Seasonal Variability in Local Carbon Dioxide Combustion Sources over the
Central and Eastern US using Airborne In-Situ Enhancement Ratios
Abstract
We present observations of local enhancements in carbon dioxide
(CO2) from local emissions sources over three eastern US
regions during four deployments of the Atmospheric Carbon
Transport-America (ACT-America) campaign between summer 2016 and spring
2018. Local CO2 emissions were characterized by carbon
monoxide (CO) to CO2 enhancement ratios (i.e.
ΔCO/ΔCO2) in airmass mixing observed during aircraft
transects within the atmospheric boundary layer. By analyzing
regional-scale variability of CO2 enhancements as a
function of ΔCO/ΔCO2 enhancement ratios, observed
relative contributions to CO2 emissions were contrasted
between different combustion regimes across regions and seasons. Ninety
percent of observed summer combustion in all regions was attributed to
high efficiency fossil fuel (FF) combustion (ΔCO/ΔCO2
< 0.5%). In other seasons, regional contributions increased
from less efficient forms of FF combustion (ΔCO/ΔCO2
0.5-2%) to as much as 60% of observed combustion. CO2
emission contributions attributed to biomass burning (BB)
(ΔCO/ΔCO2 > 4%) were negligible during
summer and fall in all regions, but climbed to 10-12% of observed
combustion in the South during winter and spring. Vulcan v3
CO2 2015 emission analysis showed increases in
residential and commercial sectors seasonally matching increases in less
efficient FF combustion, but could not explain regional trends. WRF-Chem
modeling, driven by CarbonTracker CO2 fire emissions,
matched observed winter and spring BB contributions, but conflictingly
predicted similar levels of BB during fall. Satellite fire data from
MODIS and VIIRS suggested higher spatial resolution fire data might
improve modeled BB emissions.