A comparison of very recent model simulations compared to observations indicates there is a recent, substantial change in the presence of the atmospheric tracer 14CO in the high latitude Northern Hemisphere. Such changes may well be a reflection of variations in the presence of atmospheric OH and therefore the atmospheric oxidation potential.
In this project, researchers at the State University of New York at Stony Brook will measure 14CO at an established site (Westmann Islands, Iceland) and compare with model simulations to test our understanding of the atmospheric oxidation potential. Because 14CO is a cosmogenically produced molecule that reacts almost exclusively with OH, the loss rate can be calculated if the inventory is measured, since the production rate is now well constrained. As a result of efforts by the international modeling community, model simulations of 14CO have improved dramatically with the use of existing 14CO data. Assessing the atmospheric oxidation potential has recently been highlighted as an important research area (Lelieveld et al., 2006; 7th IGAC Conference, 2002: Hot Topic: Stability of Global OH and Detection of OH Trends). The research team will compare their NH data with data from the Southern Hemisphere as well, since sampling sites in the middle and high latitude Southern Hemisphere will be operated, independently but concurrently, by the National Institute for Water and Atmospheres, Crown Research Institute, New Zealand. The research team will also investigate the relative contribution from biomass burning to the CO budget of the Southern Hemisphere during preindustrial times. This will be done by measuring the abundance of the stable C and O isotopes of CO from firn air samples.
This project will feature significant international and educational broader impacts. The scope of the research will be fundamentally international in terms of both scientific scope and scientific collaborations. Model development will be spearheaded by Prof. Maarten Krol (Utrecht University, the Netherlands), Dr. Patrick Jöckel (Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Mainz, Germany), and Dr. Louisa Emmons (NCAR). Extraction of air from ice samples will take place at the Laboratory for Glaciology and Geophysics, National Scientific Research Center (CNRS), Grenoble, France, in collaboration with Dr. Jerome Chappellaz; and samples collected from the Southern Hemisphere, to be directly compared with our work in the NH, will be carried out by Dr. David Lowe?s research group at the National Institute for Water and Atmosphere, Crown Research Institute, Wellington, New Zealand. Collaborations such as these reflect the level of interest in this work by the international community. Because of its relatively high level of enrollment of minority students, SUNY Stony Brook is an excellent recruiting campus for identifying and nurturing underrepresented groups in the atmospheric sciences. The principal investigator plans to recruit and promote qualified, underrepresented minority students into the earth sciences. Undergraduate participation will be encouraged.
For the first time ever, we measured the stable isotopes of atmospheric CO trapped in air bubbles in ice cores. This required the development of an analytical technique, which was very challenging. Then we applied the new techniques and the constructed analytical equipment to measure 12CO, 13CO and C18O in air bubbles trapped in ice cores from Antarctica.The interpretation of these results led to the observation that biomass burning varied greatly over the past 650 years in the Southern Hemisphere, and in fact, biomass burning rates were significantly greating during preindustrial times compared to today (this was published in Science, December 2010). Educational Activity and Broader Impacts Mak was thesis advisor for the following students: Dr. Kolby Jardine earned his PhD in 2008 (not directly supported by this grant) Ms. Tracey Evans earned her MS in 2009 (supported by this grant) Dr. Zhihui Wang earned his PhD in 2010 (supported by this grant) Dr. Key Hong Park earned his PhD in 2011 (supported by this grant) A significant effort was made to incorporate undergraduate students interested in a teaching career into research activities. Kimberly Lamont worked with the Mak group from Feb 2011 to Sept 2012 (graduated from Stony Brook in May 2012), and is now earning her MS in education and will begin teaching science subjects (earth science, biology, chemistry) at the high school level in the fall of 2013. Kim was a real asset to the group and was instrumental in picking up the slack in sample processing after Dr. Wang departed for a new job. She also was deployed to Manitou Forest, Colorado, as part of the BEACHON project, in the summer of 2011. Bart Piscitello worked in Mak’s group from February 2011 to May 2012 (graduated Stony Brook in May 2012). At that time he was accepted to a new program for science teachers at the Natural History Museum in New York. This prestigious program provides a full stipend to successful applicants in exchange for teaching at a high needs school. It is an accelerated program, and Bart is already in the classroom as a fulltime instructor. Several peer-reviewed publications resulted from this project, and these are listed below. K.H. Park*, L. Emmons, J.E. Mak, Large Interannual Variations in Biogenic Volatile Organic Compound Emissions based on Measurements of Carbon Monoxide, Geophys. Res. Lett., in press. V. Petrenko et al., inc. Z. Wang* and J.E. Mak, A 60 Year Record of Atmospheric Carbon Monoxide Reconstructed from Greenland Firn Air, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 18993-19037, 2012. Z. Wang*, J. Chappellaz, P. Martinerie, K. Park, V. Petrenko, T. Blunier, C. Brenninkmeijer, J. E. Mak, The isotopic record of Northern Hemisphere atmospheric carbon monoxide since 1950; Implications for the CO budget, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 12, 4365-4377, 2012. Z. Wang*, J. Chappellaz, K.H. Park*, and J.E. Mak, Large Variations in Southern Hemisphere Biomass Burning During the Last 650 Years, Science, 30, 1663-1666, 2010. Z. Wang* and J.E. Mak, A new CF-IRMS system for the quantification of the stable isotopes of carbon monoxide from ice cores and small air samples, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 3, 1307-1317, 2010. M.C. Krol, J-F Meirink, P Bergamaschi, J.E. Mak, D. Lowe, P. Jöckel, S. Houweling, What do 14CO measurements tell us?, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 8, 16, 5033-5044, 2008.
