References

ACPD

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions

ACPD

1680-7375

Copernicus GmbH

Göttingen, Germany

10.5194/acpd-10-8103-2010

Assessing the regional surface influence through Backward Lagrangian Dispersion Models for aircraft CO2 vertical profiles observations in NE Spain

Font

¹ ² Morguí

J.-A.

¹ ² Rodó

¹ ³

Institut Català de Ciències del Clima, Dr. Trueta 203, 08005, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Laboratori de Recerca del Clima, Parc Científic de Barcelona, Universitat de Barcelona, Baldiri i Reixach, 4-6, Torre D, 08028, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Passeig Lluís Companys, 23, 08010, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

29 03 2010

10 3 8103 8134

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A weekly climatology for 2006 composed of 96-h-backward Lagrangian Particle Dispersion simulations is presented for nine aircraft sites measuring vertical profiles of atmospheric CO2 mixing ratios along the 42° N parallel in NE Spain to assess the surface influence at a regional scale (102–103 km) at different altitudes in the vertical profile (600, 1200, 2500 and 4000 meters above the sea level, m a.s.l.). The Potential Surface Influence (PSI) area for the 96-h-backward simulations, defined as the air layer above ground with a thickness of 300 m, are reduced from the continental scale (~107 km2) to the watershed one (~104 km2), when a Residence Time Threshold Criteria (Rttc) greater than 500 s is imposed for each grid cell. In addition, this regional restricted information is confined during 50 h before the arrival for simulations centered at 600 and 1200 m a.s.l. At higher altitudes (2500 and 4000 m a.s.l.), the regional surface influence is only recovered during spring and summer months. For simulations centered at 600 and 1200 m a.s.l. sites separated by ~60 km may overlap 20–50% of the regional surface influences whereas sites separated by ~350 km as such do not overlap. The overlap for sites separated by ~60 km decreases to 8–40% at higher altitudes (2500 and 4000 m a.s.l.). A dense network of sampling sites below 2200 m a.s.l. (whether aircraft sites or tall tower ones) guarantees an appropriate regional coverage to properly assess the dynamics of the regional carbon cycle at a watershed scale (102–103 km length scale).

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