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| Titel |
The Australian bushfires of February 2009: MIPAS observations and GEM-AQ model results |
| VerfasserIn |
N. Glatthor, M. Höpfner, K. Semeniuk, A. Lupu, P. I. Palmer, J. C. McConnell, J. W. Kaminski, T. Clarmann, G. P. Stiller, B. Funke, S. Kellmann, A. Linden, A. Wiegele |
| Medientyp |
Artikel
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| Sprache |
Englisch
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| ISSN |
1680-7316
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| Digitales Dokument |
URL |
| Erschienen |
In: Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ; 13, no. 3 ; Nr. 13, no. 3 (2013-02-08), S.1637-1658 |
| Datensatznummer |
250017652
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| Publikation (Nr.) |
 copernicus.org/acp-13-1637-2013.pdf |
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| Zusammenfassung |
| Starting on 7 February 2009, southeast Australia was devastated by large
bushfires, which burned an area of about 3000 km2 on this day alone. This
event was extraordinary, because a large number of combustion products were
transported into the uppermost troposphere and lower stratosphere within a
few days. Various biomass burning products released by the fire were observed
by the Michelson Interferometer for Passive Atmospheric Sounding (MIPAS) on
the Envisat satellite. We tracked the plume using MIPAS C2H2, HCN and
HCOOH single-scan measurements on a day-to-day basis. The measurements were
compared with a high-resolution model run of the Global Environmental
Multiscale Air Quality (GEM-AQ) model. Generally there is good agreement
between the spatial distribution of measured and modelled pollutants. Both
MIPAS and GEM-AQ show a fast southeastward transport of the pollutants to
New Zealand within one day. During the following 3–4 days, the plume remained
northeastward of New Zealand and was located at altitudes of 15 to 18 km.
Thereafter its lower part was transported eastward, followed by westward
transport of its upper part. On 17 February the eastern part had reached
southern South America and on 20 February the central South Atlantic. On
the latter day a second relic of the plume was observed moving eastward above
the South Pacific. Between 20 February and the first week of March, the
upper part of the plume was transported westward over Australia and the
Indian Ocean towards southern Africa. First evidence for entry of the
pollutants into the stratosphere was found in MIPAS data of 11 February,
followed by larger amounts on 17 February and the days thereafter. From MIPAS
data, C2H2/HCN and HCOOH/HCN enhancement ratios of 0.76 and 2.16 were
calculated for the first days after the outbreak of the fires, which are
considerably higher than the emission ratios assumed for the model run and at
the upper end of values found in literature. From the temporal decrease of
the enhancement ratios, mean lifetimes of 16–20 days and of 8–9 days were
calculated for measured C2H2 and HCOOH. The respective lifetimes
calculated from the model data are 18 and 12 days. |
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