Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 9 4 2009 10.5194/acpd-9-15725-2009 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/15725/2009/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/15725/2009/acpd-9-15725-2009.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/15725/2009/acpd-9-15725-2009.pdf 15725 15746 2009-07-24 Increasing synoptic scale variability in atmospheric CO₂ at Hateruma Island associated with increasing East Asian emissions Y. Tohjima tohjima@nies.go.jp H. Mukai S. Hashimoto P. K. Patra Atmospheric Environment Division, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan Center for Global Environmental Research, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan Research Institute for Global Change, JAMSTEC, Yokohama, Japan In-situ observations of atmospheric CO₂ and CH₄ at Hateruma Island, Japan show large synoptic scale variations during a 6-month period from November to April, when the sampled air is predominantly of continental origin due to the Asian winter monsoon. Synoptic scale variations are extracted from the daily averaged values for the years between 1996 and 2007, along with the annual standard deviations (σ_CO₂ and σ_CH₄ for CO₂ and CH₄, respectively) for the relevant 6-month period. The temporal change in σ_CO₂ shows a systematically increasing trend over the 12-year period, with elevated excursions in 1998 and 2003; there is no clear trend in σ_CH₄. 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