Atmospheric Lifetimes and Stratospheric Removal Rates for Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Destroying Substances from CO2-tracer relationships

Steven C Wofsy1, Jasna V. Pittman1, Qing Liang2, Bruce C Daube3, Paul A Newman4, Elliot L Atlas5 and Arlyn Andrews6, (1)Harvard University, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, United States, (2)NASA GSFC, Atmospheric Chemistry and Dynamic Laboratory, Greenbelt, United States, (3)Harvard University, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, Cambridge, United States, (4)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 610, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (5)University of Miami, Miami, United States, (6)NOAA Boulder, Boulder, United States
Abstract:
The long-term observations of atmospheric CO2 in the NOAA network provide an absolute time scale for global atmospheric processes. In this paper we combine observations of CO2, CO and CH4 to create the quantity C* that is conserved in the stratosphere, and develop relationships suitable for accurate determination of the absolute removal rates and lifetimes for Greenhouse Gases and Ozone Destroying Substances. Stratospheric missions spanning more than 20 years, from SPADE (1992) through SEAC4RS (2013) and including both balloon and aircraft data, are utilized. The Goddard implementation of GEOS-5 is applied to make the corrections required to account for the CO2 seasonal cycle and inhomogeneous stratospheric loss rates, and to place the results in a mechanistic context.
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