Journal Article

Evaluation of the airborne quantum cascade laser spectrometer (QCLS) measurements of the carbon and greenhouse gas suite - CO2, CH4, N2O, and CO - during the CalNex and HIPPO campaigns

D. D. Nelson, J. V. Pittman, S. Park, B. B. Stephens, B. Xiang, A. E. Andrews, S. C. Wofsy, G. W. Santoni, E. Gottlieb, J. Bent, J. S. Holloway, T. B. Ryerson, B. C. Daube, B. Hall, M. S. Zahniser, E. A. Kort, J. W. Elkins, J. B. McManus, C. Sweeney, F. L. Moore, R. Jiménez, J. Peischl, D. F. Hurst, E. J. Hintsa

2014

Overview

We present an evaluation of aircraft observations of the carbon and greenhouse gases CO2, CH4, N2O, and CO using a direct-absorption pulsed quantum cascade laser spectrometer (QCLS) operated during the HIPPO and CalNex airborne experiments. The QCLS made continuous 1 Hz measurements with 1σ Allan precisions of 20, 0.5, 0.09, and 0.15 ppb for CO2, CH4, N2O, and CO, respectively, over > 500 flight hours on 79 research flights. The QCLS measurements are compared to two vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) CO instruments (CalNex and HIPPO), a cavity ring-down spectrometer (CRDS) measuring CO2 and CH4 (CalNex), two broadband non-dispersive infrared (NDIR) spectrometers measuring CO2 (HIPPO), two onboard gas chromatographs measuring a variety of chemical species including CH4, N2O, and CO (HIPPO), and various flask-based measurements of all four species. QCLS measurements are tied to NOAA and WMO standards using an in-flight calibration system, and mean differences when compared to NOAA CCG flask data over the 59 HIPPO research flights were 100, 1, 1, and 2 ppb for CO2, CH4, N2O, and CO, respectively. The details of the end-to-end calibration procedures and the data quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) are presented. Specifically, we discuss our practices for the traceability of standards given uncertainties in calibration cylinders, isotopic and surface effects for the long-lived greenhouse gas tracers, interpolation techniques for in-flight calibrations, and the effects of instrument linearity on retrieved mole fractions.

• Publisher: Copernicus Publications