Rapid intercontinental air pollution transport associated with a meteorological bomb
Intercontinental transport (ICT) of trace substances normally occurs on timescales ranging from a few days to several weeks. In this paper an extraordinary episode in November 2001 is presented, where pollution transport across the North Atlantic took only about one day. The transport mechanism, ter...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:cbb1d0d1985744ce8e5fbfa3e2db9b68 2023-05-15T17:34:33+02:00 Rapid intercontinental air pollution transport associated with a meteorological bomb A. Stohl H. Huntrieser A. Richter S. Beirle O. R. Cooper S. Eckhardt C. Forster P. James N. Spichtinger M. Wenig T. Wagner J. P. Burrows U. Platt 2003-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doaj.org/article/cbb1d0d1985744ce8e5fbfa3e2db9b68 EN eng Copernicus Publications http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/3/969/2003/acp-3-969-2003.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/cbb1d0d1985744ce8e5fbfa3e2db9b68 Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 3, Iss 4, Pp 969-985 (2003) Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 article 2003 ftdoajarticles 2022-12-31T14:09:05Z Intercontinental transport (ICT) of trace substances normally occurs on timescales ranging from a few days to several weeks. In this paper an extraordinary episode in November 2001 is presented, where pollution transport across the North Atlantic took only about one day. The transport mechanism, termed here an intercontinental pollution express highway because of the high wind speeds, was exceptional, as it involved an explosively generated cyclone, a so-called meteorological "bomb''. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study describing pollution transport in a bomb. The discovery of this event was based on tracer transport model calculations and satellite measurements of NO 2 , a species with a relatively short lifetime in the atmosphere, which could be transported that far only because of the high wind speeds produced by the bomb. A 15-year transport climatology shows that intercontinental express highways are about four times more frequent in winter than in summer, in agreement with bomb climatologies. The climatology furthermore suggests that intercontinental express highways may be important for the budget of short-lived substances in the remote troposphere. For instance, for a substance with a lifetime of 1 day, express highways may be responsible for about two thirds of the total ICT. We roughly estimate that express highways connecting North America with Europe enhance the average NO x mixing ratios over Europe, due to North American emissions, by about 2-3 pptv in winter. Article in Journal/Newspaper North Atlantic Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
institution |
Open Polar |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
spellingShingle |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 A. Stohl H. Huntrieser A. Richter S. Beirle O. R. Cooper S. Eckhardt C. Forster P. James N. Spichtinger M. Wenig T. Wagner J. P. Burrows U. Platt Rapid intercontinental air pollution transport associated with a meteorological bomb |
topic_facet |
Physics QC1-999 Chemistry QD1-999 |
description |
Intercontinental transport (ICT) of trace substances normally occurs on timescales ranging from a few days to several weeks. In this paper an extraordinary episode in November 2001 is presented, where pollution transport across the North Atlantic took only about one day. The transport mechanism, termed here an intercontinental pollution express highway because of the high wind speeds, was exceptional, as it involved an explosively generated cyclone, a so-called meteorological "bomb''. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study describing pollution transport in a bomb. The discovery of this event was based on tracer transport model calculations and satellite measurements of NO 2 , a species with a relatively short lifetime in the atmosphere, which could be transported that far only because of the high wind speeds produced by the bomb. A 15-year transport climatology shows that intercontinental express highways are about four times more frequent in winter than in summer, in agreement with bomb climatologies. The climatology furthermore suggests that intercontinental express highways may be important for the budget of short-lived substances in the remote troposphere. For instance, for a substance with a lifetime of 1 day, express highways may be responsible for about two thirds of the total ICT. We roughly estimate that express highways connecting North America with Europe enhance the average NO x mixing ratios over Europe, due to North American emissions, by about 2-3 pptv in winter. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
A. Stohl H. Huntrieser A. Richter S. Beirle O. R. Cooper S. Eckhardt C. Forster P. James N. Spichtinger M. Wenig T. Wagner J. P. Burrows U. Platt |
author_facet |
A. Stohl H. Huntrieser A. Richter S. Beirle O. R. Cooper S. Eckhardt C. Forster P. James N. Spichtinger M. Wenig T. Wagner J. P. Burrows U. Platt |
author_sort |
A. Stohl |
title |
Rapid intercontinental air pollution transport associated with a meteorological bomb |
title_short |
Rapid intercontinental air pollution transport associated with a meteorological bomb |
title_full |
Rapid intercontinental air pollution transport associated with a meteorological bomb |
title_fullStr |
Rapid intercontinental air pollution transport associated with a meteorological bomb |
title_full_unstemmed |
Rapid intercontinental air pollution transport associated with a meteorological bomb |
title_sort |
rapid intercontinental air pollution transport associated with a meteorological bomb |
publisher |
Copernicus Publications |
publishDate |
2003 |
url |
https://doaj.org/article/cbb1d0d1985744ce8e5fbfa3e2db9b68 |
genre |
North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
North Atlantic |
op_source |
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, Vol 3, Iss 4, Pp 969-985 (2003) |
op_relation |
http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/3/969/2003/acp-3-969-2003.pdf https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7316 https://doaj.org/toc/1680-7324 1680-7316 1680-7324 https://doaj.org/article/cbb1d0d1985744ce8e5fbfa3e2db9b68 |
_version_ |
1766133430920151040 |