithm is developed for dust, sea salt, black carbon, and sulfate. The distribution of aerosols or clouds is provided by lidar and used as an indicator for aerosol or cloud retrieval with the FTS. Thus, a two-instrument joint-observation scheme is designed and is used on the data measured from 2019 to the present.
Brendan Byrne, David F. Baker, Sourish Basu, Michael Bertolacci, Kevin W. Bowman, Dustin Carroll, Abhishek Chatterjee, Frédéric Chevallier, Philippe Ciais, Noel Cressie, David Crisp, Sean Crowell, Feng Deng, Zhu Deng, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Manvendra K. Dubey, Sha Feng, Omaira E. García, David W. T. Griffith, Benedikt Herkommer, Lei Hu, Andrew R. Jacobson, Rajesh Janardanan, Sujong Jeong, Matthew S. Johnson, Dylan B. A. Jones, Rigel Kivi, Junjie Liu, Zhiqiang Liu, Shamil Maksyutov, John B. Miller, Scot M. Miller, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Tomohiro Oda, Christopher W. O'Dell, Young-Suk Oh, Hirofumi Ohyama, Prabir K. Patra, Hélène Peiro, Christof Petri, Sajeev Philip, David F. Pollard, Benjamin Poulter, Marine Remaud, Andrew Schuh, Mahesh K. Sha, Kei Shiomi, Kimberly Strong, Colm Sweeney, Yao Té, Hanqin Tian, Voltaire A. Velazco, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Thorsten Warneke, John R. Worden, Debra Wunch, Yuanzhi Yao, Jeongmin Yun, Andrew Zammit-Mangion, and Ning Zeng
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 15, 963–1004, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-963-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-15-963-2023, 2023
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Changes in the carbon stocks of terrestrial ecosystems result in emissions and removals of CO2. These can be driven by anthropogenic activities (e.g., deforestation), natural processes (e.g., fires) or in response to rising CO2 (e.g., CO2 fertilization). This paper describes a dataset of CO2 emissions and removals derived from atmospheric CO2 observations. This pilot dataset informs current capabilities and future developments towards top-down monitoring and verification systems.
Denis Leppla, Nora Zannoni, Leslie Kremper, Jonathan Williams, Christopher Pöhlker, Marta Sá, Maria Christina Solci, and Thorsten Hoffmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 23, 809–820, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-809-2023, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-23-809-2023, 2023
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Chiral chemodiversity plays a critical role in biochemical processes such as insect and plant communication. Here we report on the measurement of chiral-specified secondary organic aerosol in the Amazon rainforest. The results show that the chiral ratio is mainly determined by large-scale emission processes. Characteristic emissions of chiral aerosol precursors from different forest ecosystems can thus provide large-scale information on different biogenic sources via chiral particle analysis.
Bryce F. J. Kelly, Xinyi Lu, Stephen J. Harris, Bruno G. Neininger, Jorg M. Hacker, Stefan Schwietzke, Rebecca E. Fisher, James L. France, Euan G. Nisbet, David Lowry, Carina van der Veen, Malika Menoud, and Thomas Röckmann
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 15527–15558, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15527-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-15527-2022, 2022
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This study explores using the composition of methane of in-flight atmospheric air samples for greenhouse gas inventory verification. The air samples were collected above one of the largest coal seam gas production regions in the world. Adjacent to these gas fields are coal mines, Australia's largest cattle feedlot, and over 1 million grazing cattle. The results are also used to identify methane mitigation opportunities.
Jeffrey Prescott Beem-Miller, Craig Rasmussen, Alison May Hoyt, Marion Schrumpf, Georg Guggenberger, and Susan Trumbore
EGUsphere, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1083, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2022-1083, 2022
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We compared the age of persistent soil organic matter as well as active emissions of carbon dioxide from soils across a gradient of climate and geology. We found that clay minerals are more important than mean annual temperature for both persistent and actively cycling soil carbon, and that they may attenuate the sensitivity of soil organic matter decomposition to temperature. Accounting for geology and soil development could therefore improve estimates of soil carbon stocks and changes.
Hao Yin, Youwen Sun, Justus Notholt, Mathias Palm, Chunxiang Ye, and Cheng Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 14401–14419, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14401-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-14401-2022, 2022
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Improved knowledge of the chemistry and drivers of surface ozone over the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau (QTP) is significant for regulatory and control purposes in this high-altitude region in the Himalayas. Our study investigates the processes and drivers of surface ozone anomalies by using machine-learning model-based meteorological normalization methods between 2015 and 2020 in urban areas over the QTP. This study can provide valuable implication for ozone mitigation over the QTP.
Malika Menoud, Carina van der Veen, Dave Lowry, Julianne M. Fernandez, Semra Bakkaloglu, James L. France, Rebecca E. Fisher, Hossein Maazallahi, Mila Stanisavljević, Jarosław Nęcki, Katarina Vinkovic, Patryk Łakomiec, Janne Rinne, Piotr Korbeń, Martina Schmidt, Sara Defratyka, Camille Yver-Kwok, Truls Andersen, Huilin Chen, and Thomas Röckmann
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 4365–4386, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4365-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-4365-2022, 2022
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Emission sources of methane (CH4) can be distinguished with measurements of CH4 stable isotopes. We present new measurements of isotope signatures of various CH4 sources in Europe, mainly anthropogenic, sampled from 2017 to 2020. The present database also contains the most recent update of the global signature dataset from the literature. The dataset improves CH4 source attribution and the understanding of the global CH4 budget.
Rachael Akinyede, Martin Taubert, Marion Schrumpf, Susan Trumbore, and Kirsten Küsel
Biogeosciences, 19, 4011–4028, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4011-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-4011-2022, 2022
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Soils will likely become warmer in the future, and this can increase the release of carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. As microbes can take up soil CO2 and prevent further escape into the atmosphere, this study compares the rate of uptake and release of CO2 at two different temperatures. With warming, the rate of CO2 uptake increases less than the rate of release, indicating that the capacity to modulate soil CO2 release into the atmosphere will decrease under future warming.
Youwen Sun, Hao Yin, Wei Wang, Changgong Shan, Justus Notholt, Mathias Palm, Ke Liu, Zhenyi Chen, and Cheng Liu
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4819–4834, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4819-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4819-2022, 2022
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This study summarizes an overview of the status and perspective of GHG monitoring in China. This study not only improves our understanding with respect to the status, advances, and challenges of GHG monitoring in China but also presents an outlook for further improving GHG monitoring capacity in China.
Matthias Schneider, Benjamin Ertl, Qiansi Tu, Christopher J. Diekmann, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Amelie N. Röhling, Frank Hase, Darko Dubravica, Omaira E. García, Eliezer Sepúlveda, Tobias Borsdorff, Jochen Landgraf, Alba Lorente, André Butz, Huilin Chen, Rigel Kivi, Thomas Laemmel, Michel Ramonet, Cyril Crevoisier, Jérome Pernin, Martin Steinbacher, Frank Meinhardt, Kimberly Strong, Debra Wunch, Thorsten Warneke, Coleen Roehl, Paul O. Wennberg, Isamu Morino, Laura T. Iraci, Kei Shiomi, Nicholas M. Deutscher, David W. T. Griffith, Voltaire A. Velazco, and David F. Pollard
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4339–4371, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4339-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4339-2022, 2022
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We present a computationally very efficient method for the synergetic use of level 2 remote-sensing data products. We apply the method to IASI vertical profile and TROPOMI total column space-borne methane observations and thus gain sensitivity for the tropospheric methane partial columns, which is not achievable by the individual use of TROPOMI and IASI. These synergetic effects are evaluated theoretically and empirically by inter-comparisons to independent references of TCCON, AirCore, and GAW.
Jonas Hachmeister, Oliver Schneising, Michael Buchwitz, Alba Lorente, Tobias Borsdorff, John P. Burrows, Justus Notholt, and Matthias Buschmann
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 4063–4074, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4063-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-4063-2022, 2022
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Sentinel-5P trace gas retrievals rely on elevation data in their calculations. Outdated or inaccurate data can lead to significant errors in e.g. dry-air mole fractions of methane (XCH4). We show that the use of inadequate elevation data leads to strong XCH4 anomalies in Greenland. Similar problems can be expected for other regions with inaccurate elevation data. However, we expect these to be more localized. We show that updating elevation data used in the retrieval solves this issue.
Philipp Richter, Mathias Palm, Christine Weinzierl, Hannes Griesche, Penny M. Rowe, and Justus Notholt
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 2767–2784, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2767-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-2767-2022, 2022
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We present a dataset of cloud optical depths, effective radii and water paths from optically thin clouds observed in the Arctic around Svalbard. The data have been retrieved from infrared spectral radiance measured using a Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer. Besides a description of the measurements and retrieval technique, the data are put into context with results of corresponding measurements from microwave radiometer, lidar and cloud radar.
Alexandra Klemme, Tim Rixen, Denise Müller-Dum, Moritz Müller, Justus Notholt, and Thorsten Warneke
Biogeosciences, 19, 2855–2880, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2855-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/bg-19-2855-2022, 2022
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Tropical peat-draining rivers contain high amounts of carbon. Surprisingly, measured carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from those rivers are comparatively moderate. We compiled data from 10 Southeast Asian rivers and found that CO2 production within these rivers is hampered by low water pH, providing a natural threshold for CO2 emissions. Furthermore, we find that enhanced carbonate input, e.g. caused by human activities, suspends this natural threshold and causes increased CO2 emissions.
Stefan Noël, Maximilian Reuter, Michael Buchwitz, Jakob Borchardt, Michael Hilker, Oliver Schneising, Heinrich Bovensmann, John P. Burrows, Antonio Di Noia, Robert J. Parker, Hiroshi Suto, Yukio Yoshida, Matthias Buschmann, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Dietrich G. Feist, David W. T. Griffith, Frank Hase, Rigel Kivi, Cheng Liu, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Young-Suk Oh, Hirofumi Ohyama, Christof Petri, David F. Pollard, Markus Rettinger, Coleen Roehl, Constantina Rousogenous, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Kei Shiomi, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Voltaire A. Velazco, Mihalis Vrekoussis, and Thorsten Warneke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 3401–3437, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3401-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-3401-2022, 2022
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We present a new version (v3) of the GOSAT and GOSAT-2 FOCAL products.
In addition to an increased number of XCO2 data, v3 also includes products for XCH4 (full-physics and proxy), XH2O and the relative ratio of HDO to H2O (δD). For GOSAT-2, we also present first XCO and XN2O results. All FOCAL data products show reasonable spatial distribution and temporal variations and agree well with TCCON. Global XN2O maps show a gradient from the tropics to higher latitudes on the order of 15 ppb.
Carlos Alberti, Qiansi Tu, Frank Hase, Maria V. Makarova, Konstantin Gribanov, Stefani C. Foka, Vyacheslav Zakharov, Thomas Blumenstock, Michael Buchwitz, Christopher Diekmann, Benjamin Ertl, Matthias M. Frey, Hamud Kh. Imhasin, Dmitry V. Ionov, Farahnaz Khosrawi, Sergey I. Osipov, Maximilian Reuter, Matthias Schneider, and Thorsten Warneke
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 15, 2199–2229, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2199-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-15-2199-2022, 2022
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Satellite and ground-based observations at high latitudes are much sparser than at low or mid latitudes, which makes direct coincident comparisons between remote-sensing observations more difficult. Therefore, a method of scaling continuous CAMS model data to the ground-based observations is developed and used for creating virtual COCCON observations. These adjusted CAMS data are then used for satellite inter-comparison, showing good agreement in both Peterhof and Yekaterinburg cities.
Hao Yin, Youwen Sun, Justus Notholt, Mathias Palm, and Cheng Liu
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 4167–4185, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4167-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-4167-2022, 2022
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In this study, we quantity the long-term variabilities and the underlying drivers of NO2 from 2005 to 2020 over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), one of the most densely populated and highly industrialized city clusters in China. We reveal the significant effect of the Action Plan on the Prevention and Control of Air Pollution since 2013 adopted by the Chinese government to reduce NOx pollution. Our study can improve the understanding of pollution control measures on a regional scale.
Marco A. Franco, Florian Ditas, Leslie A. Kremper, Luiz A. T. Machado, Meinrat O. Andreae, Alessandro Araújo, Henrique M. J. Barbosa, Joel F. de Brito, Samara Carbone, Bruna A. Holanda, Fernando G. Morais, Janaína P. Nascimento, Mira L. Pöhlker, Luciana V. Rizzo, Marta Sá, Jorge Saturno, David Walter, Stefan Wolff, Ulrich Pöschl, Paulo Artaxo, and Christopher Pöhlker
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3469–3492, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3469-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3469-2022, 2022
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In Central Amazonia, new particle formation in the planetary boundary layer is rare. Instead, there is the appearance of sub-50 nm aerosols with diameters larger than about 20 nm that eventually grow to cloud condensation nuclei size range. Here, 254 growth events were characterized which have higher predominance in the wet season. About 70 % of them showed direct relation to convective downdrafts, while 30 % occurred partly under clear-sky conditions, evidencing still unknown particle sources.
Stephen M. Platt, Øystein Hov, Torunn Berg, Knut Breivik, Sabine Eckhardt, Konstantinos Eleftheriadis, Nikolaos Evangeliou, Markus Fiebig, Rebecca Fisher, Georg Hansen, Hans-Christen Hansson, Jost Heintzenberg, Ove Hermansen, Dominic Heslin-Rees, Kim Holmén, Stephen Hudson, Roland Kallenborn, Radovan Krejci, Terje Krognes, Steinar Larssen, David Lowry, Cathrine Lund Myhre, Chris Lunder, Euan Nisbet, Pernilla B. Nizzetto, Ki-Tae Park, Christina A. Pedersen, Katrine Aspmo Pfaffhuber, Thomas Röckmann, Norbert Schmidbauer, Sverre Solberg, Andreas Stohl, Johan Ström, Tove Svendby, Peter Tunved, Kjersti Tørnkvist, Carina van der Veen, Stergios Vratolis, Young Jun Yoon, Karl Espen Yttri, Paul Zieger, Wenche Aas, and Kjetil Tørseth
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 3321–3369, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3321-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-3321-2022, 2022
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Here we detail the history of the Zeppelin Observatory, a unique global background site and one of only a few in the high Arctic. We present long-term time series of up to 30 years of atmospheric components and atmospheric transport phenomena. Many of these time series are important to our understanding of Arctic and global atmospheric composition change. Finally, we discuss the future of the Zeppelin Observatory and emerging areas of future research on the Arctic atmosphere.
Roland Vernooij, Ulrike Dusek, Maria Elena Popa, Peng Yao, Anupam Shaikat, Chenxi Qiu, Patrik Winiger, Carina van der Veen, Thomas Callum Eames, Natasha Ribeiro, and Guido R. van der Werf
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 22, 2871–2890, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2871-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-22-2871-2022, 2022
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Landscape fires are a major source of greenhouse gases and aerosols, particularly in sub-tropical savannas. Stable carbon isotopes in emissions can be used to trace the contribution of C3 plants (e.g. trees or shrubs) and C4 plants (e.g. savanna grasses) to greenhouse gases and aerosols if the process is well understood. This helps us to link individual vegetation types to emissions, identify biomass burning emissions in the atmosphere, and improve the reconstruction of historic fire regimes.
Juhi Nagori, Narcisa Nechita-Bândă, Sebastian Oscar Danielache, Masumi Shinkai, Thomas Röckmann, and Maarten Krol
Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-68, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-2022-68, 2022
Publication in ACP not foreseen
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The sulfur isotopes (32S and 34S) were studied to understand the sources, sinks and processes of carbonyl sulphide (COS) in the atmosphere. COS is an important source of sulfur aerosol in the stratosphere (SSA). Few measurements of COS and SSA exist, but with our 1D model, we were able to match them and show the importance of COS to sulfate formation. Moreover, we are able to highlight some important processes for the COS budget and where measurements may fill a gap in current knowledge.
Thomas E. Taylor, Christopher W. O'Dell, David Crisp, Akhiko Kuze, Hannakaisa Lindqvist, Paul O. Wennberg, Abhishek Chatterjee, Michael Gunson, Annmarie Eldering, Brendan Fisher, Matthäus Kiel, Robert R. Nelson, Aronne Merrelli, Greg Osterman, Frédéric Chevallier, Paul I. Palmer, Liang Feng, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Manvendra K. Dubey, Dietrich G. Feist, Omaira E. García, David W. T. Griffith, Frank Hase, Laura T. Iraci, Rigel Kivi, Cheng Liu, Martine De Mazière, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Young-Suk Oh, Hirofumi Ohyama, David F. Pollard, Markus Rettinger, Matthias Schneider, Coleen M. Roehl, Mahesh Kumar Sha, Kei Shiomi, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Voltaire A. Velazco, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Thorsten Warneke, and Debra Wunch
Earth Syst. Sci. Data, 14, 325–360, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-325-2022, https://doi.org/10.5194/essd-14-325-2022, 2022
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We provide an analysis of an 11-year record of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations derived using an optimal estimation retrieval algorithm on measurements made by the GOSAT satellite. The new product (version 9) shows improvement over the previous version (v7.3) as evaluated against independent estimates of CO2 from ground-based sensors and atmospheric inversion systems. We also compare the new GOSAT CO2 values to collocated estimates from NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2.
Youwen Sun, Hao Yin, Xiao Lu, Justus Notholt, Mathias Palm, Cheng Liu, Yuan Tian, and Bo Zheng
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 18589–18608, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18589-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-18589-2021, 2021
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This study uses high-resolution nested-grid GEOS-Chem simulation, the eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) machine learning method, and the exposure–response relationship to determine the drivers and evaluate the health risks of the unexpected surface O3 enhancements over the Sichuan Basin in 2020. These unexpected O3 enhancements were induced by meteorological anomalies and caused dramatically high health risks.
Joseph Mendonca, Ray Nassar, Christopher W. O'Dell, Rigel Kivi, Isamu Morino, Justus Notholt, Christof Petri, Kimberly Strong, and Debra Wunch
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 7511–7524, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7511-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-7511-2021, 2021
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Machine learning has become an important tool for pattern recognition in many applications. In this study, we used a neural network to improve the data quality of OCO-2 measurements made at northern high latitudes. The neural network was trained and used as a binary classifier to filter out bad OCO-2 measurements in order to increase the accuracy and precision of OCO-2 XCO2 measurements in the Boreal and Arctic regions.
Nicole Jacobs, William R. Simpson, Kelly A. Graham, Christopher Holmes, Frank Hase, Thomas Blumenstock, Qiansi Tu, Matthias Frey, Manvendra K. Dubey, Harrison A. Parker, Debra Wunch, Rigel Kivi, Pauli Heikkinen, Justus Notholt, Christof Petri, and Thorsten Warneke
Atmos. Chem. Phys., 21, 16661–16687, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16661-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/acp-21-16661-2021, 2021
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Spatial patterns of carbon dioxide seasonal cycle amplitude and summer drawdown timing derived from the OCO-2 satellite over northern high latitudes agree well with corresponding estimates from two models. The Asian boreal forest is anomalous with the largest amplitude and earliest seasonal drawdown. Modeled land contact tracers suggest that accumulated CO2 exchanges during atmospheric transport play a major role in shaping carbon dioxide seasonality in northern high-latitude regions.
Mahesh Kumar Sha, Bavo Langerock, Jean-François L. Blavier, Thomas Blumenstock, Tobias Borsdorff, Matthias Buschmann, Angelika Dehn, Martine De Mazière, Nicholas M. Deutscher, Dietrich G. Feist, Omaira E. García, David W. T. Griffith, Michel Grutter, James W. Hannigan, Frank Hase, Pauli Heikkinen, Christian Hermans, Laura T. Iraci, Pascal Jeseck, Nicholas Jones, Rigel Kivi, Nicolas Kumps, Jochen Landgraf, Alba Lorente, Emmanuel Mahieu, Maria V. Makarova, Johan Mellqvist, Jean-Marc Metzger, Isamu Morino, Tomoo Nagahama, Justus Notholt, Hirofumi Ohyama, Ivan Ortega, Mathias Palm, Christof Petri, David F. Pollard, Markus Rettinger, John Robinson, Sébastien Roche, Coleen M. Roehl, Amelie N. Röhling, Constantina Rousogenous, Matthias Schneider, Kei Shiomi, Dan Smale, Wolfgang Stremme, Kimberly Strong, Ralf Sussmann, Yao Té, Osamu Uchino, Voltaire A. Velazco, Corinne Vigouroux, Mihalis Vrekoussis, Pucai Wang, Thorsten Warneke, Tyler Wizenberg, Debra Wunch, Shoma Yamanouchi, Yang Yang, and Minqiang Zhou
Atmos. Meas. Tech., 14, 6249–6304, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6249-2021, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-14-6249-2021, 2021
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This paper presents, for the first time, Sentinel-5 Precursor methane and carbon monoxide validation results covering a period from November 2017 to September 2020. For this study, we used global TCCON and NDACC-IRWG network data covering a wide range of atmospheric and surface conditions across different terrains. We also show the influence of a priori alignment, smoothing uncertainties and the sensitivity of the validation results towards the application of advanced co-location criteria.
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Short summary
Carbon monoxide (CO) is regarded as an important indirect greenhouse gas. Soils can emit and take up CO, but, until now, uncertainty remains as to which process dominates in tropical rainforests. We present the first soil CO flux measurements from a tropical rainforest. Based on our observations, we report that tropical rainforest soils are a net source of CO. In addition, we show that valley streams and inundated areas are likely additional hot spots of CO in the ecosystem.
Carbon monoxide (CO) is regarded as an important indirect greenhouse gas. Soils can emit and...
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