in the high Northern Hemisphere (HNH) (30°-90°N) using two different approaches: total column amounts of CO retrieved from infrared solar spectra and CO mixing ratios measured in situ at ground-based stations. The data were averaged, and anomalies of the CO HNH burden (deviations of the total tropospheric mass between 30°N and 90°N from the mean seasonal profile, determined as the 5 year average) were analyzed. The anomalies obtained from in situ and total column data agree well and both show two maxima, by far the largest in October 1998 and a lower one in August 1996. A noticeable decrease of the positive 1998 summer anomaly with increasing height was found. A box model was applied, and anomalies in source rates were obtained under the assumption of insignificant interannual sink variations. In August 1998 the HNH emission anomaly was estimated to be 38 Tg month À1. The annual 1998 emission positive anomaly was 96 Tg yr À1

1] New results of CO global total column measurements using the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) aboard the Aqua satellite in comparison with Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (MOPITT) sensor aboard the Terra satellite are presented. Both data sets are validated using ground-based total column measurements in Russia and Australia. A quality parameter based on the Profile Percent A Priori values from the standard MOPITT product is introduced. AIRS data (version 4) for biomass burning events are in agreement or lower than both MOPITT and ground measurements, but CO bursts can be seen by AIRS in most cases. For the cases of low CO amounts in the Southern Hemisphere AIRS has a positive bias of $30-40% compared to MOPITT and ground truth. MOPITT data were used to estimate interannual variations of CO sources assuming a standard seasonal cycle for the main CO remover OH. A positive trend of CO global emissions for the second half of the year between 2000 and 2006 was found with no visible trend for the first half of the year. CO annual emission in 2006 was 184 ± 40 Tg higher that that in 2000-2001. The monthly emission anomalies correlate well with an independently calculated Global Fire Emission Database (GFED2). Total carbon contribution from biomass burning in 1997, 1998 (both estimated by GFED2), and 2006 (according to MOPITT) were as high as (0.6-1) Pg C/year larger than in 2000, suggesting that fires can explain a substantial fraction of the interannual variability of CO 2 .

[1] Carbon monoxide reached record high levels in the northern extratropics in the late summer and fall of 1998 as a result of anomalously large boreal fires in eastern Russia and North America. We investigated the effects of these fires on CO and tropospheric oxidants using a global chemical transport model (GEOS-Chem) and two independently derived inventories for the fire emissions that differ by a factor of two. We find that it is essential to use both surface and column observations of CO to constrain the magnitude of the fire emissions and their injection altitude. Our results show that the larger of the two inventories appears more reliable and that about half of the emissions were injected above the boundary layer. The boreal fire emissions cause a much larger enhancement in ozone when about half the emissions are released above the boundary layer than when they are released exclusively in the boundary layer, as a consequence of the role of PAN as a source of NO x as air descends in regions far from the fires.

Abstract. Carbon monoxide total column amounts in the atmosphere have been measured in the High Northern Hemisphere (30°-90° N, HNH) between January 2002 and December 2003 using infrared spectrometers of high and moderate resolution and the Sun as a light source. They were compared to ground-level CO mixing ratios and to total column amounts measured from space by the Terra/MOPITT instrument. All these data reveal increased CO abundances in 2002-2003 in comparison to the unperturbed 2000-2001 period. Maximum anomalies were observed in September 2002 and August 2003. Using a simple two-box model, the corresponding annual CO emission anomalies (referenced to 2000-2001 period) have been found equal to 95Tg in 2002 and 130Tg in 2003, thus close to those for 1996 and 1998. A good correlation with hot spots detected by a satellite radiometer allows one to assume strong boreal forest fires, occurred mainly in Russia, as a source of the increased CO burdens.

Abstract. CO total column data are presented from three space sounders and two ground-based spectrometers in Moscow and its suburbs during the forest and peat fires that occurred in Central Russia in July-August 2010. Also presented are ground-based in situ CO measurements. The Moscow area was strongly impacted by the CO plume from these fires. Concurrent satellite-and ground-based observations were used to quantify the errors of CO top-down emission estimates. On certain days, CO total columns retrieved from the data of the space-based sounders were 2-3 times less than those obtained from the ground-based sun-tracking spectrometers. The depth of the polluted layer over Moscow was estimated using total column measurements compared with CO volume mixing ratios in the surface layer and on the TV tower and found to be around 360 m. The missing CO that is the average difference between the CO total column accurately determined by the ground spectrometers and that retrieved by AIRS, MOPITT, and IASI was determined for the Moscow area between 1.6 and 3.3 × 10 18 molec cm −2 . These values were extrapolated onto the entire plume; subsequently, the CO burden (total mass) over Russia during the fire event was corrected. A top-down estimate of the total emitted CO, obtained by a simple mass balance model increased by 40-100 % for different sensors due to this correction. Final assessments of total CO emitted by Russian wildfires obtained from different sounders are between 34 and 40 Tg CO during

CO burden also decreased but reached a minimum in January 2009 before starting to recover. The decrease in tropical CO burdens is explained by lower than usual fire emissions in South America and Indonesia. This decrease in tropical emissions also accounts for most of the change in the global CO burden. However, no such diminution of NH biomass burning is indicated by GFED2. Thus, the CO burden decrease in the NH could result from a combination of lower fossil fuel emissions during the global economic recession and transport of CO-poor air from the tropics. More extensive modeling will be required to fully resolve this issue.

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