Concentrations of ethane (C₂H₆) in the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere and acetylene (C₂H₂) in the upper troposphere deduced from atmospheric trace molecule spectroscopy/Spacelab 3 spectra

Abstract

Volume mixing ratio profiles of ethane (C2H6) in the lower stratosphere and upper troposphere and acetylene (C2H2) in the upper troposphere have been deduced from analysis of 0.01‐cm−1‐resolution infrared solar absorption spectra recorded between 25°N and 31°N latitude. The spectral data were obtained by the ATMOS (Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy) Fourier transform spectrometer during the Spacelab 3 shuttle mission on April 30 to May 1, 1985. The investigation was based on nonlinear least squares curve fitting of the ν7; band PQ3 subbranch near 2976.8 cm−1 and the ν9 band RQ0 subbranch near 822.3 cm−1 for C2H6 and of the ν5 band R10 and R19 lines of C2H2 at 755.0056 and 776.0818 cm−1, respectively. Improvements in the spectroscopic data base for the regions containing these absorption features are reported. The C2H6 results indicate a nearly constant volume mixing ratio of 0.97 parts per billion by volume (ppbv) between 6 and 12 km and a decline to 0.1–0.2 ppbv at 18 km altitude. Measured C2H2 mixing ratios are 0.070–0.092 ppbv between 7.7 and 12.6 km and 0.02 ppbv at 15.1 km. An upper limit of 0.02 ppbv is obtained for the average C2H2 mixing ratio above 16.6 km. The retrieved profiles are compared with previous measurements and model calculations.

Measurement of atmospheric pollutants associated with oil and natural gas exploration and production activity in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest

“…Sources of atmospheric ethane are almost exclusively from fossil fuel extraction, processing, and use. Background concentration of tropospheric ethane in the Northern Hemisphere is around 1 ppb (Rinsland et al, 1987;Rudolph et al, 1996). With average concentrations measured at the KEF, BRS, and HC sites of 10.3, 15.9, and 9.2 ppb, respectively, the elevated values are evidence of impact from nearby ethane sources and an indication that production emissions may be significant.…”

Spectroscopic measurements of tropospheric CO, C2H6, C2H2, and HCN in northern Japan

“…The intensity of the C 2 H 2 absorption line at 776.0818 cm −1 is ∼3 times stronger than that at 3250.6633 cm −1 . This line was used to retrieve C 2 H 2 mixing ratio from Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy (ATMOS) onboard the Spacelab 3 spectra [ Rinsland et al , 1987] and C 2 H 2 columns from International Scientific Station of the Jungfraujoch (ISSJ) ground‐based spectra [ Zander et al , 1991; Mahieu et al , 1997]. Unfortunately, the C 2 H 2 line at 776.0818 cm −1 could not be used in this study because of the nearby H 2 O strong absorption, which is more serious at low‐altitude sites and resulted in very low SNR for Rikubetsu and Moshiri solar spectra in this microwindow.…”

Global distributions of C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>6</sub>, C<sub>2</sub>H<sub>2</sub>, HCN, and PAN retrieved from MIPAS reduced spectral resolution measurements

“…Space-borne measurements of C 2 H 2 have been reported by Rinsland et al (1987) (ATMOS) and Rinsland et al (2005) (ACE-FTS). A method retrieving C 2 H 2 from MIPAS HR spectra was developed by Glatthor et al (2007).…”

“…C 2 H 6 has been measured from space by the Atmospheric Trace Molecule Spectroscopy Experiment (ATMOS) (Rinsland et al, 1987), the Atmospheric Chemistry ExperimentFourier Transform Spectrometer (ACE-FTS) , and MIPAS. The retrieval procedure for the MI-PAS HR spectra of C 2 H 6 was developed by von and Glatthor et al (2009).…”