Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics Discussions www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net 1680-7367 1680-7375 9 5 2009 10.5194/acpd-9-20195-2009 http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/20195/2009/ http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/20195/2009/acpd-9-20195-2009.html http://www.atmos-chem-phys-discuss.net/9/20195/2009/acpd-9-20195-2009.pdf 20195 20227 2009-09-25 A 15 year record of high-frequency, in situ measurements of hydrogen at Mace Head, Ireland A. Grant aoife.grant@bristol.ac.uk C. S. Witham P. G. Simmonds A. J. Manning S. O'Doherty School of Chemistry, University of Bristol, UK Met Office, FitzRoy Road, Exeter, Devon, UK Continuous high-frequency measurements of atmospheric molecular hydrogen have been made at Mace Head atmospheric research station on the west coast of Ireland from March 1994 to December 2008. The presented data provides a wealth of information on long term trends and seasonal cycles of hydrogen in background northern hemispheric air. Individual measurements have been sorted using a Lagrangian dispersion model to separate clean background air from regionally polluted European air masses and those transported from southerly latitudes. No significant trend was observed in background northern hemispheric air over the 15 year record, elevations in yearly means were accounted for from large scale biomass burning events. Seasonal cycles show the expected pattern with maxima in spring and minima in late autumn. The mean hydrogen mole fraction in baseline northern hemispheric air was found to be 500.1 ppb. Air transported from southerly latitudes showed an elevation from baseline mean of 11.0 ppb, reflecting both the latitudinal gradient of hydrogen, with higher concentrations in the southern hemisphere, and the large photochemical source of hydrogen from southerly latitudes. 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