Atmosphere (Mar 2023)
N<sub>2</sub>O Temporal Variability from the Middle Troposphere to the Middle Stratosphere Based on Airborne and Balloon-Borne Observations during the Period 1987–2018
- Gisèle Krysztofiak,
- Valéry Catoire,
- Thierry Dudok de Wit,
- Douglas E. Kinnison,
- A. R. Ravishankara,
- Vanessa Brocchi,
- Elliot Atlas,
- Heiko Bozem,
- Róisín Commane,
- Francesco D’Amato,
- Bruce Daube,
- Glenn S. Diskin,
- Andreas Engel,
- Felix Friedl-Vallon,
- Eric Hintsa,
- Dale F. Hurst,
- Peter Hoor,
- Fabrice Jegou,
- Kenneth W. Jucks,
- Armin Kleinböhl,
- Harry Küllmann,
- Eric A. Kort,
- Kathryn McKain,
- Fred L. Moore,
- Florian Obersteiner,
- Yenny Gonzalez Ramos,
- Tanja Schuck,
- Geoffrey C. Toon,
- Silvia Viciani,
- Gerald Wetzel,
- Jonathan Williams,
- Steven C. Wofsy
Affiliations
- Gisèle Krysztofiak
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace (LPC2E), Université Orléans—CNRS—CNES, CEDEX 2, 45071 Orléans, France
- Valéry Catoire
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace (LPC2E), Université Orléans—CNRS—CNES, CEDEX 2, 45071 Orléans, France
- Thierry Dudok de Wit
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace (LPC2E), Université Orléans—CNRS—CNES, CEDEX 2, 45071 Orléans, France
- Douglas E. Kinnison
- National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO 80301, USA
- A. R. Ravishankara
- Department of Chemistry and Atmospheric Science, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO 80523, USA
- Vanessa Brocchi
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace (LPC2E), Université Orléans—CNRS—CNES, CEDEX 2, 45071 Orléans, France
- Elliot Atlas
- Department of Atmospheric Sciences, RSMAS, University of Miami, Miami, FL 33149, USA
- Heiko Bozem
- Institute for Atmospheric Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Becherweg 21, 55128 Mainz, Germany
- Róisín Commane
- Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, Palisades, NY 10964, USA
- Francesco D’Amato
- CNR—National Institute of Optics, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
- Bruce Daube
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02138, USA
- Glenn S. Diskin
- NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, VA 23681, USA
- Andreas Engel
- Institute for Atmospheric and Environmental Science, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Felix Friedl-Vallon
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
- Eric Hintsa
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
- Dale F. Hurst
- NASA, Earth Science Division, NASA HQ, Washington, DC 20546, USA
- Peter Hoor
- Institute for Atmospheric Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Becherweg 21, 55128 Mainz, Germany
- Fabrice Jegou
- Laboratoire de Physique et Chimie de l’Environnement et de l’Espace (LPC2E), Université Orléans—CNRS—CNES, CEDEX 2, 45071 Orléans, France
- Kenneth W. Jucks
- NASA, Earth Science Division, NASA HQ, Washington, DC 20546, USA
- Armin Kleinböhl
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Harry Küllmann
- Institute of Environmental Physics, University of Bremen, Otto-Hahn-Allee 1, 28359 Bremen, Germany
- Eric A. Kort
- Department of Climate and Space Sciences and Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- Kathryn McKain
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
- Fred L. Moore
- Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309, USA
- Florian Obersteiner
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
- Yenny Gonzalez Ramos
- CIMEL Electronique, 75011 Paris, France
- Tanja Schuck
- Institute for Atmospheric and Environmental Science, Goethe University Frankfurt, 60323 Frankfurt am Main, Germany
- Geoffrey C. Toon
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA
- Silvia Viciani
- CNR—National Institute of Optics, Via Madonna del Piano 10, 50019 Sesto Fiorentino, Italy
- Gerald Wetzel
- Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Institute of Meteorology and Climate Research, 76021 Karlsruhe, Germany
- Jonathan Williams
- Air Chemistry Department, Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, 55128 Mainz, Germany
- Steven C. Wofsy
- Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02138, USA
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos14030585
- Journal volume & issue
-
Vol. 14,
no. 3
p. 585
Abstract
Nitrous oxide (N2O) is the fourth most important greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and is considered the most important current source gas emission for global stratospheric ozone depletion (O3). It has natural and anthropogenic sources, mainly as an unintended by-product of food production activities. This work examines the identification and quantification of trends in the N2O concentration from the middle troposphere to the middle stratosphere (MTMS) by in situ and remote sensing observations. The temporal variability of N2O is addressed using a comprehensive dataset of in situ and remote sensing N2O concentrations based on aircraft and balloon measurements in the MTMS from 1987 to 2018. We determine N2O trends in the MTMS, based on observations. This consistent dataset was also used to study the N2O seasonal cycle to investigate the relationship between abundances and its emission sources through zonal means. The results show a long-term increase in global N2O concentration in the MTMS with an average of 0.89 ± 0.07 ppb/yr in the troposphere and 0.96 ± 0.15 ppb/yr in the stratosphere, consistent with 0.80 ppb/yr derived from ground-based measurements and 0.799 ± 0.024 ppb/yr ACE-FTS (Atmospheric Chemistry Experiment Fourier Transform Spectrometer) satellite measurements.
Keywords
- N<sub>2</sub>O variability
- upper troposphere
- stratosphere
- in situ measurements
- balloon data
- aircraft data
