Smith Point Overview during DISCOVER-AQ Houston, Sept 2013

Anne Thompson (NASA & PSU), Deborah Zweers (NASA & GESTAR), Debra Kollonige (UMD), Doug Martins (PSU)

AQAST Meeting, Houston, Jan 2014Thanks to S. Miller & H. Halliday (PSU), R. Clark (MU)

Highlights

• FACILITIES– NATIVE (Nittany Atmospheric Trailer & Integrated Validation

Experiment) – Penn State Mobile Lab– Millersville Univ tethered balloon, sodar

• Ozone-NO-NOy-NO2 Overview & Late Sept. Episode– Ozonesondes– Special NO2 sonde

• Methane-CO2 Overview & Late Sept. Episode– Satellite methane comparison– Isotopic C – methane sources

NATIVE OPERATIONS AT SMITH POINT 28/8-27/9 2013

Ozone.met.psu.eduAll Data at NASA/Langley ArchiveCo-located with Millersville (MU) tethered balloon & trailers

Photos: D K Martins

Additional InstrumentsAt Smith Point:PSUPiccaro with 13-CQuadrupole PTR-MS1 Direct-sun PandoraMOPSGSFC2 Column PandorasCimel

Millersville U vans, Tethered balloonNOAA RadiometersTCEQ Wind Profiler

Pollution Episode, 24-26 Sept

25 Sept Outlier in Sondes;Mostly moderate in DAQ

NATIVEOzone

Houston Ozone Overview-SEAC4RS & DISCOVER-AQ

• Considerable variability throughout troposphere & at TTL• Mixtures of stratospheric air (inferred from H2O-O3 relation)

• O3 below ~5 km varies with marine flow, < 40 ppbv, vs recirc of pollution (> 50 ppbv)

NO2-Sonde Operations: Balloon & NATIVE

Photos: Deb Stein Zweers

NO2-Sonde Profiles 11:28 – 12:23 LTAl

titud

e [m

]

NO2 [ppbv], Temp [C]

25 Sep 2013

Preliminary Data: Deb Stein Zweers

ABOVE:NOy to 50 ppbv,NO ~10 ppbvNO2 15-30 ppbvAT SURFACELEFT:NO2 – SONDE,> 40 ppbv

PSU Native CH4 & CO2: Smith Point** Pollution event on September 24th & 25th stands out in their timeseries too!!!

PSU Native CH4 & CO2: Smith Point** Pollution event on September 24th & 25th stands out in their timeseries too!!!

XCH4

[ppm

v]

GOSAT measured XCH4 on September 25th , but lack of retrievals nearby Smith Point and its ~1400LT crossover time missed the ground enhancement. However, XCH4 was higher North of Smith Point on the 24th (not shown).

PSU Native CH4 & 13CH4: Smith Point CH4 isotopic signature is suggestive of biogenic emissions as source of enhancement. Background concentrations of CH4 (& < 2.5 ppmv) are mixture of natural gas (-35 to -50%) and

biogenic sources (-50 to -70%) making the mean campaign signature to be ~ -55%. Smith Point seems to be biogenic dominant (as is probably expected) since the background signature

found in Dlugokencky et al 2011 was ~-47%.

CH4 & 13CH4: Pollution Event vs. Entire Campaign

Intercept (-59%) for scatter plot (13CH4 vs 1/CH4) shows source of the >2.5 ppmv enhancements on 24-25 Sep. likely wetland (biogenic) emissions.

Most CH4 < 2.5 ppmv originates from sources NW of Smith Point during campaign (greater Houston)

Enhancements on the 24th & 25th > 3.0 ppmv from the Northeast (wetlands/rice paddies?)