Comment on acp-2022-686

Abstract

The characteristics and seasonal variability of the tropical tropospheric distributions of ozone (O3) and carbon monoxide (CO) were analysed based on in situ measurements provided by the In-service Aircraft for a Global Observing System (IAGOS) program since 1994 and 2002 respectively, combined with observations from the Infrared Atmospheric Sounding (IASI) instrument on board the Met-op A satellite since 2008. The SOFT-IO model, which couples back trajectories with CO emissions inventories, was used to explore the origins and sources of the tropical CO observed by IAGOS. The highest tropical O3 and CO maxima occur over Northern Hemisphere (NH) Africa in the low troposphere (LT) (80 ppb and 850 ppb respectively at 2.5 km over Lagos) during the dry season (January). Despite the active local fires, local anthropogenic (AN) emissions (60 %) are dominant for the CO, and consequently the O3 maxima. The importance of the local AN emissions are highlighted over Central Africa, as they cause a persistent polluted surface layer during the transition seasons (40 % in October and 86 % in April). The second highest O3 and CO maxima are observed over Asia. Local or regional Asian AN emissions cause the CO maximum in the LT (0.5 km) in January, and the O3 maximum in the free troposphere (at 6 km) in the post-monsoon season (April). South China is the only Asian site where O3 peaks in the LT (75 ppb at 2.5 km), due to local fires (30 %) in addition to the local (52 %) and regional (15 %) AN emissions. The highest amount of transported CO in the tropics originates from Africa. The main transport pathway is from the dry-season African regions towards the wet-season ones. Contributions from NH Africa are found over Arabia and Eastern Africa (up to 70 %), and India (40 % in the mid (MT) and 60 % in the upper (UT) troposphere) during the dry season. Transport towards NH South America is found all year long, with significant contributions in the MT and UT (30–40 % over Caracas on an annual basis). In contrast, the impact of the Asian emissions in the LT and MT is limited on a local or regional scale. Export of polluted Asian air masses is important in the UT during the Asian summer monsoon and post-monsoon seasons, when convection is active. The AN Asian contributions are mostly found over Arabia and Eastern Africa (up to 80 %) during the Asian summer monsoon. During the post-monsoon, CO impacted by the Indonesian fires (resp. SouthEast Asian AN emissions) are transported towards Eastern Africa (64 % and 16 %) due to the Tropical Easterly Jet. The lowest O3 and CO levels are observed over South America, due to less strong local emissions in comparison to Asia and Africa. The only important CO and O3 enhancement is observed in the MT during the local fires (October), when O3 and precursors impacted by the local AN and fire emissions are trapped in an anticyclone and transported towards South Africa (5–10 ppb from SH and NH South America respectively).