Measurements of organic trace gases including oxygenated volatile organic compounds at the high alpine site Jungfraujoch (Switzerland): Seasonal variation and source allocations

Legreid, Geir; Folini, Doris; Staehelin, J.; Lööv, Jacob Balzani; Steinbacher, Martin; Reimann, Stefan

doi:10.1029/2007jd008653

Cited by 38 publications

(33 citation statements)

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“…The BASE simulation underestimates observed ethanol at all altitudes over North America and downwind of Asia by more than 50% and this underestimate worsens to over 100% over the remote southern Pacific. The BASE simulation also underestimates ethanol concentrations measured at the high alpine site Jungfraujoch (Switzerland) (Legreid et al, 2008) by over 100% (data not shown). As noted in the previous section, MOZART-4 adequately resolves boundary layer ventilation, therefore, this underestimate is unlikely to reflect a problem with the model vertical mixing.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observational constraints on the global atmospheric budget of ethanol

et al. 2010

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Abstract. Energy security and climate change concerns have led to the promotion of biomass-derived ethanol, an oxygenated volatile organic compound (OVOC), as a substitute for fossil fuels. Although ethanol is ubiquitous in the troposphere, our knowledge of its current atmospheric budget and distribution is limited. Here, for the first time we use a global chemical transport model in conjunction with atmospheric observations to place constraints on the ethanol budget, noting that additional measurements of ethanol (and its precursors) are still needed to enhance confidence in our estimated budget. Global sources of ethanol in the model include 5.0 Tg yr −1 from industrial sources and biofuels, 9.2 Tg yr −1 from terrestrial plants, ∼0.5 Tg yr −1 from biomass burning, and 0.05 Tg yr −1 from atmospheric reactions of the ethyl peroxy radical (C 2 H 5 O 2 ) with itself and with the methyl peroxy radical (CH 3 O 2 ). The resulting atmospheric lifetime of ethanol in the model is 2.8 days. Gas-phase oxidation by the hydroxyl radical (OH) is the primary global sink of ethanol in the model (65%), followed by dry deposition (25%), and wet deposition (10%). Over continental areas, ethanol concentrations predominantly reflect direct anthropogenic and biogenic emission sources. Uncertainty in the biogenic ethanol emissions, estimated at a factor of three, may contribute to Correspondence to: V. Naik (vaishali.naik@noaa.gov) the 50% model underestimate of observations in the North American boundary layer. Current levels of ethanol measured in remote regions are an order of magnitude larger than those in the model, suggesting a major gap in understanding. Stronger constraints on the budget and distribution of ethanol and OVOCs are a critical step towards assessing the impacts of increasing the use of ethanol as a fuel.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observational constraints on the global atmospheric budget of ethanol

et al. 2010

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“…Therefore, an analysis of the seasonal variation of methanol in the lower troposphere and the UTLS has been performed, including comparisons with in situ measurements (Legreid et al, 2008) and to ACE-FTS occultation observations, respectively. Comparisons with simulations obtained from the IMAGESv2 global chemistry-transport model have also been conducted.…”

Section: Results and Comparisonsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Long-term evolution and seasonal modulation of methanol above Jungfraujoch (46.5° N, 8.0° E): optimisation of the retrieval strategy, comparison with model simulations and independent observations

Bader¹,

Stavrakou

Müller

et al. 2014

Atmos. Meas. Tech.

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Abstract. Methanol (CH 3 OH) is the second most abundant organic compound in the Earth's atmosphere after methane. In this study, we present the first long-term time series of methanol total, lower tropospheric and upper tropospheric-lower stratospheric partial columns derived from the analysis of high resolution Fourier transform infrared solar spectra recorded at the Jungfraujoch station (46.5 • N, 3580 m a.s.l.). The retrieval of methanol is very challenging due to strong absorptions of ozone in the region of the selected υ 8 band of CH 3 OH. Two wide spectral intervals have been defined and adjusted in order to maximise the information content. Methanol does not exhibit a significant trend over the 1995-2012 time period, but a strong seasonal modulation characterised by maximum values and variability in June-July, minimum columns in winter and a peak-topeak amplitude of 130 %. Analysis and comparisons with in situ measurements carried out at the Jungfraujoch and ACE-FTS (Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment-Fourier transform spectrometer) occultations have been performed. The total and lower tropospheric columns are also compared with IMAGESv2 model simulations. There is no systematic bias between the observations and IMAGESv2 but the model underestimates the peak-to-peak amplitude of the seasonal modulations.

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“…al., 2006). Effects such as Foehn, deep convection, stratospheric intrusions, and synoptic lifting also influence receptor sites at high altitudes alternately and thus the transport of HCHO or its precursors to the sites (Zanis et al, 1999;Seibert et al, 2000;Balzani Lööv et al, 2008;Legreid et al, 2008). Effects of dilution and loss by deposition that can be particularly important for water-soluble HCHO also play an important role.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal and Diurnal Variation of Formaldehyde and its Meteorological Drivers at the GAW Site Zugspitze

Leuchner

Ghasemifard

Lüpke

et al. 2016

Aerosol Air Qual. Res.

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Continuous formaldehyde measurements were performed at the high-altitude GAW site Environmental Research Station Schneefernerhaus for more than one year. This unique dataset was analyzed for daily and seasonal variation and for the influence of large-scale synoptic conditions and air-mass origin on the observed concentrations. The average daily course exhibited maxima in the afternoon and minima at night, however differing between seasons. The general strong seasonal variation with average values for winter, spring, summer, and fall of 0.350, 0.529, 0.986, 0.429 ppbv, respectively, could be well explained by secondary production following photochemical activity. The large variability of formaldehyde mixing ratios within the seasons was shown to be influenced by different factors in this complex topography such as mixing of air masses from the planetary boundary layer and the free troposphere, advection of differently aged air from various source regions, and local meteorological conditions. An analysis of the impact of large-scale weather types, cyclonality, and flow directions revealed that the cleanest air masses were advected from westerly directions in particular under cyclonic conditions while southerly cyclonic and northerly/northwesterly anticyclonic conditions led to the highest formaldehyde levels.

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Measurements of organic trace gases including oxygenated volatile organic compounds at the high alpine site Jungfraujoch (Switzerland): Seasonal variation and source allocations

Cited by 38 publications

References 50 publications

Observational constraints on the global atmospheric budget of ethanol

Observational constraints on the global atmospheric budget of ethanol

Long-term evolution and seasonal modulation of methanol above Jungfraujoch (46.5° N, 8.0° E): optimisation of the retrieval strategy, comparison with model simulations and independent observations

Seasonal and Diurnal Variation of Formaldehyde and its Meteorological Drivers at the GAW Site Zugspitze

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