Estimation of the fossil fuel component in atmospheric CO₂ based on radiocarbon measurements at the Beromünster tall tower, Switzerland

Berhanu, Tesfaye; Szidat, Sonke; Brunner, Dominik; Satar, Ece; Schanda, Rudiger; Nyfeler, Peter; Battaglia, Michael; Steinbacher, Martin; Hammer, Samuel; Leuenberger, Markus (2017). Estimation of the fossil fuel component in atmospheric CO₂ based on radiocarbon measurements at the Beromünster tall tower, Switzerland. Atmospheric chemistry and physics Discussions, pp. 1-33. European Geosciences Union 10.5194/acp-2017-168

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Fossil fuel CO₂ (CO₂ff/ is the major contributor of anthropogenic CO₂ in the atmosphere, and accurate quantification is essential to better understand the carbon cycle. Since October 2012, we have been continuously measuring the mixing ratios of CO, CO₂, CH₄, and H₂O at five different heights at the Beromünster tall tower, Switzerland. Air samples
for radiocarbon (Δ¹⁴CO₂) analysis have also been collected from the highest sampling inlet (212.5 m) of the tower on a biweekly basis. A correction was applied for ¹⁴CO₂ emissions from nearby nuclear power plants (NPPs), which have been simulated with the Lagrangian transport model FLEXPART-COSMO. The ¹⁴CO₂ emissions from NPPs offset the depletion in ¹⁴C by fossil fuel emissions, resulting in an underestimation of the fossil fuel component in atmospheric CO₂ by about 16 %. An average observed ratio (RCO) of 13.4±1.3 mmol mol⁻¹ was calculated from the enhancements in CO mixing ratios relative to the clean-air reference site Jungfraujoch (ΔCO) and the radiocarbon-based fossil fuel CO₂ mole fractions. The wintertime RCO estimate of 12.5±3.3 is about 30% higher than the wintertime ratio between in situ measured CO and CO2 enhancements at Beromünster over the Jungfraujoch background (8.7 mmol mol⁻¹) corrected for non-fossil contributions due to strong biospheric contribution despite the strong correlation between ΔCO and ΔCO₂ in winter. By combining the ratio derived using the radiocarbon measurements and the in situ measured CO mixing ratios, a high-resolution time series of CO₂ff was calculated exhibiting a clear seasonality driven by seasonal variability in emissions and vertical mixing. By
subtracting the fossil fuel component and the large-scale background, we have determined the regional biospheric CO₂ component that is characterized by seasonal variations ranging between -15 and +30 ppm. A pronounced diurnal variation was observed during summer modulated by biospheric exchange and vertical mixing, while no consistent pattern was found during winter.

Item Type:

Journal Article (Original Article)

Division/Institute:

08 Faculty of Science > Physics Institute > Climate and Environmental Physics
10 Strategic Research Centers > Oeschger Centre for Climate Change Research (OCCR)

UniBE Contributor:

Berhanu, Tesfaye, Leuenberger, Markus

Subjects:

500 Science > 530 Physics
500 Science > 550 Earth sciences & geology

ISSN:

1680-7375

Publisher:

European Geosciences Union

Language:

English

Submitter:

Doris Rätz

Date Deposited:

17 Apr 2018 16:47

Last Modified:

02 Mar 2023 23:30

Publisher DOI:

10.5194/acp-2017-168

BORIS DOI:

10.7892/boris.109411

URI:

https://boris.unibe.ch/id/eprint/109411

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