Analysis of distribution of CO2 concentration in Korea summer using Carbon tracker.

Abstract:

CO2 is one of the most important trace gases related to climate change. Therefore, understanding surface carbon sources and sinks is important when seeking to estimate the impact of CO2 on the environment and climate. CarbonTracker, developed by NOAA, is an inverse modeling system that estimates surface carbon fluxes using an ensemble Kalman filter with atmospheric CO2 measurements as constraints. In this study, we analyze the characteristics of CO2 distribution in the metropolitan area of South Korea. The CO2 concentration increases due to respiration near the surface during the night, and reaches a maximum at sunrise. Soon after sunrise, the CO2 mixing ratio decreases rapidly due to the entrainment of lower-CO2 aloft, photosynthetic uptake and turbulent mixing in CBL (Convective Boundary layer). A advection could also play a role as well but this is likely minor relative to the other contributing ones. The CO2 mixing ratio reaches a minimum around the late afternoon. As a result of this diurnal variation, the monthly mean CO2 decreases with height from the ground to the top of CBL.