Observed vertical distribution of tropospheric carbon monoxide during 2012 over Iraq

Abstract

The atmospheric parameters observations enable to made continental and global scales by remote sensing devices existent in space. One of these instruments is the Atmospheric InfraRed Sounder (AIRS) onboard Aqua satellite. We characterize the vertical distribution of troposphere carbon monoxide (CO) measured by AIRS over IRAQ. This study presents one year data. Results shown standard deviation of monthly troposphere CO for five locations: Baghdad, Basrah, Maysan, Al Fakka, and Mosul, from January to December 2012, was 107.15 ±18.75 ppbv for entire period depend on whether circumstance and topography. The seasonal differences undulate between winter and summer seasons, with higher values CO in the winter than in the summer and autumn seasons. In addition, the rising in troposphere CO values can be measured during year over the manufacturing and crowded urbanized zones. AIRS observations reveal enhanced abundances of CO, with values that can exceed 120 ppbv at approximately 4 km altitude over Baghdad and Mosul. The lower CO amounts observed of approximately 88–90 ppbv at 253 mb (altitude 11 km) during October. Comparisons over Baghdad station in 2012 showed close agreement between the ground CO data and the observed CO from AIRS, and regression result showed high correlation coefficient (R = 0.962). The vertical CO observation by AIRS is providing meaningful information for different altitude layers closer to the troposphere, and the satellite measurements are able to measure the increase of the atmosphere CO concentrations over varied regions.