Mesoscale numerical investigations of air traffic emissions over the North Atlantic during SONEX flight 8: A case study ...

• Main Authors: Bieberbach Jr., George, Fuelberg, Henry E., Thompson, Anne M., Schmitt, Alfons, Hannan, John R., Gregory, G. L., Kondo, Yutaka, Knabb, Richard D., Sachse, G. W., Talbot, R. W.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: AGU 2000
• Subjects: North Atlantic
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.13016/m2ur0t-i5cj; https://mdsoar.org/handle/11603/34935

Chemical data from flight 8 of NASA's Subsonic Assessment (SASS) Ozone and Nitrogen Oxide Experiment (SONEX) exhibited signatures consistent with aircraft emissions, stratospheric air, and surface-based pollution. These signatures are examined in detail, focusing on the broad aircraft emission signatures that are several hundred kilometers in length. A mesoscale meteorological model provides high-resolution wind data that are used to calculate backward trajectories arriving at locations along the flight track. These trajectories are compared to aircraft locations in the North Atlantic Flight Corridor (NAFC) over a 27–33 hour period. Time series of flight level NO and the number of trajectory/aircraft encounters within the NAFC show excellent agreement. Trajectories arriving within the stratospheric and surface-based pollution regions are found to experience very few aircraft encounters. Conversely, there are many trajectory/aircraft encounters within the two chemical signatures corresponding to aircraft ...