BALLOON-BORNE MEASUREMENTS OF AEROSOL VERTICAL DISTRIBUTIONS OVER BEIJING DURING THE SUMMER AND AUTUMN OF 1993

The results of two balloon soundings during the summer and autumn of 1993 from the Xianghe Observation Station are being utilized in a study of the temporal and spatial distribution of the atmospheric aerosols.The balloon,gondola,instrumentation and atmospheric conditions during the observation period are described.The temporal and spatial characteristics of aerosol concentration,size ratio,mixing ratio,and size distribution for both troposphere and strato-sphere are presented and analyzed.     

Tropospheric methane in the mid-latitudes of the Southern Hemisphere

Results of more than 800 new measurements of methane (CH₄) concentrations in the Southern Hemisphere troposphere (34–41° S, 130–150° E) are reported. These were obtained between September 1980 and March 1983 from the surface at Cape Grim, Tasmania, through the middle (3.5–5.5 km) to the upper troposphere (7–10 km). The concentration of CH₄ increased throughout the entire troposphere over the measurement period, adding further support to the view that CH₄ concentrations are currently increasing on a global scale. For data averaged vertically through the troposphere the rate of increase found was 20 ppbv/yr or 1.3%/yr at December 1981. In the surface CH₄ data a seasonal cycle with a peak to peak amplitude of approximately 28 ppbv is seen, with the minimum concentration occurring in March and the maximum in September–October. A cycle with the same phase as that seen at the surface, but with a significantly decreased amplitude, is apparent in the mid troposphere but no cycle is detected in the upper tropospheric data. The phase and amplitude of the cycle are qualitatively in agreement with the concept that the major sink for methane is oxidation by hydroxyl radicals. Also presented is evidence of a positive vertical gradient in methane, with a suggestion that the magnitude of this gradient has changed over the period of measurements.     

Measurements of tropospheric OH concentrations: A comparison of field data with model predictions

Using long path UV absorption spectroscopy we have measured OH concentrations close to the earth's surface. The OH values observed at two locations in Germany during 1980 through 1983 range from 0.7×10⁶ to 3.2×10⁶ cm^-3. Simultaneously we measured the concentrations of O₃, H₂O, NO, NO₂, CH₄, CO, and the light non methane hydrocarbons. We also determined the photolysis rates of O₃ and NO₂. This allows calculations of OH using a zero dimensional time depdendent model. The modelled OH concentrations significantly exceed the measured values for low NO _x concentrations. It is argued that additional, so far unidentified. HO _x loss reactions must be responsible for that discrepancy.     

The global distribution of methane in the troposphere

Methane has been measured in air samples collected at approximately weekly intervals at 23 globally distributed sites in the NOAA/GMCC cooperative flask sampling network. Sites range in latitude from 90° S to 76° N, and at most of these we report 2 years of data beginning in early 1983. All measurements have been made by gas chromatography with a flame ionization detector at the NOAA/GMCC laboratory in Boulder, Colorado. All air samples have been referenced to a single secondary standard of methane-in-air, ensuring a high degree of internal consistency in the data. The precision of measurements is estimated from replicate determinations on each sample as 0.2%. The latitudinal distribution of methane and the seasonal variation of this distribution in the marine boundary layer has been defined in great detail, including a remarkable uniformity in background levels of methane in the Southern Hemisphere. We report for the first time the observation of a complete seasonal cycle of methane at the South Pole. A significant vertical gradient is observed between a sea level and a high altitude site in Hawaii. Globally averaged background concentrations in the marine boundary layer have been calculated for the 2 year-period May 1983–April 1985 inclusive, from which we find an average increase of 12.8 ppb per year, or 0.78% per year when referenced to the globally averaged concentration (1625 ppb) at the mid-point of this period. We present evidence that there has been a slowing down in the methane growth rate.Presented at the Conference on the Scientific Application of Baseline Observations of Atmospheric Composition (SABOAC), Aspendale, Australia, 7–9 November 1984.     

利用GPS技术遥感大气对流层水汽含量的研究

讨论了利用 GPS系统探测大气对流层水汽含量的原理和数学模型 ,对利用 GPS遥感大气对流层水汽的加权平均温度、水汽含量随时间的变化等一些关键问题进行了探讨。通过对我国沿海地区大连、青岛、闸坡、坎门、厦门 5个测站的实验数据的解算 ,获得了较为满意的结果。     

Processing of oxidised nitrogen compounds by passage through winter-time orographic cloud

Four case studies are described, from a three-site field experiment in October/November 1991 using the Great Dun Fell flow-through reactor hill cap cloud in rural Northern England. Measurements of total odd-nitrogen nitrogen oxides (NO _y ) made on either side of the hill, before and after the air flowed through the cloud, showed that 10 to 50% of the NO _y , called NO _z , was neither NO nor NO₂. This NO _z failed to exhibit a diurnal variation and was often higher after passage through cloud than before. No evidence of conversion of NO _z to NO₃ ^- in cloud was found. A simple box model of gas-phase chemistry in air before it reached the cloud, including scavenging of NO₃ and N₂O₅ by aerosol of surface area proportional to the NO₂ mixing ratio, shows that NO₃ and N₂O₅ may build up in the boundary layer by night only if stable stratification insulates the air from emissions of NO. This may explain the lack of evidence for N₂O₅ forming NO₃ ^- in cloud under well-mixed conditions in 1991, in contrast with observations under stably stratified conditions during previous experiments when evidence of N₂O₅ was found. Inside the cloud, some variations in the calculated total atmospheric loading of HNO₂ and the cloud liquid water content were related to each other. Also, indications of conversion of NO _x to NO _z were found. To explain these observations, scavenging of NO _x and HNO₂ by cloud droplets and/or aqueous-phase oxidation of NO₂ ^- by nitrate radicals are considered. When cloud acidity was being produced by aqueous-phase oxidation of NO _x or SO₂, NO₃ ^- which had entered the cloud as aerosol particles was liberated as HNO₃ vapour. When no aqueous-phase production of acidity was occurring, the reverse, conversion of scavenged HNO₃ to particulate NO₃ ^-, was observed.     

Accuracy of ozonesonde measurements in the troposphere

Measurements of atmospheric ozone at concentrations typical of the free troposphere have been compared for ECC sondes and a UV-absorption photometer, using a Bendix chemiluminescent analyser as a transfer standard. Comparisons were conducted in the laboratory and in the tropospheric part of the atmosphere. It was found that the measurements agreed to within 4% provided that the background current for the ECC sonde was measured before exposure to ozone in the preparation procedure, and was assumed to be constant throughout the sonde flight. These results confirm those of earlier experiments and mean that the methods currently used to correct for the background current in the troposphere need to be revised.     

Collection and analysis of atmospheric ozone samples

Anomalies found in the isotope ratios of ozone are traceable to the ozone formation process. Metastable electronic states may be responsible for the preferred production of the heavy molecules. While laboratory isotope data and first tropospheric results agree well in the magnitude of isotope enrichments, stratospheric measurements show often higher values. Only through the collection of ozone samples can sufficiently large amounts of gas be obtained to analyze the three isotopes ⁴⁸O₃, ⁴⁹O₃, and ⁵⁰O₃. Collector systems have been developed and successfully operated in the troposphere and in the stratosphere. They will play in the future an important role in atmospheric oxygen isotope studies.     

Direct Observations of Atmospheric Transport and Stratosphere-Troposphere Exchange from High-Precision Carbon Dioxide and Carbon Monoxide Profile Measurements

The balloon-borne Aircore campaign was conducted in Inner Mongolia,China,on June 13 and 14 2018,which detected carbon dioxide(CO_2) and carbon monoxide(CO) profiles from surface to 24 km,showing strong positive and negative correlations between 8 km and 10 km on 13 and 14 June,respectively.Backward trajectories,meteorological analyses,and CO_2 horizontal distributions were combined to interpret this phenomenon.The results indicated that the source region experienced a stratospheric intrusion and exhibited a large horizontal CO_2 gradient;namely,lower CO concentrations corresponded to higher CO_2 concentrations and vice versa.The laminar structure with multiple origins resulted in the highly negative correlation between CO_2 and CO in the upper troposphere on 14 June.The contribution of stratospheric air mass to the upper troposphere and that of tropospheric air mass to the lower stratosphere were 26.7% and24.3%,respectively,based on a mass balance approach.Another interesting phenomenon is that CO_2 and CO concentrations increased substantially at approximately 8 km on 13 June.An analysis based on the backward trajectory implied that the air mass possibly came from anthropogenic sources.The slope of CO_2/CO representing the anthropogenic sources was 87.3 ppm ppm~(-1).In addition,the CO_2 profile showed that there was a large CO_2 gradient of 4 ppm km-1 within the boundary layer on 13 June,and this gradient disappeared on 14 June.     

Gamma Emitters on Micro-Becquerel Activity Level in Air at Kraków (Poland)

The Petryanov air filters combined into half-year sets were analyzed for the presence of ⁴⁰K, ¹³⁷Cs and ²²Na by means of low-background gamma rays spectrometry. Each sample contains aerosols from more than 1 Mm³ of air. Samples were collected in ground level air at Kraków (Southern Poland) from 1996 to 2002. Activity concentrations of ⁴⁰K are almost constant with the mean of 14.7± 4.5 Bq m^–3. Activity concentrations of ¹³⁷Cs, which are on the level of single Bq m^{– 3} show exponential decrease with effective half-life time of 7.07± 0.77 years. The cosmogenic ²²Na shows a strong seasonal variation with significant different mean values activity concentration between 0.333± 0.095 Bq m^–3 and 0.137± 0.045 Bq m^–3, for summer and winter, respectively. Moreover, the activity ratio for two cosmogenic radionuclides: ²²Na and measured previously ⁷Be show also changes with statistically significant seasonal differences. The lower values were found during winters. The mechanisms which might govern this ratio are discussed. The conclusion is that transport of ²²Na during summer seems to be so much effective, that results in kind of relative depletion of stratosphere of this nuclide.