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Global distributions of acetone in the upper troposphere from MIPAS spectra

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journal contribution
posted on 2013-10-11, 12:19 authored by D.P. Moore, J.J. Remedios, A.M. Waterfall
This study reports the first global measurements of acetone (C[subscript 3]H[subscript 6]O) in the upper troposphere (UT). Profiles were obtained between 9 km and 15 km from measurements made by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) onboard Envisat in August 2003. Errors per profile are lower than 40 % between 180 hPa and 350 hPa. We report strong hemispheric differences in the acetone volume mixing ratios (VMRs), with average concentrations highest in the Northern Hemisphere (NH) mid-latitude UT, between 1000 pptv and 1600 pptv with maxima up to 2300 pptv. Our results show a strong enhancement of acetone relative to CO, particularly over Europe (7 pptv ppbv[superscript −1]), confirming aircraft studies. Ten-day backward trajectories from these high European values show strong contributions from air flows over North America (56 %) and 25 % from Southernmost Asia. Enhanced acetone is also observed over Greenland, Siberia and biomass burning regions of Africa. Zonal distributions show that acetone VMRs decrease rapidly with increasing altitude (decreasing pressure), particularly in the NH. Poleward of 45° S, acetone VMRs remain fairly consistent with average VMRs between 400 pptv and 500 pptv. In 5-day averages at 9 km, NH VMRs poleward of 45° N are consistently higher than Southern Hemisphere observations poleward of 45° S, by between 750 pptv and 1100 pptv. The results show a clear influence of mid-latitude and transport processes on the acetone summertime distribution.

History

Citation

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2012, 12 (2), pp. 757-768 (12)

Author affiliation

/Organisation/COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING/Department of Physics and Astronomy

Version

  • VoR (Version of Record)

Published in

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics

Publisher

Copernicus GmbH (Copernicus Publications) on behalf of the European Geosciences Union (EGU).

issn

1680-7316

eissn

1680-7324

Copyright date

2012

Available date

2013-10-11

Publisher version

http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/12/757/2012/acp-12-757-2012.html

Language

en