To study emissions of CO 2 in the Baltimore, MD-Washington, D.C. (Balt-Wash) area, an aircraft campaign was conducted in February 2015, as part of the Fluxes of Atmospheric Greenhouse-Gases in Maryland (FLAGG-MD) project. During the campaign, elevated mole fractions of CO 2 were observed downwind of the urban center and local power plants. Upwind flight data and Hybrid Single Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model analyses help account for the impact of emissions outside the Balt-Wash area. The accuracy, precision, and sensitivity of CO 2 emissions estimates based on the mass balance approach were assessed for both power plants and cities. Our estimates of CO 2 emissions from two local power plants agree well with their Continuous Emissions Monitoring Systems (CEMS) records. For the 16 power plant plumes captured by the aircraft, the mean percentage difference of CO 2 emissions was −0.3%. For the Balt-Wash area as a whole, the 1s CO 2 emission rate uncertainty for any individual aircraft-based mass balance approach experiment was ±38%. Treating the mass balance experiments, which were repeated seven times within 9 days, as individual quantifications of the Balt-Wash CO 2 emissions, the estimation uncertainty was ±16% (standard error of the mean at 95% CL). Our aircraft-based estimate was compared to various bottom-up fossil fuel CO 2 (FFCO 2 ) emission inventories. Based on the FLAGG-MD aircraft observations, we estimate 1.9 ± 0.3 MtC of FFCO 2 from the Balt-Wash area during the month of February 2015. The mean estimate of FFCO 2 from the four bottom-up models was 2.2 ± 0.3 MtC. Key Points: • 1.9 ± 0.3 MtC of fossil fuel CO 2 was emitted in Baltimore-Washington during February 2015 based on data collected during seven aircraft flights • Four bottom-up inventories indicate 2.2 ± 0.3 MtC of fossil fuel CO 2 was emitted, in good agreement with our top-down estimate • The uncertainty from a single flight segment was ±38% (1s); data from seven flights yielded a precision of 16% at the 95% confidence level Supporting Information: • Supporting Information S1 AHN ET AL. 1 of 23 Methods InstrumentationThe University of Maryland (UMD) Cessna 402B aircraft was equipped with a cavity ring-down spectroscopic (CRDS) analyzer (Picarro Model G2401-m) that is used to measure the dry air mole fraction of CO 2 . Measurements of CO 2 were calibrated on the ground as well as during the flight using an onboard calibration system with two cylinders of standard gases certified by National Institute of Standards and Technology

No abstract