Authors
Jeff Peischl (CIRES,NOAA/GML), Ken Schuldt (CIRES,NOAA/GML), Andrew R. Jacobson (CIRES,NOAA/GML), Brad Weir (Morgan St. University; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), Sourish Basu (University of Maryland-College Park; NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), Lesley Ott (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center), Steve Borenstein (CIRES,NOAA/GML), Anna McAuliffe (CIRES,NOAA/GML), Kathryn McKain (NOAA/GML), Tim Newberger (CIRES,NOAA/GML), Sonja Wolter (CIRES,NOAA/GML), Colm Sweeney (NOAA/GML)
Abstract
NOAAâs Global Monitoring Laboratory operates a network of greenhouse gas (GHG) monitoring sites across the U.S. and the globe. Part of this network is the aircraft vertical profile network, a network of aircraft vertical profiles collecting whole air samples and measuring CO2, CH4, CO, and numerous other trace gas species. In North America, there are 13 such vertical profile sites currently operating. The National Observations of Greenhouse gases Aircraft Profiles (NOGAP) campaign is designed to fill spatial gaps in the vertical profile network. The NOGAP campaign involves a series of 96 vertical profiles across the conterminous U.S. aboard a Scientific Aviation Mooney aircraft. On board measurements include fast measurements of CO2, CH4, CO, H2O, O3, temperature, relative humidity, GPS latitude, longitude, altitude, heading, and wind speed and direction as well as 6 whole air samples per profile pair (up and down). The profiles range from 500 ft. above ground level to 20kft above sea level.
Here, we present a comparison of CO2 and CH4 data measured aboard the aircraft with global CO2 and CH4 models, CarbonTracker NRT (Near Real Time) for CO2 and CH4 and Goddard Earth Observing System (GEOS) NRT for CO2, CH4, and CO for the first six NOGAP campaigns from November 2023 through October 2024. We focus on a comparison of vertically-integrated concentrations and where the largest differences in these integrations occur between the measurements and model. These data will eventually be used to constrain carbon cycle models using the fast measurements of concentration and winds, which will help to enhance model accuracy of horizontal transport, vertical mixing, and boundary layer height, which will in turn improve model accuracy of emissions and sinks in the carbon cycle.