Identification

Title

Attributing and quantifying carbon monoxide sources affecting the Eastern Mediterranean: A combined satellite, modelling, and synoptic analysis study

Abstract

Pollutants from global sources are known to affect the Eastern Mediterranean Shore (EMS). However, there has been no previous study explicitly locating the European sources, characterizing their transport pathways, and quantifying their contribution to local concentrations in the EMS. In the current study, spatially tagged carbon monoxide was used as a tracer for pollutant transport from Europe to the EMS over five consecutive years (2003–2007) using the global chemical transport model MOZART-4. The model results were compared against NOAA/GMD ground station data and remotely sensed data from the Terra/MOPITT satellite and found to agree well on monthly basis but do not agree on daily basis. On synoptic scale, there is agreement between MOZART and GMD during July to August. A budget analysis reveals the role of CO from hydrocarbon oxidation on CO concentration during summer. European anthropogenic emissions were found to significantly influence EM surface concentrations, while European biomass burning (BB) emissions were found to have only a small impact on EM surface concentrations. Over the five simulated years, only two European biomass burning episodes contributed more than 10 ppb to surface CO concentrations in the EM. CO enhancement in the EM during the summer was attributed to synoptic conditions prone to favorable transport from Turkey and Eastern Europe towards the EM rather than increased emissions. We attribute the apparently misleading association between CO emitted from European BB and CO enhancements over the EM to typical summer synoptic conditions caused by the lingering of an anticyclone positioned over the Western and Central Mediterranean Basin that lead to forest fires in the area. Combined with a barometric trough over the eastern part of the Mediterranean Basin, this generates a prevailing transport of air masses from Eastern Europe to the EMS. Synoptic scale variations are shown to change the transport pathways from Europe towards the EMS having an overall small affect. CO concentration over the EMS can be describe as having 3 components: the seasonal cycle, the cycle of CO produced from hydrocarbon oxidation and a synoptic variation.

Resource type

document

Resource locator

Unique resource identifier

code

http://n2t.net/ark:/85065/d75m66d1

codeSpace

Dataset language

eng

Spatial reference system

code identifying the spatial reference system

Classification of spatial data and services

Topic category

geoscientificInformation

Keywords

Keyword set

keyword value

Text

originating controlled vocabulary

title

Resource Type

reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2016-01-01T00:00:00Z

Geographic location

West bounding longitude

East bounding longitude

North bounding latitude

South bounding latitude

Temporal reference

Temporal extent

Begin position

End position

Dataset reference date

date type

publication

effective date

2012-01-25T00:00:00Z

Frequency of update

Quality and validity

Lineage

Conformity

Data format

name of format

version of format

Constraints related to access and use

Constraint set

Use constraints

Limitations on public access

None

Responsible organisations

Responsible party

contact position

OpenSky Support

organisation name

UCAR/NCAR - Library

full postal address

PO Box 3000

Boulder

80307-3000

email address

opensky@ucar.edu

web address

http://opensky.ucar.edu/

name: homepage

responsible party role

pointOfContact

Metadata on metadata

Metadata point of contact