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Evaluation of the airborne quantum cascade laser spectrometer (QCLS) measurements of the carbon and greenhouse gas suite – CO 2 , CH 4 , N 2 O, and CO – during the CalNex and HIPPO campaigns

G. Santoni,B. Daube,E. Kort,R. Jiménez,Sunyoung Park,V. Pittman,E. Gottlieb,B. Xiang,M. Zahniser,D. Nelson,J. Barry,J B Mcmanus,J. Peischl,T. Ryerson,J. Holloway,A. Andrews,Colm,Sweeney,B. Hall,E. Hintsa,F. Moore,J. Elkins,D. Hurst,B. Stephens,J. Bent,S. Wofsy

Published 2013 in Atmospheric Measurement Techniques

ABSTRACT

Abstract. We present an evaluation of aircraft observations of the carbon and greenhouse gases CO2, CH4, N2O, and CO using a direct-absorption pulsed quantum cascade laser spectrometer (QCLS) operated during the HIPPO and CalNex airborne experiments. The QCLS made continuous 1 Hz measurements with 1σ Allan precisions of 20, 0.5, 0.09, and 0.15 ppb for CO2, CH4, N2O, and CO, respectively, over > 500 flight hours on 79 research flights. The QCLS measurements are compared to two vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) CO instruments (CalNex and HIPPO), a cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS) measuring CO2 and CH4 (CalNex), two broadband non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) spectrometers measuring CO2 (HIPPO), two onboard gas chromatographs measuring a variety of chemical species including CH4, N2O, and CO (HIPPO), and various flask-based measurements of all four species. QCLS measurements are tied to NOAA and WMO standards using an in-flight calibration system, and mean differences when compared to NOAA CCG flask data over the 59 HIPPO research flights were 100, 1, 1, and 2 ppb for CO2, CH4, N2O, and CO, respectively. The details of the end-to-end calibration procedures and the data quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) are presented. Specifically, we discuss our practices for the traceability of standards given uncertainties in calibration cylinders, isotopic and surface effects for the long-lived greenhouse gas tracers, interpolation techniques for in-flight calibrations, and the effects of instrument linearity on retrieved mole fractions.

PUBLICATION RECORD

  • Publication year

    2013

  • Venue

    Atmospheric Measurement Techniques

  • Publication date

    2013-11-13

  • Fields of study

    Physics, Chemistry, Environmental Science

  • Identifiers
    DOI 10.5194/AMT-7-1509-2014
  • External record

    Open on Semantic Scholar

  • Source metadata

    Semantic Scholar

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