Continuous monitoring and the source identification of carbon dioxide at three sites in northeast Asia during 2004-2005

Abstract

We conducted continuous monitoring and the source identifi cation of carbon dioxide at Gosan, Seoul (Korea) and Yanbian during 2004-2005. The data reported are in situ continuous 1-year measurements of atmospheric CO2 from the Gosan, Seoul and Yanbian stations. One-minute averages of near-surface atmospheric CO2 concentration were obtained using a measurement system based on non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) analysis using the NOAA/ESRL (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration/Earth System Research Laboratory) standard with high precision monitoring data. The background CO 2 concentration of the complete measurement data was determined using the Advanced Global Atmospheric Gases Experiment (AGAGE) statistical pollution identifi cation procedure for removing pollution episode data. The background characteristics at Gosan are discussed in detail. The background concentration of CO2 showed quite evident diurnal and seasonal variation. The diurnal variation shows a maximum in the nighttime and a minimum in the daytime, and the seasonal cycle shows a maximum in spring and a minimum in summer. Background data at Seoul and Yanbian also show a similar trend. In addition, we applied a hybrid receptor model driven by three-dimensional synoptic meteorology from the HYSPLIT4 (HYbrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory) model to determine CO2 relative emission strength contributions from the Northeast Asia region as observed from Gosan. Modeling results from Seoul and Yanbian are also presented-they are important in creating a full potential source region map of the Northeast Asia region, as observations from Gosan are limited to the wind patterns crossing the station. Results indicate that there appears to be a large potential source region in the northeastern and eastern parts of China. Keywords: Carbon dioxide, continuous monitoring, emission strength, long-range transport, trajectory © 2008 Springer Science+Business Media B.V.