GAWTEC & YESS-Community Webinar on GHGs and Atmospheric Composition: Andrea KaiserWeiss - Air Masses

Modelling of air masses and impacts of Corona lockdown Trace gas concentrations of, e.g., CO2, as observed at towers or mountain stations, are determined by their air mass history. Modelling the air mass history can answer the question about the representativity of the observations. Using the numerical weather prediction model ICON together with the ART module, we can model the plumes of selected emission areas and relate these to the observations. This way, we model when and where the CO2 emission reductions caused by the Corona lockdown reach a measurable magnitude. Clearly, on short time scales, this is mainly determined by meteorological transport and mixing. On longer time scales, the carbon cycle (especially the exchange with the biosphere) has to be taken into account.

The ultimate aim is to relate measured greenhouse gas concentrations to their emissions, for the purpose of emission reduction verification. Several scientific projects are working on this, international exchange is provided by, e.g., the WMO subsidiary Integrated Global Greenhouse Gas Information System (IG3IS).