Satellite observations of ethylene

Abstract:

Ethylene (C₂H₄) is a trace gas commonly associated with boreal fire plumes and the petrochemical industry. It has a short lifetime (~1-2 days) in the troposphere due to its reaction with OH. Chemical destruction of ethylene in the atmosphere leads to the production of ozone precursors such as carbon monoxide (CO) and formaldehyde. The Tropospheric Emission Spectrometer (TES) is a Fourier Transform Spectrometer aboard the Aura satellite that measures thermal infrared radiances with high spectral resolution. Trace gas products retrieved routinely from TES spectra include O₃, CO, H₂O, HDO, CH₄, NH₃, HCOOH, CH₃OH, with OCS and PAN to be included in the next data release. The TES spectra also includes a wealth of untapped information about other trace gasses including ethylene. Ethylene was first observed in TES spectra by Alvarado et al. (2011), though it has yet to be developed into an operational product. Our study focuses on the detection and initial quantitative estimates of ethylene in TES special observations taken in support of the 2008 ARCTAS mission. Initial observations of HCN in the spectra may provide a way to distinguish between fire plume and petrochemical derived ethylene. Results indicate a correlation between ethylene and CO in fresh fire plumes but not in older plumes, consistent with the gas’s short lifetime. The approach adopted here to detect ethylene in the TES 2008 ARCTAS special observations can easily be expanded to larger datasets, including those from other thermal infrared sounders as well as to other trace gases.