NOVEMBER 2000: Sources of pollution over the Pacific

Contributions from different sources to carbon monoxide (CO) concentrations in surface air over the Pacific in March-April 1999. CO is a pollutant originating from incomplete fuel combustion. The results presented here are from a global 3-dimensional model analysis by Amanda Staudt using assimilated meteorological observations from ECMWF reanalyzed by T.N. Krishnamurti's group at Florida State University. We have applied this model to the simulation and interpretation of observations from the NASA/GTE/PEM-Tropics (B) aircraft mission over the Pacific in March-April 1999 (Daniel Jacob was mission scientist for PEM-Tropics B). The figure shows the CO concentrations contributed by fossil fuel combustion in North America (top left), Europe (top right), Asia (bottom left), and biomass burning (bottom right). Horizontal fluxes of each of these CO tracers are also shown. Remarkable results are (1) the major influence of European pollution on the North Pacific, (2) the lack of significant North American influence, (3) the presence of a "river of pollution" in the equatorial Pacific advected by the trade winds from NE to SW and delivering high levels of northern hemisphere pollution to the southern hemisphere. A complete description of this work is given by Staudt et al. [2000]