92nd American Meteorological Society Annual Meeting (January 22-26, 2012)

Sunday, 22 January 2012
Trace Gas Retrievals Using the Polar Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (P-AERI)
Hall E (New Orleans Convention Center )
Alessio C. Spassiani, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada; and P. M. Rowe and V. P. Walden

Poster PDF (10.9 MB)

The Arctic and Antarctic are expected to experience the most drastic change in their environment due to Climate Change. The main increase in the global temperature is contributed to carbon dioxide, however some research has shown that the combined effect of traces gases will be equal to that of CO2. (Ramanathan, 1985). It is therefore important to develop a greater understanding of the effects that trace gases contribute to climate change and to have a well-developed data record of trace gas column amounts to observe these patterns of change. The objective of this research project is to retrieve the amount of trace gases over a three-year period (March 2006 – April 2009) where the Polar Atmospheric Emitted Radiance Interferometer (P-AERI) was at the 0PAL facility at Eureka, Nunavut for clear sky times only. The P-AERI has a spectral coverage from 500-3000cm-1. The retrievals focused on the trace gases; CO2, CH4, H2O, O3, N2O, HNO3, and CO. The findings of this project may allow for a better understanding of the pattern changes in the trace gas column amounts over the time period.

Supplementary URL: http://acspassiani.tumblr.com/