Efficacy of the CO Tracer Technique in Partitioning Biogenic and Anthropogenic Atmospheric CO₂ Signals in the Humid Subtropical Eastern Highland Rim City of Cookeville, Tennessee

Abstract

Accurate accounting of the partition between anthropogenic and biogenic carbon dioxide mixing ratios (CO2Anth and CO2Bio) in urban-based CO2 measurements is key to developing effective emission reduction strategies since such measurements can provide an independent catalogue of local and regional CO2 emission inventories. In an attempt to delineate the contribution of CO2Bio to the overall urban CO2 mixing ratio enhancements, carbon monoxide (CO) was utilized as a tracer, following CO2 and CO mixing ratio measurements using a wavelength-scanned cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS). These measurements were performed in Cookeville, TN, (36.1628° N, 85.5016° W), a medium-sized city within the Eastern Highland Rim region of the United States. Between the years 2017 and 2019, the average seasonal wintertime CO2Bio mixing ratios varied between −0.65 ± 3.44 ppm and 0.96 ± 2.66 ppm. During the springtime, the observed CO2Bio signals were largely negative while the CO2Anth values were generally lower than the wintertime values. The contribution of CO from the isoprene oxidation reaction with the hydroxyl radical (OH) (COisoprene) to the overall CO enhancement during the growing season was estimated to be ~17–27 ppb, underscoring the importance of considering the contribution of COisoprene to untangling different CO2Anth and CO2Bio sources and sinks in high isoprene-emitting urban environments.

Keywords

• biogenic carbon dioxide
• cavity ring-down spectroscopy
• wintertime biogenic CO₂
• isoprene oxidation
• Eastern Highland Rim
• urban-based CO₂ measurements