Pollution Events at the High-Altitude Mountain Site Zugspitze-Schneefernerhaus (2670 m a.s.l.), Germany

Ghasemifard, Homa; Vogel, Felix R.; Yuan, Ye; Luepke, Marvin; Chen, Jia; Ries, Ludwig; Leuchner, Michael; Schunk, Christian; Noreen Vardag, Sanam; Menzel, Annette

doi:10.3390/atmos10060330

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Pollution Events at the High-Altitude Mountain Site Zugspitze-Schneefernerhaus (2670 m a.s.l.), Germany

^1,*,

²,

¹,

^3,4

⁵,

⁶

⁷

⁸

and

Annette Menzel

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Professorship of Ecoclimatology, Technische Universität München, 85354 Freising, Germany

Climate Research Division, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, ON M3H 5T4, Canada

Professorship of Environmental Sensing and Modeling, Technische Universität München, 80333 Munich, Germany

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Institute for Advanced Study, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany

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German Environment Agency (UBA), 82475 Zugspitze, Germany

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Physical Geography and Climatology, RWTH Aachen University, 52056 Aachen, Germany

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Department for Safety and Radiation Protection, Technische Universität München, 85748 Garching, Germany

⁸

Heidelberg Center for the Environment, Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Atmosphere 2019, 10(6), 330; https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10060330

Received: 7 May 2019 / Revised: 12 June 2019 / Accepted: 14 June 2019 / Published: 18 June 2019

(This article belongs to the Special Issue High Altitude Site Observations of the Atmospheric Chemical Composition)

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Abstract

Within the CO₂ time series measured at the Environmental Research Station Schneefernerhaus (UFS), Germany, as part of the Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW) program, pollution episodes are traced back to local and regional emissions, identified by δ¹³C(CO₂) as well as ratios of CO and CH₄ to CO₂ mixing ratios. Seven episodes of sudden enhancements in the tropospheric CO₂ mixing ratio are identified in the measurements of mixing/isotopic ratios during five winter months from October 2012 to February 2013. The short-term CO₂ variations are closely correlated with changes in CO and CH₄ mixing ratios, achieving mean values of 6.0 ± 0.2 ppb/ppm for CO/CO₂ and 6.0 ± 0.1 ppb/ppm for CH₄/CO₂. The estimated isotopic signature of CO₂ sources (δ_s) ranges between −35‰ and −24‰, with higher values indicating contributions from coal combustion or wood burning, and lower values being the result of natural gas or gasoline. Moving Keeling plots with site-specific data selection criteria are applied to detect these pollution events. Furthermore, the HYSPLIT trajectory model is utilized to identify the trajectories during periods with CO₂ peak events. Short trajectories are found covering Western and Central Europe, while clean air masses flow from the Atlantic Ocean and the Arctic Ocean. View Full-Text

Keywords: atmospheric CO₂ mixing ratio; isotopic CO₂; emission ratio; air pollutant transport; Environmental Research Station Schneefernerhaus (UFS); Global Atmospheric Watch (GAW); HYSPLIT model

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Ghasemifard, H.; Vogel, F.R.; Yuan, Y.; Luepke, M.; Chen, J.; Ries, L.; Leuchner, M.; Schunk, C.; Noreen Vardag, S.; Menzel, A. Pollution Events at the High-Altitude Mountain Site Zugspitze-Schneefernerhaus (2670 m a.s.l.), Germany. Atmosphere 2019, 10, 330. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10060330

AMA Style

Ghasemifard H, Vogel FR, Yuan Y, Luepke M, Chen J, Ries L, Leuchner M, Schunk C, Noreen Vardag S, Menzel A. Pollution Events at the High-Altitude Mountain Site Zugspitze-Schneefernerhaus (2670 m a.s.l.), Germany. Atmosphere. 2019; 10(6):330. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10060330

Chicago/Turabian Style

Ghasemifard, Homa, Felix R. Vogel, Ye Yuan, Marvin Luepke, Jia Chen, Ludwig Ries, Michael Leuchner, Christian Schunk, Sanam Noreen Vardag, and Annette Menzel. 2019. "Pollution Events at the High-Altitude Mountain Site Zugspitze-Schneefernerhaus (2670 m a.s.l.), Germany" Atmosphere 10, no. 6: 330. https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos10060330

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