Seasonal variations in the latitudinal distribution of tropospheric carbon monoxide, 1986 to 1988

Thesis/Dissertation · Mon Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:6328458

Hurst, D F

Carbon monoxide (CO) largely controls the oxidizing capacity of the Earth's atmosphere and indirectly influences the concentrations of many atmospheric trace gases. Previous studies have indicated that the abundance of CO in the lower troposphere depends primarily on latitude and season. A few researchers have reported that the atmospheric abundance of CO is increasing globally. Elevated levels of CO in the atmosphere may enhance global warming, stratospheric ozone depletion and photochemical smog production in urban areas. CO was measured in remote tropospheric air samples collected quarterly in the Pacific region during 1986 to 1988. Each season, sets of samples were collected over a wide latitude range during a two-week period, then were returned to the home laboratory for analysis by gas chromatography. The CO mixing ratio data were analyzed using a 1-dimensional, 16-latitude-band model of the atmosphere. During 1986 to 1988, carbon monoxide mixing ratios in the Northern Hemisphere were consistently greater than those in the Southern Hemisphere. The north-south ratio of hemisphere-averaged CO mixing ratios varied seasonally from about 1.4 in September to about 2.6 in March, and averaged 1.9 during 1986 to 1988.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Irvine, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6328458
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
AIR POLLUTION
ANNUAL VARIATIONS
ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON MONOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CHEMISTRY
EARTH ATMOSPHERE
GEOGRAPHICAL VARIATIONS
LATITUDE EFFECT
MIXING RATIO
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
OZONE
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
POLLUTION
SMOG
TROPOSPHERE
VARIATIONS