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Sectoral attribution of greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions using multi-species eddy covariance on a tall tower in Zurich, Switzerland

Hilland, Rainer ; Hashemi, Josh ; Stagakis, Stavros ; Brunner, Dominik ; Constantin, Lionel ; Kljun, Natascha LU orcid ; Kunz, Ann Kristin ; Molinier, Betty LU ; Hammer, Samuel and Emmenegger, Lukas , et al. (2025) In Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 25(21). p.14279-14299
Abstract

Eddy covariance measurement of species that are co-emitted with carbon dioxide (CO2), such as carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides NO and NO2 (NOx), provides an opportunity to attribute a net flux to individual source or sink categories. We present eight months of continuous simultaneous measurements of fluxes (F) of CO2, CO, NOx, methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) from a tall tower (112 m a.g.l.) in Zurich, Switzerland. Median daily fluxes of FCO2 were 1.47 times larger in the winter (November–March) as opposed to summer (August–October) months (10.9 vs. 7.4 µmol m−2 s−1); 1.08 times greater for FCO (30 vs.... (More)

Eddy covariance measurement of species that are co-emitted with carbon dioxide (CO2), such as carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides NO and NO2 (NOx), provides an opportunity to attribute a net flux to individual source or sink categories. We present eight months of continuous simultaneous measurements of fluxes (F) of CO2, CO, NOx, methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O) from a tall tower (112 m a.g.l.) in Zurich, Switzerland. Median daily fluxes of FCO2 were 1.47 times larger in the winter (November–March) as opposed to summer (August–October) months (10.9 vs. 7.4 µmol m−2 s−1); 1.08 times greater for FCO (30 vs. 28 nmol m−2 s−1); 1.08 times greater for FNOx (14 vs. 13 nmol m−2 s−1); 1.01 times greater for FCH4 (13.5 vs. 13.3 nmol m−2 s−1); and not statistically significantly different for FN2O. Flux ratios of FCO /FCO2 and FNOx /FCO2 are well characterised by inventory emission ratios of stationary combustion and road transport in cold months. In warm months both FCO /FCO2 and FNOx /FCO2 systematically exceed expected inventory ratios during the day, while no statistically significant seasonal difference is observed in FNOx /FCO, indicating biospheric photosynthetic activity. A linear mixing model is proposed and applied to attribute half-hourly FCO2, FCO, and FNOx to stationary combustion and road transport emission categories as well as determine the biospheric FCO2. Flux attribution is reasonable at certain times and from certain wind directions, but over-attributes CO and NOx fluxes to road traffic and CO2 fluxes to stationary combustion, and overestimates photosynthetic CO2 uptake.

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publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics
volume
25
issue
21
pages
21 pages
publisher
Copernicus GmbH
external identifiers
  • scopus:105023190787
ISSN
1680-7316
DOI
10.5194/acp-25-14279-2025
project
Pilot Application in Urban Landscapes - towards integrated city observatories for greenhouse gases
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Publisher Copyright: © Author(s) 2025.
id
c8838ff3-e7e7-4837-87ac-15626dee98b4
date added to LUP
2025-12-17 22:38:09
date last changed
2025-12-18 09:01:08
@article{c8838ff3-e7e7-4837-87ac-15626dee98b4,
  abstract     = {{<p>Eddy covariance measurement of species that are co-emitted with carbon dioxide (CO<sub>2</sub>), such as carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides NO and NO<sub>2</sub> (NO<sub>x</sub>), provides an opportunity to attribute a net flux to individual source or sink categories. We present eight months of continuous simultaneous measurements of fluxes (F) of CO<sub>2</sub>, CO, NO<sub>x</sub>, methane (CH<sub>4</sub>), and nitrous oxide (N<sub>2</sub>O) from a tall tower (112 m a.g.l.) in Zurich, Switzerland. Median daily fluxes of F<sub>CO2</sub> were 1.47 times larger in the winter (November–March) as opposed to summer (August–October) months (10.9 vs. 7.4 µmol m<sup>−2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>); 1.08 times greater for F<sub>CO</sub> (30 vs. 28 nmol m<sup>−2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>); 1.08 times greater for F<sub>NOx</sub> (14 vs. 13 nmol m<sup>−2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>); 1.01 times greater for F<sub>CH4</sub> (13.5 vs. 13.3 nmol m<sup>−2</sup> s<sup>−1</sup>); and not statistically significantly different for F<sub>N2O</sub>. Flux ratios of F<sub>CO</sub> /F<sub>CO2</sub> and F<sub>NOx</sub> /F<sub>CO2</sub> are well characterised by inventory emission ratios of stationary combustion and road transport in cold months. In warm months both F<sub>CO</sub> /F<sub>CO2</sub> and F<sub>NOx</sub> /F<sub>CO2</sub> systematically exceed expected inventory ratios during the day, while no statistically significant seasonal difference is observed in F<sub>NOx</sub> /F<sub>CO</sub>, indicating biospheric photosynthetic activity. A linear mixing model is proposed and applied to attribute half-hourly F<sub>CO2</sub>, F<sub>CO</sub>, and F<sub>NOx</sub> to stationary combustion and road transport emission categories as well as determine the biospheric F<sub>CO2</sub>. Flux attribution is reasonable at certain times and from certain wind directions, but over-attributes CO and NO<sub>x</sub> fluxes to road traffic and CO<sub>2</sub> fluxes to stationary combustion, and overestimates photosynthetic CO<sub>2</sub> uptake.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hilland, Rainer and Hashemi, Josh and Stagakis, Stavros and Brunner, Dominik and Constantin, Lionel and Kljun, Natascha and Kunz, Ann Kristin and Molinier, Betty and Hammer, Samuel and Emmenegger, Lukas and Christen, Andreas}},
  issn         = {{1680-7316}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{10}},
  number       = {{21}},
  pages        = {{14279--14299}},
  publisher    = {{Copernicus GmbH}},
  series       = {{Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics}},
  title        = {{Sectoral attribution of greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions using multi-species eddy covariance on a tall tower in Zurich, Switzerland}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.5194/acp-25-14279-2025}},
  doi          = {{10.5194/acp-25-14279-2025}},
  volume       = {{25}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}