Large-scale ozone and aerosol distributions, air mass characteristics, and ozone fluxes over the western Pacific Ocean in late winter/early spring

Authors

Edward V. Browell, NASAFollow
Marta Fenn, NASA
Carolyn Butler, NASA
William B. Grant, NASA
Vincent G. Brackett, Science Applications International Corporation
Jonathan Hair, NASA
Melody A. Avery, NASAFollow
Yuanlong Hu, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Reginald E. Newell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
H Fuelberg, Florida State University
Daniel J. Jacob, Harvard University
Bruce E. Anderson, NASAFollow
Elliot Atlas, NCARFollow
D R. Blake, University of California, Irvine
William H. Brune, Pennsylvania State University - Main Campus
Jack E. Dibb, University of New HampshireFollow
A Fried, University of Colorado Boulder
B J. Heikes, University of Rhode Island
G W. Sachse, NASAFollow
S T. Sandholm, Georgia Institute of Technology
Hanwant B. Singh, University of California, Davis
R. Talbot, University of New HampshireFollow
S Vay, NASA
Rodney J. Weber, Georgia Institute of Technology - Main CampusFollow
Karen B. Bartlett, University of New Hampshire - Main Campus

Abstract

Large-scale measurements of ozone (O₃) and aerosol distributions were made from the NASA DC-8 aircraft during the Transport and Chemical Evolution over the Pacific (TRACE-P) field experiment conducted in February–April 2001. Remote measurements were made with an airborne lidar to provide O₃ and multiple-wavelength aerosol backscatter profiles from near the surface to above the tropopause along the flight track. In situ measurements of O₃, aerosols, and a wide range of trace gases were made onboard the DC-8. Five-day backward trajectories were used in conjunction with the O₃ and aerosol distributions on each flight to indicate the possible origin of observed air masses, such as from biomass burning regions, continental pollution, desert regions, and oceanic regions. Average latitudinal O₃ and aerosol scattering ratio distributions were derived from all flights west of 150°E, and these distributions showed the average latitude and altitude dependence of different dynamical and chemical processes in determining the atmospheric composition over the western Pacific. TRACE-P (TP) showed an increase in the average latitudinal distributions of both O₃ and aerosols compared to PEM-West B (PWB), which was conducted in February–March 1994. O₃, aerosol, and potential vorticity levels were used to identify nine air mass types and quantify their frequency of occurrence as a function of altitude. This paper discusses the characteristics of the different air mass types encountered during TP and compares them to PWB. These results confirmed that most of the O₃ increase in TP was due to photochemistry. The average latitudinal eastward O₃flux in the western Pacific during TP was found to peak near 32°N with a total average O₃ flux between 14 and 46°N of 5.2 Tg/day. The eastward total CO flux was calculated to be 2.2 Tg-C/day with ∼6% estimated from Asia. The Asian flux of CO₂ and CH₄ was estimated at 4.9 and 0.06 Tg-C/day.

Department

Earth Sciences, Earth Systems Research Center

Publication Date

10-27-2003

Journal Title

Journal of Geophysical Research

Publisher

Wiley

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1029/2002JD003290

Document Type

Article

Recommended Citation

Browell, E. V., et al. (2003), Large-scale ozone and aerosol distributions, air mass characteristics, and ozone fluxes over the western Pacific Ocean in late winter/early spring, J. Geophys. Res., 108, 8805, doi:10.1029/2002JD003290, D20.

Rights

Copyright 2003 by the American Geophysical Union.