Multispecies Assessment of Factors Influencing Regional CO2 and CH4 Enhancements During the Winter 2017 ACT-America Campaign

Bianca C. Baier; Colm Sweeney; Yonghoon Choi; Kenneth J. Davis; Joshua P. DiGangi; Sha Feng; Alan Fried; Hannah Halliday; Jack Higgs; Thomas Lauvaux; Benjamin R. Miller; Stephen A. Montzka; Timothy Newberger; John B. Nowak; Prabir Patra; Dirk Richter; James Walega; Petter Weibring

doi:10.1029/2019JD031339

Multispecies Assessment of Factors Influencing Regional CO₂ and CH₄ Enhancements During the Winter 2017 ACT-America Campaign

Bianca C. Baier, Colm Sweeney, Yonghoon Choi, Kenneth J. Davis, Joshua P. DiGangi, Sha Feng, Alan Fried, Hannah Halliday, Jack Higgs, Thomas Lauvaux, Benjamin R. Miller, Stephen A. Montzka, Timothy Newberger, John B. Nowak, Prabir Patra, Dirk Richter, James Walega, Petter Weibring

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Abstract

Diagnosing carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) fluxes at subcontinental scales is complicated by sparse observations, limited knowledge of prior fluxes and their uncertainties, and background and transport errors. Multispecies measurements in flasks sampled during the wintertime ACT-America campaign were used for background characterization and source apportionment of regional anthropogenic CO₂ and CH₄ fluxes when ecosystem CO₂ exchange is likely to be least active. Continental background trace gas mole fractions for regional enhancements are defined using samples from the upper troposphere and assessed using model products. Trace gas enhancements taken from flask samples in the lower troposphere with background levels subtracted out are then interpreted to inform CO₂ and CH₄ enhancement variability in the eastern United States. Strong correlations between CO₂ and CH₄ enhancements in the Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic United States indicated colocated anthropogenic sources. Oil and natural gas influence was also broadly observed throughout the entire observational domain. In the Midwestern United States, agricultural influence on CO₂ and CH₄ enhancement variability was evident during above-average wintertime temperatures. Weaker correlations between CO₂ and anthropogenic tracer enhancements in the Southeastern United States indicated potentially nonnegligible wintertime ecosystem CO₂ exchange, with biogenic tracers indicating more active surface processing than other regions. These whole-air flask samples illuminated significant regional CO₂ and CH₄ sources or sinks during Atmospheric Carbon and Transport-America (ACT-America) and can provide additional information for informing regional inverse modeling efforts.

Original language	English (US)
Article number	e2019JD031339
Journal	Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres
Volume	125
Issue number	2
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD031339
State	Published - Jan 27 2020

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

Atmospheric Science
Geophysics
Earth and Planetary Sciences (miscellaneous)
Space and Planetary Science

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10.1029/2019JD031339

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Baier, B. C., Sweeney, C., Choi, Y., Davis, K. J., DiGangi, J. P., Feng, S., Fried, A., Halliday, H., Higgs, J., Lauvaux, T., Miller, B. R., Montzka, S. A., Newberger, T., Nowak, J. B., Patra, P., Richter, D., Walega, J., & Weibring, P. (2020). Multispecies Assessment of Factors Influencing Regional CO₂ and CH₄ Enhancements During the Winter 2017 ACT-America Campaign. Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, 125(2), Article e2019JD031339. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD031339

@article{09394921fd5249c496cd5cdf44af91d7,

title = "Multispecies Assessment of Factors Influencing Regional CO2 and CH4 Enhancements During the Winter 2017 ACT-America Campaign",

abstract = "Diagnosing carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes at subcontinental scales is complicated by sparse observations, limited knowledge of prior fluxes and their uncertainties, and background and transport errors. Multispecies measurements in flasks sampled during the wintertime ACT-America campaign were used for background characterization and source apportionment of regional anthropogenic CO2 and CH4 fluxes when ecosystem CO2 exchange is likely to be least active. Continental background trace gas mole fractions for regional enhancements are defined using samples from the upper troposphere and assessed using model products. Trace gas enhancements taken from flask samples in the lower troposphere with background levels subtracted out are then interpreted to inform CO2 and CH4 enhancement variability in the eastern United States. Strong correlations between CO2 and CH4 enhancements in the Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic United States indicated colocated anthropogenic sources. Oil and natural gas influence was also broadly observed throughout the entire observational domain. In the Midwestern United States, agricultural influence on CO2 and CH4 enhancement variability was evident during above-average wintertime temperatures. Weaker correlations between CO2 and anthropogenic tracer enhancements in the Southeastern United States indicated potentially nonnegligible wintertime ecosystem CO2 exchange, with biogenic tracers indicating more active surface processing than other regions. These whole-air flask samples illuminated significant regional CO2 and CH4 sources or sinks during Atmospheric Carbon and Transport-America (ACT-America) and can provide additional information for informing regional inverse modeling efforts.",

author = "Baier, {Bianca C.} and Colm Sweeney and Yonghoon Choi and Davis, {Kenneth J.} and DiGangi, {Joshua P.} and Sha Feng and Alan Fried and Hannah Halliday and Jack Higgs and Thomas Lauvaux and Miller, {Benjamin R.} and Montzka, {Stephen A.} and Timothy Newberger and Nowak, {John B.} and Prabir Patra and Dirk Richter and James Walega and Petter Weibring",

year = "2020",

month = jan,

day = "27",

doi = "10.1029/2019JD031339",

language = "English (US)",

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Baier, BC, Sweeney, C, Choi, Y, Davis, KJ, DiGangi, JP, Feng, S, Fried, A, Halliday, H, Higgs, J, Lauvaux, T, Miller, BR, Montzka, SA, Newberger, T, Nowak, JB, Patra, P, Richter, D, Walega, J & Weibring, P 2020, 'Multispecies Assessment of Factors Influencing Regional CO₂ and CH₄ Enhancements During the Winter 2017 ACT-America Campaign', Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres, vol. 125, no. 2, e2019JD031339. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019JD031339

TY - JOUR

T1 - Multispecies Assessment of Factors Influencing Regional CO2 and CH4 Enhancements During the Winter 2017 ACT-America Campaign

AU - Baier, Bianca C.

AU - Sweeney, Colm

AU - Choi, Yonghoon

AU - Davis, Kenneth J.

AU - DiGangi, Joshua P.

AU - Feng, Sha

AU - Fried, Alan

AU - Halliday, Hannah

AU - Higgs, Jack

AU - Lauvaux, Thomas

AU - Miller, Benjamin R.

AU - Montzka, Stephen A.

AU - Newberger, Timothy

AU - Nowak, John B.

AU - Patra, Prabir

AU - Richter, Dirk

AU - Walega, James

AU - Weibring, Petter

PY - 2020/1/27

Y1 - 2020/1/27

N2 - Diagnosing carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes at subcontinental scales is complicated by sparse observations, limited knowledge of prior fluxes and their uncertainties, and background and transport errors. Multispecies measurements in flasks sampled during the wintertime ACT-America campaign were used for background characterization and source apportionment of regional anthropogenic CO2 and CH4 fluxes when ecosystem CO2 exchange is likely to be least active. Continental background trace gas mole fractions for regional enhancements are defined using samples from the upper troposphere and assessed using model products. Trace gas enhancements taken from flask samples in the lower troposphere with background levels subtracted out are then interpreted to inform CO2 and CH4 enhancement variability in the eastern United States. Strong correlations between CO2 and CH4 enhancements in the Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic United States indicated colocated anthropogenic sources. Oil and natural gas influence was also broadly observed throughout the entire observational domain. In the Midwestern United States, agricultural influence on CO2 and CH4 enhancement variability was evident during above-average wintertime temperatures. Weaker correlations between CO2 and anthropogenic tracer enhancements in the Southeastern United States indicated potentially nonnegligible wintertime ecosystem CO2 exchange, with biogenic tracers indicating more active surface processing than other regions. These whole-air flask samples illuminated significant regional CO2 and CH4 sources or sinks during Atmospheric Carbon and Transport-America (ACT-America) and can provide additional information for informing regional inverse modeling efforts.

AB - Diagnosing carbon dioxide (CO2) and methane (CH4) fluxes at subcontinental scales is complicated by sparse observations, limited knowledge of prior fluxes and their uncertainties, and background and transport errors. Multispecies measurements in flasks sampled during the wintertime ACT-America campaign were used for background characterization and source apportionment of regional anthropogenic CO2 and CH4 fluxes when ecosystem CO2 exchange is likely to be least active. Continental background trace gas mole fractions for regional enhancements are defined using samples from the upper troposphere and assessed using model products. Trace gas enhancements taken from flask samples in the lower troposphere with background levels subtracted out are then interpreted to inform CO2 and CH4 enhancement variability in the eastern United States. Strong correlations between CO2 and CH4 enhancements in the Midwestern and Mid-Atlantic United States indicated colocated anthropogenic sources. Oil and natural gas influence was also broadly observed throughout the entire observational domain. In the Midwestern United States, agricultural influence on CO2 and CH4 enhancement variability was evident during above-average wintertime temperatures. Weaker correlations between CO2 and anthropogenic tracer enhancements in the Southeastern United States indicated potentially nonnegligible wintertime ecosystem CO2 exchange, with biogenic tracers indicating more active surface processing than other regions. These whole-air flask samples illuminated significant regional CO2 and CH4 sources or sinks during Atmospheric Carbon and Transport-America (ACT-America) and can provide additional information for informing regional inverse modeling efforts.

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VL - 125

JO - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

JF - Journal of Geophysical Research: Atmospheres

IS - 2

M1 - e2019JD031339

ER -

Multispecies Assessment of Factors Influencing Regional CO₂ and CH₄ Enhancements During the Winter 2017 ACT-America Campaign

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