Measurements of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and acetylene (C2H2) from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI)

Hydrogen cyanide (HCN) and acetylene (C2H2) are ubiquitous atmospheric trace gases with medium lifetime, which are frequently used as indicators of combustion sources and as tracers for atmospheric transport and chemistry. Because of their weak infrared absorption, overlapped by the CO2 Q branch near 720 cm−1, nadir sounders have up to now failed to measure these gases routinely. Taking into account CO2 line mixing, we provide for the first time extensive measurements of HCN and C2H2 total columns at Reunion Island (21° S, 55° E) and Jungfraujoch (46° N, 8° E) in 2009–2010 using observations from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer (IASI). A first order comparison with local ground-based Fourier transform InfraRed (FTIR) measurements has been carried out allowing tests of seasonal consistency which is reasonably captured, except for HCN at Jungfraujoch. The IASI data shows a greater tendency to high C2H2 values. We also examine a nonspecific biomass burning plume over austral Africa and show that the emission ratios with respect to CO agree with previously reported values

Convective Mixing Induced by Acid-Base Reactions

International audienceWhen two miscible solutions, each containing a reactive species, are put in contact in the gravity field, local variations in the density due to the reaction can induce convective motion and mixing. We characterize here both experimentally and theoretically such buoyancy-driven instabilities induced by the neutralization of a strong acid by a strong base in aqueous solutions. The diverse patterns obtained are shown to depend on the type of reactants used and on their relative concentrations. They have their origin in a combination of classical hydrodynamic instabilities including differential diffusion of the solutes involved while temperature effects only play a marginal role

Fire emissions in Euro-Mediterranean area : evaluation of the impact on trace gases composition using satellite and surface observations

Wildfires are one of the main sources of trace gases and aerosols. However, their impact remains poorly quantified due to large uncertainties especially on the emissions, as well as on the transport processes and chemical evolution of the pollution plumes. In the framework of APIFLAME project a new high resolution fire emission inventory is developed. Simulations performed with the regional chemistry transport model CHIMERE, are carried out in order to assess the effect of the emissions scenarios on air quality in Europe and Mediterranean basin. For a comprehensive evaluation of the processes involved with fire emissions and a validation of simulations, the modeled species are compared to satellite observations and ground measurements. The latter data have good accuracy with high temporal resolution, but they are collected at specific locations and, in general for our case study, are far away from the location where wildfires occur. On the other hand, the satellite data, due to their high spatial coverage, can be a useful tool for monitoring pollution plumes transport, but their vertical resolution is often limited to a total column amount. In this study, the modeled concentrations are compared to the ground measurements (CO, O3 and NO2 concentrations)that come from Air Base database, and to CO partial columns and CO, NH3 and C2H4 total columns from the IASI instrument, to NO2 and CH2O total columns from GOME2 (both on MetOp-A satellite) and to NO2 total columns from OMI (on Aura). In the presented work we focus on strong biomass burning episodes that occurred in summer2007. Particular attention is given to the evolution of the plume characteristics. The same fire inventory setup is used for both reanalysis and near-real time analysis. The first evaluation of the air quality forecasting system including fires will be presented